Low Dose Aspirin

Aspirin can also be used as a pain relief medication, but it’s used in higher doses than you would use to support your heart health.

You usually only need to take one 75mg aspirin a day for heart health, whereas the usual dose of aspirin for pain relief is one to two 300mg tablets every 4 – 6 hours, not taking more than 12 tablets in any 24-hour period.

If you’re taking daily low dose aspirin and want to use aspirin for pain relief, speak to your doctor or pharmacist to make sure that this is the best choice for you and to help you to get your doses right.

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Aspirin is a type of blood thinner known as an antiplatelet drug.

There are two types of blood-thinning agents, antiplatelet drugs and anticoagulant drugs, one of the most commonly used anticoagulant drugs being warfarin.

Anticoagulant drugs work slightly differently to antiplatelet drugs, with anticoagulants working to delay blood clotting by making it harder for blood clots to form.

On the other hand, antiplatelets like aspirin work by keeping your blood platelets from sticking together, keeping clots from forming.

If you’re taking aspirin to help prevent a heart attack or stroke then you’ll usually be advised to take one 75mg aspirin tablet every day.

However, this dose can be raised if you’re more at risk or have recently had a heart attack, stroke, or heart bypass.

The highest daily dose that will usually be advised is 300mg, which is the same as one regular dose aspirin tablet.

If you’re ever unsure about the amount of aspirin you should be taking, or how much aspirin is in your medication, speak to your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

You can take low dose aspirin during pregnancy, but you should only do so if your doctor has said it’s okay.

Daily low dose aspirin can even be recommended by doctors to help with some medical issues that can arise during pregnancy, including:

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Pre-eclampsia
• If you’re having fertility treatment
• If you have had several miscarriages

If you are pregnant, then you should avoid any medications that have not been recommended to you by your doctor or another health care professional.

This includes the standard dose of aspirin that is used for pain relief (300mg), which should only be taken if your doctor has advised it and should not be taken at all after 30 weeks of pregnancy.