argh my mom -- scary too

My mom lives in an apartment below us. My father passed away 18 months ago from a heart attack in my back yard (I found him, it was awful). This morning my mom called my cell saying she was bleeding a lot. I ran downstairs and she was in the shower -- after searching for the blood source I determined a vein in her leg had a small pin prick and all the blood was coming from this. After I cleaned her up I cleaned out her shower (good amt of blood) and found 2 clots in the shower. I immediately called her doctor who asked if she was taking her aspirin. She said she has not been taking it. I am so so mad (after being afraid). The doctor will see her tomorrow to look at her legs to see if she needs some laser surgery on the veins. I cannot believe she has not been taking the aspirin. She takes pills at the drop of a hat. I just gave her the riot act about what could have happened (she had no idea) and told her to take her aspirin. ARGH

How incredibly scary. I hope the doctor can give you some more answers.


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That is very scary. I hope this has woken her up and she now starts taking aspirin as her doctor directs.

OMG, so scary indeed. I hope she's more compliant with the medicines going forward.

Hope you/she can get some answers from the doctor. One thing that stood out in the original post — you say that she takes pills at the drop of a hat, yet she has not been taking aspirin. Is there any possibility that she does not view aspirin as "real medicine" and therefore does not think it’s as important as her other pills? Back in the olden days, aspirin was often seen as a low level pain reliever, with no particular value. When acetaminophen and particularly NSAIDs came along, these replaced aspirin in popular use for pain relief and fever reduction. The use of low-dose aspirin as a blood thinner is much newer.

This may not be relevant to OP's mom, but if there’s any possibility it is, please make sure her doc realizes this and can emphasize the value of taking it regularly. (Alternatively, the doc may want to switch her to a different blood thinner in light of the recent event.)


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Originally Posted by NCGrandma

Hope you/she can get some answers from the doctor. One thing that stood out in the original post — you say that she takes pills at the drop of a hat, yet she has not been taking aspirin. Is there any possibility that she does not view aspirin as "real medicine" and therefore does not think it’s as important as her other pills? Back in the olden days, aspirin was often seen as a low level pain reliever, with no particular value. When acetaminophen and particularly NSAIDs came along, these replaced aspirin in popular use for pain relief and fever reduction. The use of low-dose aspirin as a blood thinner is much newer.

This may not be relevant to OP's mom, but if there’s any possibility it is, please make sure her doc realizes this and can emphasize the value of taking it regularly. (Alternatively, the doc may want to switch her to a different blood thinner in light of the recent event.)


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You totally nailed it. We later talked and she said she didn't think it was important. I explained how it worked and told her doc that she needed to be told it was medically required. It is a good point that she would likely be more compliant with an RX vs the baby aspirin.

That is scary! Sorry you are dealing with this. Glad to hear you may have identified why you mom might not be taking the aspirin and have an idea about how to change that.