The Bad and The Ugly of NSAIDs

In this week’s reading, “Comparison of the Intestinal Toxicity of Celecoxib, a Selective COX-2 Inhibitor, and Indomethacin in the Experimental Rat,” it mentions that non-steroid anti-inflammatories or NSAIDs are implicated in gastrointestinal and small bowel side effects. To put this into context, I looked up what exactly these side effects include, and found that NSAIDs can cause ulcers, diarrhea or constipation, loss of appetite, liver failure, kidney failure, and hemorrhaging. People with asthma can experience more exacerbated side effects, which can even lead to death because NSAIDs can induce bronchospasms. However, like with most things in science, it is not well understood why NSAIDs cause a more severe effects in asthmatic people. Maybe someone in our class has a guess as to why?