Often people will take a pill that has one or two other drugs in it. All the drugs work together to help relieve many symptoms in different ways. The combination drug may be more powerful than any of the single ingredients alone. Pain relief is a common use for aspirin, especially if the pain is from a headache or from arthritis.
Arthritis is a painful swelling of the joints between bones.
Aspirin is also commonly used to bring down a fever. Do not use aspirin for a fever in children or teenagers if their fever is from a cold, flu or any other virus, like chicken pox. A very serious illness called Reye's Syndrome can occur. Aspirin is also used to thin the blood. Persons who have had a stroke or heart attack sometimes need to have their blood thinned so that blood clots do not form.