- Blood Thinners – Any blood thinning medication will increase blood loss during surgery and can increase rates of complications. General guidelines are to stop any medication or substance that inhibits clot formation a minimum of 5 days prior to surgery and not restart until at least 2 days after surgery. This helps to limit bleeding during and immediately after surgery. Excessive bleeding during and after surgery can lead to complications some of which can be serious. One exception to the rule is a daily baby aspirin which can continue without interruption. Specific medications include Coumadin/warfarin, Xarelto, NSAIDs such as Motrin/ibuprofen, Aleve/ naproxen and related medications, regular strength aspirin, ginko biloba supplements, and any other medications or supplements that result in thinner blood.
- Diabetic medications – Medicines for diabetes lower blood sugar. When fasting, these medications can cause abnormally low blood sugar, so these should not be taken while fasting for surgery. These include insulin, metformin, and any other diabetic medication used to control blood sugar.
- Certain Blood Pressure Medications – The ACE Inhibitor class of blood pressure medicines causes a very low blood pressure when combined with anesthesia. These medications usually have a generic name that ends in “PRIL”. Examples are lisinopril, captopril, enalapril. These should not be taken the dose prior to surgery. If taken in the morning, do not take the morining of surgery. If taken in the evening, do not take the evening prior to surgery. Other blood pressure medications should be taken normally.
