A friend of mine needs to have spinal surgery. The surgeons say that continuation of her bipolar meds, (i.e. abilify, lamictal, cymbalta and neurontin), during surgery will be a "problem". Does anyone have any idea what they are talking about? I cannot find any information online contraindicating the use of bipolar meds and anaesthesia. Are the surgeons worried that she will "act out" because she is bipolar and "ruin" their work?

HELP!!

- highhatsize

I'm not familar with those meds but I vaguely remember reading something about Depakote and surgery.

befuddled2

I am on neuroontin a high amount 3600mg a day and have never been told to go off it,for any surgery i take it for PN..If she can't speak up,perhaps you could go help her get some good reasons from the Dr.'s.. There nothing like a caring friend to hold your hand as long as it's not mine it hurts Keep reading and posting!! Sue

Hi,
Surgeons and pyschiatrists don't like each other normally. But see if they can get on a telephone call before the surgery.

My pyschiatrist told me that he gets calls from surgeons (after the surgery) telling him that a patient has gone into seizures. Well duh, the surgeon yanked the benzo.


M.

i take all but one of those and took lamicatal about 7 months ago i just had surg in feb and the onl med they did not want me to take was neurontin, because it would mask some neuro symptoms. don't know why else she wouldn't be able to take them-shelly

Wes has surgery on Monday and the anesthesiologist only freaked out that he WASN'T taking his blood pressure meds. He gave him the go ahead to take everything but the benzo before surgery. Depakote, Lamictal and Abilify.

I think your friend needs a second oppinion from another surgeon. Almost feels like the one she saw is acting out against bipolar. Very odd.

I went to the ER a year ago with a big old nasty cut on my leg, in walks a 4th med. student,i was a er nurse for 25 years so to answer there questions is not a problem for me at all 10 million of them...When i got to the bi-polar part he looked at my bleeding leg looked at me you know with that Look So there i am with all that Blood exxplaining bi-polar instead of getting stiches..He wonders off i start to chat with the man in the bed next to me a curtin pulled..He was 78 years old never been in the hosptal WOW finally the Dr. walks in his eyes and kindly after he stoped laughing said no son i don't believe she tried to kill herself with a weedwacker!!!The young future Dr. turned so red and shouts out she's taking to herself i heard her,the sweet maan in the other bed said excuse me but she was talking to me..We can be misunderstood sometimes and i bet the 78 year man stayed out of the hospitals after that a second opinion is a good idea Much luck Sue

Dear Friends,

Thanks for all the cogent responses. It looks like the surgeons are just afraid that my friend will do "crazy" things and mess up their oeuvre. I will nail this question down with the prospective surgeon when I speak to him.

Parenthetically, if you want the best surgeon and O.R. facilities for anything, you had best go to a really big city or to a medical institution, (like the Mayo Clinic), that has a national rep. I live in San Francisco and, hereabouts, in a city of 750,000, I found two surgeons who had experience with a novel surgical technique that stabilizes the spine without fusion. Each had experience with precisely two such surgeries. (Probably the same ones.) By contrast, in LA, a city with 3.5M inhabitants, we found a surgeon who had done over 70 of the procedures. It is to that city that my friend will have to travel, despite her intense pain.

My experience with local orthopedic consultations only increased my disdain for medical practitioners. Despite our having prepared lengthly informational documents about my friend's unique problems, both surgeons gave about five minutes to listening to what she had to say, and then ignored all her info., verbal and written, entirely and treated her like a simple textbook case. There really should be some procedure for client review of doctrors pertaining to recertification. Both these bozos needed re-education.

Steve Case, of AOL fame/infamy, has started a new website named, http://revolutionhealth.com that includes a client rating of individual doctors. It is just getting off the ground, so this feature isn't fleshed-out by reviews so far. However, I have posted mine. I hope that in a few years folks are able to use it to steer away from the plank-headed apparatchicks in the medical profession.

you are a good friend to her.
bizi

Well here i am again after working in er (truma) for25 years i was the 1 who whispered but mostly shouted in your ear i'm here and i will be here i held hands wipe the blood out eyes because that's what i would of wanted 4 my family...But truma is a type of nursing that worked welll for me there was a rush,and i slept well at night,sometimes i never made it home just crashed at the hospital.
But i have learned over the years by watching Opthopedic Drs. are the ones who are trigger happy when it comes to surgery..Truma can be a little bit different because some of there quick decisions may help some walk again,but are they good after the follow ups not always..
There are 10 good places to go,i'll try to post later,and you have to decide which is best 4 what you have and always remeber plan to stay longer than they say,have all the records you can get you hands on,it's amazing how long hospitals keep reccords..
I have polyneuropathys and live in Columbia,Mo we are a college town nd have 3 good hospitals..But Neuro Dr said Sue sell your house move to a apartment close to the Mayo Clinic,welll i didn't do that but i made the decision to go there they were great even ran into a few Drs. i worked with at Henry Ford Hospital in DEtroit ans a few from Uof M in Ann Arbor Mi..But we always can't make that trip or have the right insurance...So you better learn as much as you can about yourselfs,and that Same Neuro Dr. sent me here,why they don't have all the answers,but here we can be each others helpmate..
My 33 yr.son married a Psychiatrist she has said for years the mentally ill are not treated well by the medical Drs as well as many Psychiatrists..I really agree with this,boy i have seen to much of it,and i have reported it.. Thanks to everybody here who take the time to struggle through there own pain to help others i''ve always believed in the saying what goes around comes around...Now don't make you tell you about nurses back trouble my good finger is tired.. Bless all you.. Sue And yes Drs.are big old babies when there in the hospital