I was told yesterday at the hospital that I had to give up all alternative and non-prescribed medication a WEEK before surgery! HELP!!! Its taken me 7 months to get the perfect balance and I'm kinda terrified of the week ahead. What can I take instead? Would olive oil work, or could that be classed as medicine too?
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Its painful enough now with this damn fistula, constipation doesn't bear thinking about!!
Thanks guys!

UGHHHHHHHH !!! I can understand your frustration - 7 days of extra agony you definitely don't need that now : ((((. Olive oil can not be considered medicine under any circumstance , so feel free to try it. Also, you might consider trying Milk of magnesia or some other softener - I don't see how it can possibly interfere with surgery in any way. They are crazy !!! It is hard not to follow doctors instructions but I think that they assume that we are all idiots and would not know the difference between meds that we can take and one that they said we should not so it is easier for them just to say " DON"T TAKE ANYTHING" , than to go into detail what you can take and what not. I am not a doctor but as far as I know only blood-thinning substances are not desirable , as well as some heavy sedatives and some lines of antidepressants because they can interfere with blood clothing and with anesthesia.
Don;t panic dear friend - you see, my CRS had no problem with ANY supplements or meds, and he is in practice 30 years - I guess if he had problems during surgery with any of those, he would definitely know by now ; ).
I would just stay away from aspirin and ibuprofen and other NSAIDS that can make you bleed more than needed, maybe fish oil too. You can check o the net if flax seed is anticoagulant - if not there is absolutely no reason to stop it :IMO:
TAKE CARE

Yes, I think they give that blanket statement to everyone because they don't have the time to go through the do's and don'ts list. I think stool softeners, aloe vera are fine. I am not sure about flax oil but I don't remember that being an issue.

Other than nsaids and fish oil I am not going to change anything.

Thank you! I never actually thought about ibruprofen being a problem, I've had to take it even though I shouldn't, these last couple of days, so thanks for warning me!

Val, you may take paracetamole - Tylenol for your pain. I used extra strength 2 caps every 8 hours. It did help somewhat. It is not NSAID and is not blood thinner
so it is absolutely safe to take !
XOXO

I also find relief with a cup of slippery elm bark. Not sure why it helps, but it stops the burny bms. It is kinda like oatmeal, so it's safe to take before surgery.

Thank you, I'll try slippery elm, I've seen it at the health shop.
Fis, what double strength paracetamol did you have? All our strong OTC paracetamol has got codeine in.

I just came across a website that discusses some herbs interactions with medicines. Flax oil AKA linseed oil is not supposed to have any interactions.
http://goodwinsorganics.com/articles/healthnotes.php?org=goodwins&ContentID=2421006

Thanks for that, Chris, thats a very good website!

Dera Val,
I used pure acetaminophen 630 mg x2 every 8 hours. We can't buy anything with codein without MDs prescription. Brand name here is Tylenol , I would suspect it has same name in UK .
XOXO