Post-Operative Medications

Our goal is to provide a multimodal preventative approach to pain management. We want you to be as comfortable and well-managed with your pain following surgery. There are multiple preventative steps and treatments that we incorporate into our approach to pain management. These include:

Anti-inflammatory: reduce post-op pain and swelling

Blood Clot Prevention: medication to keep the blood thinned and help minimize the risk of blood clots.

• Aspirin 81mg by mouth twice daily with food x 30 days
  • If you have any conditions that prevent you from taking aspirin, please discuss this before your discharge from the hospital.
• Some patients may resume an anti- coagulant (i.e. Coumadin, Plavix, Eliquis, or Xarelto) that was taken preoperatively as indicated.
• If your family doctor or cardiologist has recommended a specific protocol, please refer to that.

Other Post-Op Medications:

• Nausea: People may experience nausea after surgery or in response directly to other medications
  • Zofran 4mg 1 pill by mouth every 8 hours as needed for nausea
• Stool softeners: Some people experience constipation while taking pain medication.
  • Colace 100mg by mouth twice daily as needed
    • You may consider taking Milk of Magnesia, drinking prune juice, increasing water and fluids, adding fiber to your diet, or taking an over the counter stool softener to prevent this.
  • Antibiotics: Certain patients may go home on oral antibiotics, especially if they had their surgery performed in as an outpatient and went home the same day as surgery.
    • Keflex 500mg 1 pill by mouth every 6 hours x 3 doses
    • Clindamycin 300mg 1 pill by mouth every 6 hours x 3 doses
  • Home medications: Resume your home medications as instructed by your physician.

Understanding Opioids (download PDF brochure)