Tumor control by aspirin

[Crazycat]

I'll tell you what taking liberal amounts of aspirin every day WILL do for sure: rot your stomach out. Ever wonder why "acid reflux" and other accompanying digestive problems are much more rampant these days? I'm sure it has a great deal to do with the amount of over-the-counter analgesics people are imbibing day in and day out.

                                        Paul

[Larry]

Paul,

Good point.

I recently have had been struck down with pneumonmia aspiration. This was caused by a severe bout of reflux and the bacteria from that reflux got into my lungs. It was not pleasant. I'm sure my stomach has been damaged by the quantum of pain killers I've had to have and then a dinner of spicy Indian food just capped it off.

I am now on a drug called Losec which combats reflux and stops the build of of acid coming back up the osophegus (spelling). I will be on this drug forever now. It is harmless (no side effects). My wife has been taking it for many years.

Message - beware of the quantum of drugs you take particularly the side effects.


laz

[Windsong]

Hi Laz,

Yes, acid reflux can cause more than a little bit of discomfort. And certainly taking  lots of OTC drugs is not wise.

For me an aspirin is my choice rather than the warfarin (blood thinner) my cardioligist wants me to take... even with the baby dose aspirin, I can get acid reflux. Pariet is supposed to help the stomach for that. I never have liked taking meds of any kind. So for now aspirin it is for me. Sometimes one has small choice in what one has to take...... If it helps control any An cells still alive after fsr i figure that might be a tiny bonus lol....

Be well,
Windsong

[Crazycat]

Yes Laz,
 
     I really do feel that I'm right about this. I see it happening all around me. The term "acid reflux" was virtually unheard of back in the sixties, seventies and eighties. People had "heartburn", "indigestion" and ulcers. They drank Maalox and ate Tums. These days, digestive problems have taken on a whole new dimension of horror.
     While taking drugs like Advil and Tylenol really work, there is a definite price to be paid for overdoing it - rot-gut and liver poisoning. Let's face it, we're all human and we're all hurting, one way or another. I wish there was a better way to alleviate pain like accupuncture or something more Zen-like that was readily accessible to people.

    Paul

[Crazycat]

Oh.....and Laz, sorry to hear about the aspiration you've been afflicted with. I remember living in fear of that while in the hospital.

 I remember when I came out of surgery they had a feeding tube shoved down my gullet into my stomach. Boy did that suck!! No wonder I couldn't utter a word upon awakening! I could barely even breath! The second day in ICU they must have loosened the hand restraints because I pulled the damn thing out by myself! It was like that scene in "The Matrix" when Neo wakes up in that pod and pulls the feeding tube out. Man, I can relate to that scene in a big way! For real! I paid for that one through. They wouldn't feed me any real food for four days after out of fear that I'd develop pneumonia from aspirating on it.They were ready to shove that horrible implement back into my stomach again! I had to prove to them that I could swallow by way of a test they gave me - plunging fiber optic cable up into my nostrils and down my throat into my larynx, asking me to vocalize certain sounds. I knew I could do it because my girlfriend had been bringing me cups of ice to chew on. Thankfully, I passed the test!

Paul

[joanc]

I was just diagnosed w/ a 2.3 cm. AN a month ago.  I'm trying to post a message to ask why people chose to do gamma knife or surgery.  I've gotten 3 different opinions from 3 different doctors.  How do you decide?  Only 2 of the options sound good to me.  Either gamma knife where they think there is a 50-70% chance of saving my hearing  or the suboccipital way where she thinks there is also a chance of saving my hearing.  Both doctors are very well recommended in Kansas City.

[Mark]

Joanc,

a significant part of the decision is answering the question of "how much hearing do you currently have?" If you have a level that is classified as usable hearing and it is a priority for you to try and save it, then radiosurgery has much better odds with GK typically demonstrating a 50-60% figure and fractions with CK indicating 70-75% in recent studies. Surgery with an AN greater than 2 cm has a less than 20% probability of saving hearing and it decreases as size rises. So while there is a chance with surgery, it is a long one and I can't remember anyone ever posting here that they saved usable hearing with an AN in the 2 cm or greater range.

Mark