Why You Should Talk to Your Doctor About Your Medications Before Your Surgery
Before any surgery or operation, there are some key things you should do to prepare and to help the process go as smoothly as possible. In almost all cases, you will have more than one discussion with your doctor and the surgeon who will perform the surgery to go over expectations and procedures. Before your surgery, one important topic that should come up in these discussions is what medications you are currently taking, how often and how much.
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Medications and supplements, even in small doses can play a crucial role in how well your body responds to the surgery. During surgery, there may be specific medicines used to help keep blood flowing and the heart pumping. These medications do not always mix well with other prescriptions the patient is already taking on a regular basis. In some cases, the combination of medicines can lead to serious issues and even death.
If you do not have a forthcoming conversation with your doctor or surgeon before your procedure, you run the risk of complications taking place mid-surgery. In some cases, these complications may be small an uneventful. The problem is, every complication is a setback from the overall goal of the surgery. When a surgeon is forced to stop the operation to deal with medication issues, it could prevent him or her from successfully completing the surgery.
Certain prescriptions may have no bearing whatsoever on the actual surgery, but can lead to issues in the recovery process. For example, if a patient regularly uses opioid or narcotic medication to control pain before a surgery, it will make it much more difficult to control pain after surgery. The best thing to do in this case is consult with your doctor and develop a plan to help decrease or stop your opioid medication before surgery.
At the offices of Dr. Richard J. Brown, we strongly urge our patients to avoid certain medications prior to surgery. Medications that contain aspirin or other compounds may cause bleeding problems in normal individuals when taken prior to or following a surgical procedure. Additionally, some diet pills may cause heart rhythm problems when used at the same time as general anesthesia.
This is a very simple problem to avoid. The best thing to do is be sure to talk with one of our staff members or Dr. Brown himself and let us know which medications you take before your surgery. We can make recommendations of alternatives to use until your surgery is over.
Feel free to give us a call at 480-568-3804 if you have any other questions about medicines or prescriptions to avoid before surgery.
