Acetyl acid

This medicine, perhaps, is the most famous in the world and is in the medicine cabinet of every house. Acetyl acid, called aspirin, in Europe appeared in the XVIII century. But not in the form in which we see it today.

It was the bark of a tree, delivered from Peru, to which the Indians treated a fever in their homeland. The Indian name "kina-kina" was, apparently, difficult to pronounce for the inhabitant of Europe, and "kina-kina" was renamed into "khina". The bark was ground into a powder and used for fever. The cost of the drug was incredibly high, so he began to look for a substitute.

In the 1850s salicylic acid was isolated from willow (by the way, willow in Latin - "salix"). But this remedy remained too expensive. Again began to look for a replacement. It turned out that the acid is contained in another bush - spiraea. And in a quantity much larger than in the willow. But the isolated substance irritated the mucosa too much and was not particularly suitable for ingestion. History holds back, who had the idea to add to the resulting substance acetyl (acetic) radical. In the title "Aspirin" was the first letter of the word "acetyl" and the root of the name of the tree "-spir-". The industrial production of aspirin from phenol began in 1893.

No medicine can compare with aspirin in terms of output: only in the US it produces about 12 thousand tons per year! In our pharmacies, aspirin is known as acetylsalicylic acid, but the drug is produced by different firms under another 60 names.

Initially, acetyl acid was used only to reduce temperature.

Long searches for painkillers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs with suppression of prostaglandin synthesis have brought science back to aspirin. Acetyl acid, like new drugs (Butadion, Ibuprofen, Indomethacin, Ketoprofen, Orthofen, Piroxicam, niflumic acid, etc., has these qualities: Aspirin was not the best of these, But no medicine can compare with it in universality. To strengthen the pain-relieving effect, we decided to create combined preparations, where the same aspirin will remain the basis: Asfen, Askofen, Coffeecil, Citramon, Sedalgin (more active ).

Acetyl acid was tacitly given yet another name - acetic acid. Its properties are not limited to pain relief and temperature reduction. In small doses, it is able to thin the blood. So it was considered until recently. However, medical luminaries after recent studies have begun to doubt: is aspirin really harmless in reality? It dilutes blood, but at the same time blocks the removal of waste products from our bodies. Nonsteroid drugs ("Analgin", "Ibuprofen", "Paracetamol", "Aspirin", etc.) expand the arterioles of the renal arterioles, reducing the amount of formed urine. There is an excess of fluid that the body is forced to remove, so it involves increased, "emergency" work of sweat glands, "carrying" with fluid and heat. We get the same effect for which we take aspirin. The problem would not have been discussed, if only the sweat glands could have produced the same amount of waste as the kidneys. But with a sweatshop effect, a large part of the slag still remains in us, which in time leads to the defeat of the internal organs. However, you should not ascribe this negative only to aspirin. Likewise, the familiar linden, "Malinka-Kalinka" and other "grandmother's" recipes will act in a similar way. The essence here in the intensified work of sweatshops and the subsequent result.

Let's paraphrase the great phrase: the information owner owns health. Acetyl acid, from which you would not use it (antipyretic, analgesic or "all together"), should be used with great care and only on the advice of the therapist.