Question:
What med's will I be expected to stop before surgery?

I take Celebrex and Zanaflex daily (I have quit Celebrex assuming I need to) I take Teveten for high blood pressure and Buspar for anxiety. Which ones will I be expected to be off of pre-op and for how long?    — Aimee P. (posted on November 25, 2001)

November 25, 2001
Aimee, my surgery is Dec. 10. I received orders in the mail to stop taking any herbal medications and aspirin based also, I believe. I don't have them on hand at the moment so I can't say exactly what my instructions are. If your surgery is anytime soon, I'd contact the surgeon's office to get their exact instructions.
   — Donna L.

November 25, 2001
Hi Aimee, I took norvasc for blood pressure and prozac for panic attacks and took them the night before surgery. Check with your Doc to be sure, but they allow most meds that do not cause thin blood(such as asprin Best of luck.
   — marlene R.

November 25, 2001
hi aimee. my surgery is dec 11 & i was told by my cardiologist, pcp & hubbys kidney surgeon that all i needed to stop taking was aspirin & any blood thinners i was on, 2 weeks before surgery.
   — sheryl titone

November 25, 2001
In addition to posts after this- I heard not to take Vit E - but plz check that out - not sure.
   — charlene M.

November 25, 2001
DON'T EVER GO OFF ANY OF YOUR MEDS UNLESS YOUR DOCTOR/SURGEON TELLS YOU TOO! That could be very dangeous! I do know that there is a period of time (varies from weeks to a month) BEFORE surgery that you are not to take asprin or blood thinning products. Your surgeon should inform you on this. As far as post op, my surgeon says no aspirin. Not even the baby (81mg) asprin I was taking to hopefully prevent a heart attack or stroke. I am VERY disaapointed with this as both of these go in my family. I've been considering taking a baby asprin again but taking it with Pepsid. But I'm not sure if this would hurt. But in any case don't stop taking meds unless your surgeon says to. You need your meds for a reason (whatever it is). We can only offer our opinions, but your doc is the one you should utimately listen too. ;)
   — Danmark

November 26, 2001
The psychiatrist that did my psych eval for this surgery reccommended to me that I stop taking prozac 10 days before surgery because it has a blood thinning effect. You might want to ask your dr. about the Buspar.
   — SARose61