Why we can't take NSAIDS

 scared me knowing that alot of pcp. will refer you to have gastric bypass. and then they dont have a clue on how to treat you after . they need to study up on it and learn it . sometimes i get a weird way of thinking , all medical practices are about money not the people. but hey , what do i know ...... as many people who get surgery today on weight loss. they need to always know what to do to each person who has it and not econd guess... my pcp doesnt crae to listen to me now, so i acan imagine . after my surgery

I had an accident a little over two weeks ago. I cutt my left arm pretty bad from the drivers window. By the way I had my surgery in april 2011. At the hospital while I was waiting two hours for the doctor to even look at my arm the nurse comes in with a cup with two pills in it. At first I started to grab the cup then my husband says wait she cant take pills she just had surgery which I had already told them as soon as they brought me in. She breathed real hard like well ok. Then she leaves and comes back in just a few mins with three cups with liquid in them I was about half there from the shock of the accident so I take the first cup and I say what is this she says mortin and I had not had anything to eat that day so the first thing I thought was this is going to hurt my stomach because the fact that I had just had surgery did not even pop into my head at first. I took a small sip of it and then relized wait I cant take this and thats what I told the nurse. She handed me the thrid cup that had loratab in it and she rolled her eyes at me took the other two cups back and flung them in the trash beside the bed and stormed away. It was like it put her out for me not to take the meds she brought me. So about six hours after that the doctor came and stiched up my arm and I got to go home eight hours after getting there. I understand that not every doctor and nurse knows that we cant take these meds but when you tell them they should not act like you are lying either. One of the biggest issue with health care is that doctors dont listen to there patients.

Melissa

Oh, I definitely agree that it's a problem that so many doctors don't listen.  Certainly not all patients are very well educated about their health, but many of us are.  I'm pretty lucky that my PCP is pretty good at listening to me.  Like, I just take her a list of labs when it's time to have my labs done and she takes my word for it that those are the labs I need.  Now, if I just went in and said it's time for my labs, who knows what she'd order.  I really doubt she knows what labs RNY patients need.  But she knows I know and orders whatever I request.

Thanks Kelly for such a detailed explaination.  This is the number one reason I'm second guessing RNY and strongly considering VSG now.  I keep flip flopping.  My two main issues are the NSAID ban with RNY or the possibility of making my GERD worse with VSG.

Kelly,

I agree that your explaination of 'why no nsaids' is excellent!!! 

I will share this info with the support group attendees and other vets I know who are not online. 

The same warning goes for asprin.  I list allergies to asprin and nsaids with all medical professionals I see. 

Thank you again for the valuable information you share with all of us here!!! 

You really got me worried now.  I knew about the nsaids, but my cardiologist wants me to still take 81 mg of safety coated aspirin and my surgeon said this would be fine since it's such a low dose.  Is he way off here or am I worried for nothing?

Heart health trumps stomach health.

A low-dose aspirin probably won't bother you, but you should always have it in the back of your mind that you are taking an NSAID and so if you get stomach pains, or other symptoms of an ulcer, keep this in mind.

The WORST problem in our situation is if we get a severe ulcer in our remnant stomach. No way to scope it, and see the problem and cauterize a bleeding ulcer. A very tiny number of people have even died from having bleeding ulcers in their remnant stomach that wasn't detected and/or cured in time .... so knowlege is power. If you have unexplained stomach pains, start getting anemic, have tarry stools, you likely are having a bleeding ulcer in the remnant and it's time to get help right away rather than sitting on the problem.

NOT everyone who takes NSAIDs will develop an ulcer or have problems, but it's just so much worse in our case with our blind stomach.

I gotta agree with Lady Lithia.

Totally Right Kelly my friend.  I met a lady also was thinking she would be healthy...a Roux.  She was taking baby aspirin  81mg.  It gave her a huge ulcer.  I think I learned my lesson.  If I take an Nsaid which is rarely if Tylenol doesn't work...I make sure I take with a meal.  I only take it a few days also...it's when I ran out of tylenol in Europe and I was biking and it killed my knee...go figure!  Tylenol did help but then ibuprophen did too!  I ended up buying more tylenol in Barcelona...but then I wondered if it really was that!  Crazy days!  Patty

Thanks Lady Lithia and Kelly.  I appreciate your opnions.   I feel better now.