Doctors recommend cutting back on aspirin

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Harvard University released a study Monday that says aspirin could cause internal bleeding if you don’t have a heart disease.

Jim Coffey’s close friend who’s a heart doctor told him what doctors across the country have recommended to their patients for decades. Take aspirin once a day to prevent heart diseases and strokes. They say it thins your blood. So, he listened.

“Since around 1990, I’ve been taking a baby aspirin everyday,” said Coffey.

Once Coffey learned about the study, he asked his doctor about it first thing Tuesday morning.

“She said if you don’t have any heart problems, you don’t have any history in your family, you really shouldn’t be taking it,” he said.

Dr. Bruce Lipshutz with Millennium Physicians Group said every medicine has advantages and disadvantages, But, when it comes to aspirin the risks outweigh the rewards if you don’t have a heart disease. So, he took his patients who don’t a have heart disease off aspirin, too.

“They’ve had perhaps more instances of bleeding. Whether that be intestinal bleeding, or other areas of bleeding and bruising,” he said.

He added the Harvard study isn’t the end-all-be-all, since medicine is still evolving. So he said talk to your doctor before switching up your medicine.