Why Do Humans Use Aspirin?

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Recommended: Analysis of Aspirin

Why do humans use Aspirin to aid pain? There are many explanations as to why humans use Aspirin to comfort pain, whether it is to ease a headache, to take as a recommendation from a doctor, or sadly, to help with depression within the elderly age range. Of course, depression is common in almost every single age group but studies show the elderly are more likely to treat depression with Aspirin than anti-depressants. To recognize why individuals use this phenomenal tablet, the most logical idea would be to look into where the usage of Aspirin all began.
The usage of Aspirin departed as early as 3000 B.C in “a historical region located in Mesopotamia, southern Iraq” (Nordqvist 2009). Sources do not associate this time period and discoveries of Aspirin with a person but rather “an ancient Sumer stone tablet from the Third Dynasty of Ur of medical texts” (Nordqvist 2009). The province once acknowledged as Mesopotamia is now “located mostly in the country Iraq […] southwestern Iran, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria” (Ancient Mesopotamia 2013). This area by the Mediterranean used to be commonly linked with many scientific finds. This substance has remained in use for so long it could be dated back as early as 3000 B.C by what scientists believe, an ancient Sumer stone. Although Hippocrates, a well-known and recognized physician, did not discover Aspirin he is extensively known and correlated with many topics on Aspirin. Indicated from a source, Hippocrates was described as “One of the first and most influential physicians, […] wrote about a bitter powder extracted from willow bark that could ease aches and pains and reduce fevers” (Hoffman 2013). The main usage of Aspirin around Hippocrates’ time was for relieving fevers and bac...

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...Dec. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. http://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopotamia/ancient_mesopotamia.php Hoffman, Lucas. “Aspirin 101.” How Stuff Works. Discovery Communications, LLC. The
World’s #1 Nonfiction Media Company, Web. 3 Dec. 2013. http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/aspirin.htm Nordqvist, Christian. "What Is Aspirin? What Is Aspirin For?" Medical News Today.
MediLexicon, Intl., 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161255 Roberts, Shauna. “Take Two: Aspirin” PUBS. American Chemical Society. Web. 9 Jan. 2014 http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/mdd/v03/i08/html/10health.html Rabin, Robin. “How Much Aspirin Is Too Much of a Good Thing?” NYTimes. The New York
Times Company, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/how-much-aspirin-is-too-much-of-a-good-thing/?_r=0

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