Please help ! Can anyone tell me how we take our regular medication after surgery please? I have to take anti - depressants and can’t just stop them , but won’t be able to take tablets and am worried about what I’m going to do. I was told that crushing them doesn’t do it .

Edited August 10, 20196 yr by PEGGO
missed out letters

Check with your Team immediately.

Most meds that are tablet form can be spilt/broken in half to swallow easily.

You need to have your med situation sorted prior to surgery because some Surgeons require you switch from extended release formulas to standard meds. Sometimes this means a change in meds altogether.

Good Luck ?

I’ll be checking with my pharmacist so see what he suggests

Make sure yours comes in SR, I went from 150 Extended Release twice- Daily Wellbutrin to. 100mg Slow Release 3 times daily. My depression is in submission, like an alcoholic I will never be free- but it's still GOOD, Tomkitten likes me taking them still, says I'm neater and sweeter to be around if I DO- so your frequency or strenght might change but nobody expects you to go Cold Turkey at this point of Life!

I also take antidepressants and some other prescription medication and I had no problem swallowing them starting the day I got home from the hospital post-op. Just take them as usual. By the way, there is no problem with absorption of anti-depressant medication post-op in case you were wondering.

the only tablets it took me awhile to swallow whole (maybe three weeks?) were ursodiol and those big calcium tablets. Everything else I could manage as soon as I got home from the hospital.

Please help ! Can anyone tell me how we take our regular medication after surgery please? I have to take anti - depressants and can’t just stop them , but won’t be able to take tablets and am worried about what I’m going to do. I was told that crushing them doesn’t do it .

Hi. I had the same concern about my antidepressants. I was takinf Effexor XR, extended release, and my doc switched me to immediate release before surgery. Worked ok for 3 months, but I was having to take them 3 times a day, which was a drag. Then they stopped being absorbed (I knew because I got withdrawal symptoms). So I had to crush them. You can't crush extended release, only immediate release. I got tired of taking Effexor 3 times a day, so Im in the process of switching to liquid Prozac. Once a day, and so far, so good. Work with your psychiatrist, and be patient. The process takes a while. Good luck!!

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Thank you. everyone for your replies ,It was so helpful :-) So can we take tablets without bring sick ? That really worries me . I have a really bad fear of being sick , haven’t done it for nearly 50 years . I really should have sorted this out before . My surgery is on Monday 12th! My anti depressants are immediate release , but I take another one which is slow release, and I know they don’t crush well.

42 minutes ago, GradyCat said:

I also take antidepressants and some other prescription medication and I had no problem swallowing them starting the day I got home from the hospital post-op. Just take them as usual. By the way, there is no problem with absorption of anti-depressant medication post-op in case you were wondering.

Thank you for replying Gradycat. So you could swallow them without being sick ? Thank you about the absorption post op, I was wondering that too .My surgery is on Monday so should have done this before really .

I was able to swallow all my meds (capsules and tablets) starting the day after my surgery.

7 minutes ago, dramermom said:

I was able to swallow all my meds (capsules and tablets) starting the day after my surgery.

Thank you dramamom, that’s reassuring . Not so worried now ?

3 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Check with your Team immediately.

Most meds that are tablet form can be spilt/broken in half to swallow easily.

You need to have your med situation sorted prior to surgery because some Surgeons require you switch from extended release formulas to standard meds. Sometimes this means a change in meds altogether.

Good Luck ?

Thank you GreentTlael,

1 hour ago, catwoman7 said:

the only tablets it took me awhile to swallow whole (maybe three weeks?) were ursodiol and those big Calcium tablets. Everything else I could manage as soon as I got home from the hospital.

Thank you Catwoman.

5 hours ago, PEGGO said:

Please help ! Can anyone tell me how we take our regular medication after surgery please? I have to take anti - depressants and can’t just stop them , but won’t be able to take tablets and am worried about what I’m going to do. I was told that crushing them doesn’t do it .

I find it helps to take pills with very warm water. I take wellbutrin and I break it in half and take it with very warm water and that helps it break down faster and I don't worry about anything getting stuck

On 08/10/2019 at 10:26, dramermom said:

I was able to swallow all my meds (capsules and tablets) starting the day after my surgery.

Did you take them with a sip of water?

I have an extended release capsule that my pre op nurse told me to take the morning of surgery. My surgeon released me to start back on it as soon as I got home from the hospital.