Critical survival item for EDC in wallet or bag

I've probably posted this before, but it bears repeating:

In my wallet, along with the usual IDs, credit cards and cash, and along with the more survival oriented Fresnel lens, medical info card, micro pen refill and micro ferro rod, are four 81 mg chewable aspirin wrapped in aluminum foil.

In plain language for non-medical folks: Aspirin works against blood clots in the blood vessels that supply your heart muscle. The longer that heart muscle is denied blood flow by a clot blocking the blood vessel feeding it, the more heart muscle dies, weakening and eventually stopping the beating of your heart. Aspirin helps get more blood flowing sooner, or reduces the growth of the blockage. This helps reduce the amount of heart muscle damage you suffer, improving your chances of survival, and limiting the damage being done to your heart, meaning the quality of life you will be able to enjoy afterwords.

If you have no known allergy to aspirin, and you experience symptoms including some or all of the following: chest pain behind your breastbone, and/or in your jaw, neck or left arm; shortness of breath; weakness, dizziness or feeling faint, nausea or vomiting, cold sweats, anxiety or a sense of impending doom, your physician is likely to advise you to call 911 and take 325 mg of aspirin. You should also understand that heart attacks may occur with some, one, or none of the above symptoms, or other and different symptoms entirely. It is not uncommon to mistake a heart attack for indigestion, simple fatigue, a "pulled muscle" or other non-emergent problem.

IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT, OR ANY SUSPICION, THAT YOU MAY BE HAVING A HEART ATTACK, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY. TIME=HEART MUSCLE. IF YOU ACT QUICKLY, YOU MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Disclaimer: I am not a physician. Consult your physician, in advance, about carrying and taking aspirin in the event you experience warning symptoms of a heart attack.

Just curious about your thinking, Jeff, but any particular reason why you choose to keep the aspirin inside your wallet versus, say, in a little pill fob on your keys? Seems like chewable pills could get crushed fairly easily over time in a wallet.

I don't want anything more on my keyring, and if the pills get crushed, I'll just pour the powder into my mouth.

Extra Strength Quick Release Crystals Citrus Burst Flavour Bayer Aspirin, 20 ct
I just ran into this stuff and am wondering if anybody else has any experience with it.
The pouches look reasonably durable and are single doses in boxes with 10 or 20 pouches in the box.
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks-product/A931340.html

If the pouches stand up it solves the problem of pill crushing and would fit in a wallet.

I have been pocket carrying aspirin in the small tube containers that I used to get my Motrin Ibuprofen in. They stand up better than the tins aspirin sells.

The caffeine content may not be so helpful during an MI.

Understood. I will keep an eye out for the decaffinated version.

Jeff, am I right assuming you put the aspirin tabs into a zip lock or something like that?
Or are they just wrapped in foil?

Nope, just foil for now. Seems to hold up OK.

I better do some reading

Thanks for the heads up!

St John's Ambulance recommends one 300mg tablet. Some others recommend 4x80mg tablets. they both work out to being a fairly low dose.
The instruction to chew those bitter pills is to get them into the blood stream faster.
The idea of them being already powdered is just fine, some doctors actually recommend crushing them.

Here is a quote from a medical college's web page on it.
"According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), widespread use of aspirin for heart attack first aid could save 10,000 lives each year."

Every time I go in for a doctor's visit he double-checks and asks me if I'm taking low-dosage aspirin daily. _Every_ appointment, no matter why. I just class it as one of his things, such as his hated of iPods & the like, that he probably has good reason for, and I obey.

I have several individually-wrapped tablets in the EDC bag, 325 mg I think.

Maybe you should ask why he recommends it. I read recently that there's no great evidence on taking aspirin if you have NOT had a heart attack before. Sorry that this is a somewhat older reference, but it's the best I could find in 2 minutes:
http://www.acpinternist.org/archives/2002/03/aspirin.htm

If your doc is telling you to take aspirin, maybe you should also be asking if there are other risk factors you could be working on. Unless, of course, you're already taking meds for things in the first place, and just didn't mention it in the original post. In which case, I say the above is interesting reading anyway!

Thanks for the info on asprin Jeff.

I also carry fabric Band-aids in my wallet and have since I was a kid. I use (or give them away) at least once a week.

Mike

Looks like I get to repack my kit again!