Aspirin, which is a type of medication known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (or NSAID), is one of the most commonly used medicines in the world and a very important agent in preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Aspirin hypersensitivity usually takes two principal forms: aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) and systemic reactions. AERD is the most common type of reaction to aspirin, occurring in patients who suffer from asthma, chronic sinusitis, and nasal polyps. In these patients, even small doses of aspirin or another NSAID will lead to nasal congestion, discharge, and sometimes severe or even life-threatening bronchial constriction with wheezing. In patients with AERD syndrome, a physician can desensitize the patient to aspirin by giving a tiny dose and then increasing it gradually until a full dose is given (usually two tablets, twice daily). This desensitization procedure, which should be done in a hospital setting by specially trained physicians, will not only allow the patient to take aspirin for other purposes (such as prevention of stroke or heart attack), but may also have a beneficial effect on the patient’s nasal polyps and asthma.
Systemic reactions to aspirin and NSAIDs present with hives, swelling of the skin, and occasionally throat swelling, or a drop in blood pressure. People who experience hives or more severe systemic reactions as a result of taking NSAIDs are not generally candidates for desensitization.