Low Dose Aspirin

[rhodges]

I am 29 weeks and last week at my appointment with my MFM I mentioned by regular OB's suggestion that I start low dose aspirin therapy sometime during the 3rd trimester. My MFM said that research doesn't really show that it helps or hurts to try aspirin therapy. My blood pressure (at home) has been fine and I haven't had any issues thus far with protein or swelling that my MFM is concerned about. My baby is big....in the 93rd percentile at the last visit and weighed 3 pounds 5 oz. I decided if it can't hurt the baby maybe I should just take them so I went and bought a bottle of baby aspirin last night. I took one this morning and read the warnings which said you should not take it during the last trimester of pregnancy and it could cause harm to the baby or complications during delivery. Of course this has freaked me out. Why didn't my doctor say anything about these risks and what are the risks? She said if I would start it I would need to stop it a week or two before delivery because of bleeding but that was her only concern. Are there any other risks that I don't know about??

[caryn]

No panicking! A bunch of posters to the forum have been on low dose aspirin (LDA); it's considered safe enough that the World Health Organization now says it should be recommended to women at high risk of preeclampsia.

That said, I agree with your MFM; the argument for using it is that it doesn't seem to harm but none of the trials show it helps but that if we squint at the data in the right light it might be helping an as-yet-unidentified subgroup. There's more about this from our Experts here: http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 19&t=40560

Hope this helps.

[angieb]

Weird that they are starting it in the 3rd trimester, I can't imagine it helping that late. I was on it from a + test till 34 wks, no problems, so don't panic!

[rhodges]

Is 81 mg the typical dosage? That's what I am taking.

[caryn]

Yes.

[rhodges]

Thank you!