Children's Chewable vs. Enteric Aspirin

July 24, 2002

Hi - I don't post often but I need help from the physicians on the list (Dr.

Carolyn, are you still out there?) or the nurses.

I am 4 years post with 50 cm bypassed. Due to an incompetent ER doc (and that's

a story in itself - I kept telling him, and a surgeon who knew my wls surgeon

kept telling him, it wasn't acid reflux!), the diagnosis of Pericarditis was

missed two weeks ago. It was diagnosed at another ER last week when I could

barely breathe. Aside from thickening of the pericardium, there is a lot of

fluid around my heart. The usual treatment is high dose NSAID's. I can't take

them because they put me into kidney failure. I've been given Colchicene and,

since I can't take aspirin as it gives me rectal (hemmorhoidal?) bleeding, we

have been trying one baby aspirin a day for the past week. I am handling it

well, but this week, as of yesterday, I have more fluid around my heart and my

symptoms are a little worse. I am now running a low grade (100.0) fever and

have edema. I'm not gasping or panting anymore, but I am still having some

trouble breathing. We have upped my little baby aspirin to one TID and if I

handle that well today (and yesterday) we will up it to two TID. Still not mega

doses by any means. The cardiologists say there is not enough fluid yet to send

me to general surgery, and they want to hold off on the steroid treatment till

absolutely necessary. They still feel I can beat this on my own. I would

really like to.

My question is, is enteric coated aspirin or chewable aspirin better for me. I

called Bayer, and the question was a little beyond their support people. They

don't think the enteric gets absorbed from the duodenum, that it is absorbed

further down, but they weren't certain as to where. They thought the chewable

might be better as it starts getting absorbed when broken down by the saliva and

so doesn't actually sit in the pouch. I know the cardiologists won't have a

clue. They are having difficulty as it is trying to work around the NSAID

issue. I don't think my wls surgeon will know either.

I'd hate to find out that I haven't been absorbing the enteric coated at all, or

that the chewables are being absorbed but are destroying my pouch.

Please help. I just need to know if I should take chewable or enteric. I don't

want to hear from people about not taking NSAID's or aspirin, etc. Tylenol is

NOT the appropriate treatment for this. This is an inflammation of the lining

around the heart and can be VERY serious.

Thanks.

Crystal

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