706- 507 - 7318
-
-
Herbal Medicines and Surgery: A Safe Combination?
Herbal medicines have been used for thousands of years, and have had a significant role in treating illness and injury for centuries in cultures worldwide. Even with this experience, our present knowledge of the beneficial effects of natural herbs and herbal medicines is still only partially understood. In many ways, the practice of western medicine is only now just beginning to meaningfully incorporate the best benefits of herbal medicine that have been known for centuries in Asia, the Far East, South America and elsewhere.
Herbal medicines include flowering plants, shrubs, trees, mosses, ferns, kelps or fungi. Herbs have a wide range of application in many cultures to include the treatment of illness as well as general life enhancement, and physical and spiritual well being. Usable parts include flowers, seeds, leaves, bark, roots, fruits and just about any other part one might think of. Although most people in Western Europe and North America might consider herbal medicine as distinct from medicines available at the local pharmacy, this has only relatively recently been the case. In the 1930’s and into the 1940’s, US medical schools taught that plant-based drugs and medicines were, in fact, the primary medicines available. Since that time, our understanding has changed to focus more on formulated pharmaceuticals that have dominantly replaced their original plant-based counterparts. This has been both a benefit and a loss – a two-sided equation that many current physicians are only now beginning to fully appreciate.
Are Herbal Medicines Safe?
As with any other medication one might ingest, there are side effects as well as benefits
Herbal treatments often have quite potent chemical properties, similar to manufactured pharmaceuticals, and herbal treatments must be used with the same degree of understanding, respect, and expertise. Most herbal medicines are quite safe when taken at the right time, for the right problem, with a proper dose and with clear understanding of the properties and potential side effects. Problems with herbal medicines in this setting include variation in the purity of active ingredients in one formulation versus another, and unknown reactions with other medications (herbal or pharmaceutical). This has been an area of intense interest for experts in the integrative medicine arena, and great progress is being made. At Top Doctors Labs we embrace and support these efforts and the strategy of applying thorough and open-minded scientific study to the pursuit of safe and natural health solutions.
But not during surgery...
Surgery is of particular difficulty when it comes to herbal medicines or supplements. Surgery is usually considered as a last measure when all reasonable non-operative options have been exhausted. Surgery is a time during which a patient’s body is confronted with many unique stresses and pharmaceutical / anesthetic agents that are needed to make surgery safe, predictable, and quite frankly possible. Anesthesiologists are actively conducting research in the US, Europe, China and elsewhere to determine exactly how certain herbs and dietary supplements interact with anesthesia and other agents used to make surgery possible. This research has shown that some herbal medicines can unpredictably prolong and deepen the effects of general anesthesia. Other herbal medicines may significantly increase the risk of bleeding or interact to unsafely raise blood pressure. Another group has significant effects on delaying wound healing. Some other herbal medicine effects are more subtle and less critical, and some interactions are still simply unknown.
For now, the recommended and safest course is to stop all herbal medicines prior to surgery to avoid a potential unsafe interaction.
Regardless, it is critically important to tell your doctor about everything you might be taking before surgery, herbal medicines or herbal supplements included.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists and others recommend that all herbal supplements and/or herbal medications be stopped for at least 2-3 weeks before an elective procedure. This represents the best means of avoiding an unexpected effect or cross reaction with an anesthetic or similar agent during surgery or immediately after.
There are thousands of herbal options that might be reasonably and safely used to support the management of illness and injury or for use as supportive nutritional supplements. Despite the incredible wealth of potential benefits for herbal medicine outside the operating room, some herbal medications are unsafe in surgery, and all herbal supplements should be stopped 2-3 weeks before surgery or as directed by your surgeon.
Top Doctors Labs Surgiplex MD ® and our other recovery support formulas are carefully crafted with the above in mind. We provide safe, effective and natural approaches, using integrated compounds that are well known and formulated to minimize potential for unexpected interaction with anesthesia or other agents in the critical window before, during and after surgery.
