You are looking at a very recent picture of my 72 year old hand. About 19 years ago I spit a circular chunk of disc about the size of my small finger nail (10mm) from between L3 and L4. About two months of PT and a lot of Prednisone and I was able to resume normal function. Since pred is not really good for the body I went to work on a more natural form of inflammation control. Through the first two or three years it became 975mg or three regular aspirin, 1000mg turmeric, 1000 to 1500mg turmeric, along with misc. vitamins my doctor’s have recommended as I aged, per day. I remain active; yoga, crabbing, fishing, boating, home repairs, home maintenance, etc. Before you say 975mg is excessive, I had two severe flare ups of my back in late 22 and early 24. Both required pred and up to 36 sessions of PT to get me back on my feet. What led to these two recent flare ups? I cycled off my daily “vitamin” regimen at the request of my orthopedic specialists and paid dearly. Placebo effect or not, it works and my back specialist and knee specialist (no cartilage left in the left knee but no pain) have agreed that my regimen is much easier on my body than the gabapentin and prednisone they would prescribe.
Now, why did I tell you this. Because I have been taking 975 mg of aspirin a day for well over fifteen years and as active as I am I do not bruise anywhere near as bad as the “asshat” who currently resides in our daily nightmare. I do bruise but nothing like he does and any heavy bruises (like I suffered when I replaced the starboard cylinder head on my boat in March 2025) usually go away in a week to ten days.