Herbal Supplements & Surgery
Herbals, Supplements and Over-the-Counter Medicines to Avoid Before Surgery
Blood Thinners
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Ginko Biloba
- Cayenne
- Bilberry
- Vitamin E (over 400IU)
- Fish Oil
- Flax Seed Oil
- Feverfew
- Fucus
- Ginseng
- Horse Chestnut
- Horseradish
- Licorice
- Meadowsweet
- Black Cohosh
- Clove
- Danshen
- Dong Quai
- Fenugreek
- Northern Prickly Ash
- Onion
- Papian
- Passion Flower
- Pau D’arco
- Poplar
- Quassia
- Red Clover
- Roman Chamomile
- Safflower
- Southern Prickly Ash
- Sweet Clover
- Sweet Vernal Grass
- Tonka Bean
- Turmericx (tumeric)
- Wild Carrot
- Wild Lettuce
- Willow Bark
Can Cause High Blood Pressure and Irregular Heartbeats
- Ginseng
- MaHuang
- Ephedra
Effect Sedatives and Anesthetics
- Kava Kava
- Valerian
- Yohimbe
- Licorice Root
- Melatonin
- St. John’s Wort
Also note that many of these can be spices and ingredients in foods we eat. Be careful not to have too much of them in your regular diet.
Pre and Post Operative Herbals, Supplements and Over-the-Counter Medicines that are Allowable
Pre-Operative: Start a minimum of 2 weeks prior
- Multivitamin
- Vitamin C
- Zinc
- Note: AVOID (all herbals on “avoid” list and)
- Vitamin E
- Aspirin-containing medicines
Post-Operative: Start Immediately
- CoQ10
- Glutamine
- Arginine
- Vitamin C 500 mg
- Glucosamine
- Zinc
- Vitamin E
- Multivitamin