Gallbladder Removal – Medications After Surgery

Transcript

One of the things that we have tried to do is stay away from all opioids that have been used very liberally in the past. All of us are aware of an epidemic of opioid use in the country. And we as responsible healthcare providers have to understand that and do everything possible to avoid that. But also, we want for our patients to be able to function as close to normal as they did prior to surgery, because any time you’re giving a person a medication that contains opioids does depress some of their functions, including potentially breathing, including how they move and their ability to move. And so generally speaking after the gallbladder surgery, we use a certain type of medications that actually numb the area of the surgery. There are excellent new medications out in the market that actually last for about two and sometimes three days.

So those medications that we inject into the wound, plus whatever you normally would take for, let’s say a headache. If you take Tylenol or Advil or Motrin, whichever medication you take, we tell our patients to do the same, if they have any complaints. And generally speaking after gallbladder surgery, I don’t remember the last time in many, many years that I have prescribed someone a pain medication that includes opioids. We prescribe only Advil or Motrin or Tylenol in conjunction with the medication that we place into the wound. And then the patient of course continues on their regular medications. If they were taking something for their diabetes or high blood pressure, they of course will do the same and continue taking the usual medications, unless those have to be adjusted for whatever reason after the surgery.