A is for Aspirin 💊 Mystery Cache

#1 - Drug Alphabet Series

This series combines two of my favourite "hobbies" - drugs and geocaching. It will inform you about some drugs ie. medicines that you may come across in your lifetime, treating a wide range of medical conditions; and also take you to some interesting places on the Sunshine Coast that you may not have been to before.

Aspirin (C₉H₈O₄) aka acetylsalicylic acid is used to treat pain, inflammation and fever; and angina and acute myocardial infarction (MI or heart attack), and to prevent stroke and MI. It is a non selective non steroidal anti inflammatory drug (NSAID) which inhibits COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes, so preventing the synthesis of prostaglandins (mediators of inflammation and platelet aggregation). Low dose Aspirin (100mg) is used to “thin the blood” ie. inhibit platelet aggregation and blood clot formation and prevent stroke/MI; and a higher dose (300-900mg) is used to treat pain and fever. Common (>1%) side effects include nausea, dyspepsia, gastric ulceration or bleeding, dizziness and tinnitus. Aspirin has been associated with Reye’s syndrome so its use should be avoided for analgesia or fever in children <16 years old. Hippocrates recorded the use of willowbark (of which salicylic acid is the active constituent) to alleviate headache, pain and fever, circa 460-377 BC. In 1853, a French chemist was the first to prepare acetylsalicylic acid. In 1897, chemists working for the company Bayer produced a synthetic version derived from the meadowsweet plant and named it Aspirin, after the botanical name for meadowsweet, Spiraea ulmaria. Aspirin’s popularity grew significantly especially after the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, then declined with the release to market of Paracetamol in 1956 and Ibuprofen in 1969, due to their lower potential side effects. British pharmacologist, John Michael Vane was awarded the Nobel prize in 1982 for his discovery that Aspirin suppressed the production of prostaglandins, leading to its use in preventing heart attacks. More recently Aspirin has been studied in relation to cancer and dementia prevention but always requires the consideration of risk vs. benefit for each patient.

The cache is a bright capsule hidden along a popular Mooloolaba walkway. Stealth will be necessary at most times.

The cache is not at the listed coordinates but you can walk to it from there.

Look for :             HeC BeH.0BB HBLi 0N.OHeF

FTF prize is a "happy pill" with a message inside. Please do not swallow!

You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.

CONGRATULATIONS to Team Benders on FTF !!!