I have just viewed ‘The state of cardiology 2018’ video from the ESC Conference that was on last week.
One surprising conclusion was taking aspirin has no beneficial effect!
The video clip called State of Preventative Cardiology 2018.
I copy the link to the video below it’s at 8mins into the 11 minute clip.
Actually, for me, the most interesting thing that came out of that video was the short discussion on Blood Pressure BP. He seemed to be saying that they look at what "range" of BP a person has across the day - without any discussion of actual numbers as such. I recently bought a home BP monitor and the first thing I notice is the very wide range of readings I get from it depending on time of day, what I have or haven't been doing, etc - I am unsure as to how any medico could say I do or do not have a "good" BP from a single test taken in his office.
re the aspirin. I used to get quite a few headaches and had previously noticed that only soluble aspirin ever got rid of them for me - tried all other things like panadol, paracetemol, and NSAIDS - but only aspirin got rid of them for me and usually quite quickly. I have now been taking over the last 2 years 100 mg aspirin for ( you guessed it!!) heart problems and I have noticed that I NEVER now get headaches. The Cardiologist seemed to have a fixation on aspirin causing stomach problems - nothing like that for me - so I will keep on taking then even if only for now the lack of headaches 
Whilst the dangers connected with aspirin and stomach bleeding have been known for decades, it's also known to be largely preventable by following the simple instruction to never take on an empty stomach; always with food. However, any signs of black stools (occult blood) or other blood signs, should never be ignored.
Good post - trouble is that Cardiologist did not say that - he just said "only take them if you want stomach troubles! "
Not very helpful of him. I no longer take them for the reasons he stated, but some people are fine on them. Hope you find an alternative. I am trying to tackle everything I can from a diet and exercise angle. I ignore cholesterol numbers (they're irrelevant to heart health - research Dr Malhotra and others). I've reversed statin induced diabetes with low carb high fat diet and exercise. I'm now working on my kidney and muscle deterioration - all statins damage!! Wish I could get everyone to really examine the flawed science and deceitful practices in pharmaceutical industry and medical practice, that are destroying lives. I was strong, fit and healthy before statins but allowed myself to be duped by experts, and I worked in the NHS. Such a hard lesson. Hope things improve for you guys.
I also thought that I was "strong, fit and healthy" - until a Calcium Score test showed me that I was NOT!!! ( as my friend in another post has just found out and now needing to be stented) - obviously my good lifestyle ( eating , exercise, care of weight , no smoking, etc) was not enough. I was "strong, fit and healthy" on the outside - but SICK inside!!!!! -PLAQUE, the Widowmaker!
I appreciate it can be hard to know fact from fiction with health issues. Currently looking at the latest research on stents and their efficacy in treating heart problems. Again, Dr Naseem Malhotra, NHS leading Consultant Cardiologist, is very honest about proceedures that are routinely done that are of little or no benefit to anyone other than the NHS who are remunerated for everything they advise, perform, prescribe...other than nutrition. If I never took note of the fuel, oil, brake fluid, coolant etc in my car and just expected to keep on running, I'd be making lucrative business for my mechanic and crap decisions for my car. I can no longer make my health someone else's responsibility so I try to resist the total tedium of research and view it positively. Don't enjoy it - don't enjoy exercise either - gonna keep on cos I see it working. So does my GP.
Thank you for sharing these helpful clips of news from the conference.
They seem to be referring to Primary Prevention, which means aspirin given to those who have never had heart disease. So in the article below (long way down the webpage), they are still recommending aspirin for those in secondary prevention who have coronary heart disease or have had a heart attack.
crtonline.org/news-detail/e...
Plus- it all comes down to "statistics" eg " while those at a 10% or greater predicted risk had 11 vascular events prevented at the cost of 10 major bleeds per 5,000 person-years." So, not only are we comparing a reduction of one risk we are considering the balancing opposite risk ie prevention of a cardiac event compared to a bleeding event. For me this is quite balancing act -- as I have artherosclerosis ( which may or may not be helped by aspirin) which MAY have now caused a retinal vein blockage and subsequent retinal bleeding . However in the above statement - we are talking about 11 &10 events per 5000 person years!!!
Thanks for putting that conference on here. Did stop taking aspirin some time ago. Did note that they did not think a low carb diet was good for you, do not follow that way of eating myself but a WFPBNO diet.
There are however different ways to look at stats If there is (say) a 1 in 100 chance of something bad happening to people , I would probably say that is not too bad a risk for me -- BUT for that 1 person who it does happen to, it was a 100% chance of happening ( when their risk is calculated after the event ) Their families will be very interested in taking precautions to prevent that 1/100 event happening to them!!
Just viewed as well as other studies they discussed. Impressive.
coronary heart disease
34yrs and having a heart bypass
Heart Disease and Cholesterol by Country
Coronary heart disease 
