Medications Before Surgery: General Guidance

Prior to surgery at Nebraska Spine Hospital, each patient will have a detailed phone call with one of our nurse navigators. During this call, our nurse navigators will cover a lot of information pertaining to your medical history and upcoming surgery, including how to handle your medications before surgery. In addition, you will also receive a call from our pharmacy to verify your current medications. 

Discussing Medications Before Surgery

During your call with one of our nurse navigators, we will review all of your prescription medications along with any over-the-counter medications, herbs, vitamins, and supplements that you take. We ask that you have a list available of these items so we can review them with you prior to your surgery. This list should include the following:

  • Name of medication, herb, vitamin, or supplement
  • Dosage
  • Time of day taken

Our nurse navigator will give you instructions on which medications to stop ahead of time and which medications you will be able to continue taking. 

As a general rule, we recommend you stop any over-the-counter herbs, vitamins, supplements, and anti-inflammatories (such as ibuprofen, Aleve, Motrin, meloxicam, or Celebrex) one week prior to surgery. 

If you take any prescribed medications that act as blood thinners such as aspirin, Plavix, Eliquis, Brilinta, or Coumadin, we ask that you check with your prescribing provider on when to safely stop those prior to your surgery.

Watch as our nurse navigator Katelyn discusses how patients should handle medications before their surgery at Nebraska Spine Hospital.

Nebraska Spine Hospital is dedicated to educating our patients on everything from healthy spine tips to what to expect before, during, and after surgery. For more information regarding your surgery, please take a look at the following resources.

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