Like many dopers, I take a daily low dose of aspirin. Today, I took it with a few other pills just like I always do but then went and laid down for a nap. Two hours later, I was sitting up in bed and I felt something rolling around in my mouth. At first, I thought I had lost a tooth. When I spat it out, I saw that it was the aspirin. I was pretty shocked.
Just thought I’d share the weirdness of it all.
Don’t you just swallow the pill whole?
I’m thinking they didn’t swallow it at all.
Coated pills don’t dissolve.
Yeah, enteric-coated aspirin is designed pass through the stomach and dissolve in the small intestine!
You laid down for a nap with a bunch of pills in your mouth?
I thought I did. The rest went down without incident.
Just one apparently.
Yes, as others pointed, enteric-coated aspirin is made to not dissolve until it reaches the small intestine. Now, there are reports that enteric-coated aspirin is not so good if the intention is to combat clogging of the arteries.
ANSWER: It depends, but you probably don’t need enteric-coated aspirin. Enteric-coated aspirin is designed to resist dissolving and being absorbed in the stomach. As such, enteric-coated aspirin passes into the small intestine, where it’s absorbed into the bloodstream. The purported goal is to prevent stomach ulcers and bleeding that can sometimes occur with aspirin use.
When it comes to preventing a heart attack or stroke, the purpose of taking low-dose aspirin is to help prevent the development of harmful — or deadly — artery-blocking blood clots. However, with enteric-coated aspirin, research indicates that bloodstream absorption may be delayed and reduced, compared to regular aspirin absorption. Regular aspirin is quickly dissolved and absorbed in the stomach. As a result, enteric-coated aspirin may not be as effective as regular aspirin at reducing blood clot risk.
That’s an interesting article. As it points out, the non-coated low dose is hard to find. Amazon doesn’t have any except for chewable, which I guess I’ll switch to.
You can still swallow them. You don’t have to chew it.
Chewing aspirin isn’t good for your teeth.
Next you’ll tell me that Flintstone’s vitamins aren’t good for me either.
The original studies on aspirin and adult hearts were done using 81mg “baby aspirin” (chewable & uncoated), because that’s what there was. When the studies were positive, companies started marketing aspirin to adults in the child’s aspirin dose-- but to be swallowed whole, and therefore coated, and looking and tasting more like an adult medicine.
What was being manufactured was not what had been tested.
Big surprise that after a few years, doctors aren’t seeing the effect they expected in patients taking low dose aspirin.
In the fuzzy place between anecdote and data, there are supposed to be a few case histories of guys who, instead of buying the special adult low-dose aspirins, just used pill cutters to break regular (cheap and uncoated) 325mg aspirins into quarters, and took one quarter a day (325mg / 4 = 81.25mg) They DID experience the heart protection as the study predicted.
Not evidence itself, but a definite suggestion, that the rush to make the adult-looking pills may have been a mistake.
Well, you will pee out most of the good stuff in a Flintstones. But you cannot beat the taste! 
“Pee out most of the good stuff” is my middle name.
Cutting uncoated aspirin with a pill cutter would be my suggestion. Having to cut it into quarters is a bit of a nuisance but a good pill cutter should do a reasonably accurate job.
At one time I was taking low-dose aspirin along with anti-platelet medication but my doctor later suggested dropping the aspirin. But if you’re not taking anything else a daily low dose of aspirin is probably a good idea.
Your middle name?
Good grief your Mom was very dedicated to diapering!
I haven’t ever laid down for a nap with a pill in my mouth, nor found one two hours later - but it’s not uncommon at all for a tiny pill to get “stuck” in my mouth when I try to swallow it. It’s easy to notice the stuck pill when that’s the only one I took - but if I’m taking 4 or 5 pills at the same one, I might not immediately notice the tiny one that’s still in my mouth.
She called ‘em like she saw ‘em.