I am on several medications that indicate they are not to be crushed and only swallowed whole. Do I have to change to different medications? They are all extended release medications .

You will need to see your doctor who will talk to a pharmacist and let you know what can and won't work after the operation. In my experience they took me off all long acting tablets and substituted them for short acting tablets. best of luck with your op.

Crushing extended release medications is a really bad idea, so it's best to switch. My surgeon told me not to swallow pills whole for two weeks, but said that after that it was ok. I talked to my prescribing MD and she wrote for two weeks of a different version of the current medicines I was on. When I finished those, I just want back to my regular meds.

It would be in your best interest to talk to your surgeon/PCP about extended release medications though. Surgery might affect their absorption rate and efficacy. A lot of the time, like Kup said, they'll switch you to a different version of the same thing.

I have asked my pharmacist about my time released capsules and they told me I can open them and put in spoonful of water (liquid) and swallow.

Just ask they are there to help you.