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Comment by dvfjsdhgfv | Hacker News Reader

So why don't we all take acetylic acid? Because as all blood diluents it can have dramatic consequences - a hemorrhage. Also, if you have an accident, things can get quite complicated. That's why a doctor will prescribe acetylic acid only if the benefits outweigh the risks - which is not always easy to assess.

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I take aspirin on a regular cadence and have tinnitus as a fun side effect. This is actually quite common [1] but you won't hear a doctor giving that warning. No pun intended.

[1] http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/treatments/me...

Aspirin is known to cause temporary mild tinnitus at high doses but as far as I'm aware it has not been solidly proven to cause permanent tinnitus.

Some commmon drugs cause hearing loss (ototoxic), but this is rarely mentioned by doctors. I guess hearing isn't considered as important as sight.

In my case, hearing loss is less of a problem than closing off of the arteries. I'm going as far to experiment with off-label 2-hydroxypropyl-Beta-Cyclodextrin which can also cause hearing loss. My only point is that people should not take aspirin unless they have a medical need to do so that outweighs the risk of hearing loss.

But what dosage are you on? Say I use a pill cutter and take half a baby aspirin a day (40-50mg). Do I risk hearing loss?

There are papers on PubMed that can point you in the right direction on that; but I just wanted to point out that if you get a DNA test (23andme and others), you get tested for a mutation that makes stomach bleeding more likely if you take aspirin. So the answer to both may be "it depends on your genes."

If those numbers are real (still looking for the link) I’m assuming that small dosage could have dramatic results.

Combine that with a drop in accidents and bleeding thanks to self-driving cars and you might have recommended micro-dosing.

It's become common to prescribe daily aspirin for older people afaik

What kind of accident do you mean?

Any trauma with bleeding. It thins the blood, making it especially hard to stop bleeding.

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