Blood Thinners: Staying Active and Healthy
Blood-thinning drugs
I have been told to take a small dose of aspirin every day, but I also take high BP drugs for my BP. Are there any risks of taking aspirin when I have high BP as well?
Aspirin is a drug that has substantial benefits – mostly by reducing your risk of stroke and heart attack – but is also associated with side effects, usually by causing bleeding in your stomach. People at high risk of a stroke or heart attack (usually taken to be over 5% over 5 years) generally gain substantially more benefit than harm from aspirin. If you are taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, your risk of suffering such bleeding will be increased further, so these should be avoided if possible.
Talk to your doctor about your concerns – you should always alert the doctor to the fact that you are taking other drugs when the question of treatment for high BP is being discussed.
You may be talking to a different doctor than usual and so he or she may be unaware of your other problems.
Anticoagulants such as warfarin or heparin are prescribed almost always by specialists. You can’t avoid taking them then, but those who do prescribe them will always review your need for aspirin.
