STUART SPECHLER, MD:
The problem is that even if you’re an average-risk individual, meaning that you don’t have any special risk for having a complication of NSAIDs -- in other words, you’re not over age 60, you’re not also taking a steroid, you have no previous history of ever having had a peptic ulcer of your stomach or duodenum, you’re not taking blood thinners -- you still have a risk factor. You’re taking two NSAIDs now. You’re taking low-dose aspirin, and now you’re taking an NSAID, so now you are at high risk, even if you, as an individual, may not have considered yourself at high risk. Now, by combining aspirin with another NSAID, you become a high risk for developing a complication. So it’s something that you definitely need to discuss with your physician, because there are protections available.
