Dr Stuart Myers

Medication

Continue to use your regular medications as instructed with a sip of water on the day of surgery.

 

Aspirin:

If you are taking aspirin under your doctor’s orders (e.g. you have
previously had a blood clot, stroke, heart attack, etc) it is preferable that you
continue taking your aspirin unless specifically asked to cease it by me.

Vitamin E:

You should avoid medicines containing vitamin E for four weeks after surgery.

Warfarin:

In most circumstances I do not stop Warfarin for straight forward hand surgery if the INR is around 2.

I am more concerned about the rare but catastrophic complications of Heart attack or Stroke than the small increased risk of bleeding or bruising after surgery.

Note most hand surgery is performed with a tourniquet which stops any bleeding at the time of surgery. For major bone surgery it should be ceased 2 - 3 days prior to your surgery after consultation with your treating Physician / Cardiologist.

Xarelto (rivaroxiban) and Eliquis (apixaban)

inhibit blood clotting factor Xa.
They should be stopped 2 days before major surgery ( eg Bone surgery, FCR Interposition arthroplasty ) and withheld one day before minor surgery (eg Trigger finger).
These can be resumed the day after surgery if there is no bleeding.

Diabetics:

Take ½ your dose of insulin on the day of surgery.

Notify hospital staff that you are diabetic on admission to hospital. You may need regular monitoring of your blood sugar while you are fasting.

Where possible Diabetic patients will be operated on at the start of an operating list

 

For Specific Drug questions I have found this Website to be very useful.