Emend or other anti-nausea med for surgery

[Who'sThere 331]

I know I have a lot of questions today, but my surgery is Tuesday, and it seems to be creeping up so fast!

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up some routine refills and get my bowel prep stuff, and the pharmacist found me in the aisle. He said he had bad news. The Emend which my surgeon prescribed for me to take the morning of my surgery to prevent nausea is on back order from the wholesalers. My pharmacist said he had called all the connections he had and couldn't get me the med from anywhere. Apparently it is a really potent anti-nausea med usually prescribed for chemo patients. He contacted the surgeon's office to ask if there was something else for me to take, and they said, "Oh, yeah, that is on back order. We forgot. I guess she'll just have to do without it." There strength ordered was 40 mg, and the pharmacist has 80 mg in stock, but the nurse said that wouldn't be needed. I'm nervous about going into surgery with nothing because I did get sick after my last surgery (gall bladder). I DO NOT want to throw up after this one.

So, my question is (finally...lol) did you guys take anything before to prevent nausea, and if so, what did you take?

I will be calling the surgeon's office myself tomorrow, but I thought I'd get some ideas here so that maybe I would know some alternatives to request.

Thanks in advance!

[Shay7997 0]

I had absolutely no nausea or nausea medication. I don't normally have a weak stomach either. However, each person is different.

[ImGonnaLose 0]

My doctor prescribed a Scopolamine patch, which I put on behind my ear the night before surgery, and kept on for a day or two after surgery.

[melmarlem 0]

I can't tell you how it is after surgery as I am still waiting to be banded myself. However, as a nursing student I know just enough to be dangerous...maybe you could ask your surgeon to presribe you zofran or phenergan. Both are antiemetics and can be used to prevent nausea after surgery. Just a thought...

[Who'sThere 331]

Thanks. Yeah, I thought about asking for phenergan if nothing else. I actually have some of that already. My MIL is an RN, and she said they must think I need something really bad to prescribe Emend and not just phenergan in the first place. I suppose that is what has me worried the most. I will post on here after I talk to them tomorrow. In the meantime, if anyone else has experiences or advice to give, I'm all ears (or eyes on here, I suppose...lol).

[Sue Magoo 71]

Hi:

I had very bad nausea after my band. Then 9 months later I had gallbladder surgery and it wasn't so bad. The surgeon had me use one of the scopolamine (sp?) Patches before the surgery. He told me they would do everything that they could for the nausea during surgery with meds. He sent me home with scripts for zofran and something that I could use by suppository in case the nausea was making me toss all of the oral meds. It ended up not being bad after gallbladder removal. Then, this past May I had a Tummy Tuck. Had all of the same meds and I had horrible nausea with dry heaves for the first 18 to 24 hours postop. I don't know why it worked with gallbladder, but not with tummy tuck. It may have been because I was having anesthesia alot longer, but I'm really not sure.

I have issues with nausea with pain meds too. After lapband and gallbladder I didn't need much for painkiller. After the tummy tuck I took pain meds for about a week at bedtime but I kept up with the anti-nausea drugs while taking the pain meds.

Hope all goes well for you.

I love my band and my new flat tummy!

Sue

[melmarlem 0]

If all else fails, and after surgery you actually are feeling nauseous...tell the nurses you are afraid that you are going to vomit and choke on it...I'm sure they would be working their magic to get you an injection of either very quickly! haha Good luck!