No pain meds before surgery due to risk of bleeding?

Question

I'm having a minor 10 minute surgery on my leg tomorrow to remove a bullet casing thats infected and causing problems. I've had many, MANY surgeries in my life - and theres never been any issues with bleeding and they've never mentioned not taking OTC pain meds. They said not to take acetaminophen (tylenol) and motrin, ibeuprofin, aspoirin, etc, because it may cause bleeding or something. Anyone have any idea why?

Answer 1

It's probably a combination of a) aspirin is a blood thinner and can keep wounds from healing properly and b) if you're on a med when you go in for surgery, it may s***w with the meds they want to use during the surgery.  Some medications can interact and cause problems, and there's also an increased risk of overdose (if you take tylenol tonight, and they give you more tylenol tomorrow, there's a risk of acute liver failure).

It's probably just a way for them to cover their asses and make sure you don't have any drug interactions or overdoses.  If your leg really hurts, though, I'd think they would have allowed you to take at least a little of something.  Can you call the surgeon's office and ask?

Answer 2

Some otc pain meds also happen to act as blood thinners, so they could make it more difficult for your blood to clot. That's probably the reason.