A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

Postoperaive nausea and vomiting: It doesn’t have to be that way.

Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses a magic pill for postoperative nausea and vomiting.

blog postoperative nauseaI saw a patient today who was thrilled with his postoperative recovery.  Yes, he was sore and couldn’t wait to take a shower but he was sooooo thrilled not to be nauseated. He had experienced postoperative nausea and vomiting with every surgical procedure he had ever had.  Fortunately he told me about this problem prior to surgery and I was able to prescribe him a magic pill called Emend.

Emend is a medication that is taken several hours before surgery.  It doesn’t treat the problem.  It prevents the problem.  And postoperative nausea and vomiting can be a very serious problem especially with some types of procedures.  It can stir up bleeding in facial surgery and can compromise the abdominal muscle repair done with tummy tucks.  And even if no damage is done, barfing after surgery can make you wish you were never born.

Emend is really, really pricey.  This patient paid $45 for one pill but that was all he needed to sail though his recovery without one hurried trip to pray to the white porcelain god.

Thanks for reading and if you have a problem like postoperative nausea and vomiting, let your surgeon know!  Oh, and the makers of Emend don’t pay me anything to promote their product.  My reward is in the form of non-barfing patients.  Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

 

Category: Patient Safety, Postoperative Care | Tags: , , , ,

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