Dr. Fagin on KVUE
Newscaster:...over the counter drug doesn't warrant a second thought. They're all supposed to be safe. Now a new study says a drug some of us take daily may not be so helpful after all. Joining us this morning is Dr. Randy Fagin to talk about aspirin and the affect it can have on our health. Good morning Dr. Fagin. Glad to see you again.
Dr. Fagin: Good morning. Always a pleasure.
Newscaster: Well, first, you hear that taking aspirin is great, now a new study says its not. Which one is it? Can aspirin help you or harm you?
Dr. Fagin: Yeah. Big picture, aspirin can be a very good thing. It does two good things for our body. It can actually improve circulation and be a pain reliever. So, how does it do both? Well, when you take aspirin it actually blocks the formation of a substance in your body called prostaglandins. And when you block prostaglandins your blood can't clot as well. If your bood can't clot as well, you improve your circulation. That's why aspirin is so good for our heart and for our brain. It improves circulation and can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Now, what about pain? How does aspirin reduce pain? Well, when our body is hurt and we're in pain, it releases a substance called prostaglandins. So when you block prostaglandins and you're in pain, you fool your brain into thinking that you don't hurt quite so much. So aspirin can do some very good things for our body.
Newscaster: Now there's a study out right now that says aspirin can actually help a man's prostate. Is that completely true?
Dr. Fagin: Well, the study actually looked at over a thousand men who were undergoing a biopsy to determine whether or not they had prostate cancer. And what they found was, in men who were taking aspirin, their PSAs were nine percent lower than men who weren't taking aspirin. Now the interesting part of this study was that if you look at men taking aspirin, those who had prostate cancer actually had a lower PSA than men who didn't have prostate cancer. So it may be that aspirin is actually fooling us and making it harder for a doctor to determine whether or not a guy has prostate cancer by artificially lowering his PSA.
Newscaster: Now in your opinion, as a doctor, what should everyone keep in mind when taking over the counter drugs, just like aspirin?
Dr. Fagin: You know, over the counter drugs, like aspirin, can do some wonderful things. I mean, aspirin improves our circulation. It helps out with our pain relief. It can do some great things for our body. But it can also mask certain things, possibly the detection of prostate cancer. So its really important when you go do your doctor for your annual visits, don't just tell him about your prescription medications. Tell him if you're taking aspirin, or any other over the counter medications, because it can affect the way he treats you.
Newscaster: All right, Dr. Fagin. Thank you very much for being with us. Great information.
Dr. Fagin: Pleasure.
Newscaster: And we will have Dr. Fagin on every other week, and if you have a question for him, or a topic you'd like him to discuss, log onto KV.com and go to our weblinks section. Ask your question on his website and he will answer it in the coming...