Stopping Pain Meds Pre-op

[Ihateinsurance]

I am scheduled for a two level Prodisc in March and I have been visiting daily to try to educate myself to what I should be doing pre-op. I have seen several time where your guys/gals are stopping your pain meds prior to surgery. I am guessing this is to avoid not being resistent to whatever they give you post op at the hospital. Can anyone clarify this for me?

[Terry]

You do not have to stop taking pain medication entirely. It is best to take as little as possible pre-surgery. That way it makes it easier to control your pain post-op.

I saw many people come to surgery on massive doses of oxycontin and other pain meds but you put yourself at risk of not being able to get pain under control after surgery. It also makes it hard to come off of the meds if you are on large doses. Physical addiction sets in and you have to do a taper to come down and off.

You should discuss this with your primary care physician prior to having your surgery and see if he/she is willing to do a taper of what you are on.

I have been sober for over 27 years and limited pain medication pre-surgery so I could work in my field (Director of a drug/alcohol treatment center). I also set up my own taper post-op and was off of pain meds in 9 days.

Anyone who tells you that you have to be off entirely does not understand pain management. It is important to keep pain under control for your overall physical and mental condition pre-surgery. Make sure to discuss this with your physician.

Terry Newton

[Kim_Dean\'sWife]

When we were going to have my husband's surgery in Germany with Dr. Bertagnoli, we were told in writing not to decrease pain meds prior to surgery. Any he's on some serious meds.

I totally understand Terry's comments, though. There are some great points there.

[Terry]

And that is why I said listen to your primary care physician. They know best. I would be concerned about any, other than your personal physician, who would state that you have to get off of pain meds prior to surgery. You sure would not want to go through withdrawals prior to surgery. If a physician did want to lessen the dosage they certainly would do a responsible taper to avoid problems pre-surgery.

Terry Newton

[Bionic Michelle]

My Pain Management doc insisted I would have to be off all pain meds before my surgery, but my surgeon said 'don't you need those?' Well, yeah. My PM said that it not only has to do with pain management post-op, but also that your body needs it's inflammatory response to heal faster. (Seems to me this would apply more to inti-inflammatory meds than opiates, but what do I know?) So, I didn't go off, and I had good pain control post-op, just so long as the anesthesiologist and the dr controlling post-op meds know how high your tolerances may be. Your GP and your surgeon should be the ones to make that decision.

[cathydownunder]

I wasn't on any strong dose meds prior to surgery, just paracetamol based which I continued. One thing you will probably be told is to stop all aspirin or other blood-thinning meds at least a week before surgery to reduce bleeding.
Most docs and anesthesiologists are pretty good at providing adequate pain relief immediately post-op. It's when they take that IV out and you're on oral meds that you're likely to feel the pain most.
Good luck with your surgery

[Kaz]

Pre-surgery there was no way on earth I could have reduced pain medication due to intolerable pain.
Post surgery being pig headed at taking any meds I asked surgeon about going off them, he said sure you don't need them anymore I have fixed your pain. I spent 1 day sweating, shaking and sick unable to do my physio etc and it was not worth it to be honest. I would favour tapering off slowly over cold turkery as going cold turkey, it hindered my progress.

I do believe it is up to the indiviual, my surgeon had done his job as far as he was concerned - which he did a great job, but my body was full of opiates.

[Ihateinsurance]

Thanks for all the responses guys/gals. I think I will not stop completely but just reduce it a bit. Im not on a lot but I have developed a tolerance. I hate begging for meds when I am in pain at the hospital because they all look at you like your a dope head but I dont think most people understand the affects of long term pain.

[ZorroSF]

I don't know what post gave you the idea to stop taking the pain meds, but that's not entirely correct. If you need a two level ADR then I can assume you are in quite a bit of pain. You're surgeon will prescribe you the proper pain killer to take 2 weeks before the op. Make sure to drop all anti-inflammatories 2 weeks before surgery (actually it only takes a few days to purge them from your system, but 10-14 days is the norm).

In my case I switched to Darvocet (1 tab every 4 hours). I couldn't have gotten to the op date without it. It takes a few days to build up and kick in, but you'll find it's almost as good as anti-inflammatories.

Also make sure you're using ice/icepack over the inflamed areas as needed for 15-20 minutes.
I found that to really reduce the pain for about an hour.

[davidj8121]

Hey everyone

As I this it is 9.22 pm the night before my prodisc l5/s1 at TBI with Dr. Zigler at 7am on 2/8. Talked to the Dr. just two hours ago, anathesiologist (spelling) and he asked what I was taking. Told him 1-2 7.5 vicodins/day and he said "Feel free to continue your normal doses tonight." I know in comparison to some that is not a lot of pain meds but he said not to worry about it.

FYI

Dave