Re:Inflammation and aspirin

[Guest guest]

"Thanks for this, . I guess the question is how much aspirin a day is okay to take? Isn't gastric bleeding a concern with long term higher dose aspirin therapy? At what dose dose this become a concern? Is 325/day okay? Does taking it after a full meal help mitigate the potential for bleeding? I take 81mg 2/day because it helps reduce the flush from my niacin. Never had problems, but if people hear that aspirin could be beneficial, I'm concerned they could start taking too much daily and put themselves at risk. Thoughts?"Good questions; wish I had answers <G>I do think that the risk of gastric bleeding is significant. Aspirin leads to gastric bleeding because of systemic effects, not because it burns a hole in your stomach, so taking it with a meal or not is unimportant.Long term use of over the counter pain killers, including aspirin, also is linked to kidney damage, so that's a consideration, too.At this point, I can't say that aspirin would have effects on the parts of the inflammatory response possibly linked to complications of HIV disease, so personally, I am not taking it for that reason, nor do I recommend it, because there is a significant risk of chronic aspirin therapy, too. I do take 81mg daily for cardiac benefits.It is not impossible that aspirin could have benefits, but I'd have to see more evidence before going down that road.JB