I have made three blogs on medication vs herbs. My last blog had to do with taking herbs AND vitamins before a known surgery date. In that blog, I suggested that if you are scheduled for surgery to NOT take ANY herbs or vitamins for two weeks before your surgery date. One month would be even better. I would like to take this just a little bit further.

For the most part, we can do just fine taking a regular supply of herbs and vitamins to keep ourselves generally healthy. I've done it for myself and my family, by doing my own research .

When we have a medical condition, however, that is beyond our knowledge to “fix” ourselves, such as in my recent case, a hernia, then we need the expertise of the medical establishment. When we go to a surgeon and ask that person to remedy this situation, we are putting ourselves in their care. I have not met one doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, or emergency personal say that they love losing patients. I've never gone to medical school, never even been a CNA but, I do know that all of these people in whatever medical fields they have trained in, want their patients to get well .

WHEN WE DON'T TELL OR WE LIE, about the herbs and vitamins that we are taking prior to surgery, we are tying these peoples' hands behind their backs, without their knowledge. When we ask a surgeon to do an operation for us, it is not our place to tell that surgeon how he/she will perform the operation. The nurses in the operating room know their jobs; the anesthesiologist is the person keeping us alive.

For most of us, when we have surgery we are “out”. However, while we are out  we are putting our lives in their hands. When these folks are done with the operation, they need to be able to bring us back up into wakefulness. Stop and think about this a minute.

There are herbs and vitamins that what I call “fight” the medications that these folks use to help us. Some complications from taking herbs and vitamins are ; lowering or increasing the blood pressure; creating a rapid heartbeat, slowing the heart down; seizures; blood clotting, breathing problems, vomiting; and even death.

Imagine the scene in the operating room, if as soon as the surgery gets underway, your blood pressure plummets alarmingly or you can't breathe! If this wasn't suppose to happen or wasn't foreseen previously, you have added an emergency situation to what was supposed to be a routine operation! You could also die.

The medical professionals NEED to know if you are taking any herbs and vitamins so that they can work around them or even delay surgery. That's why I suggest that if you are taking vitamins and herbs to please do NOT lie about them and please stop taking them two weeks to one month before your surgery. Your life depends on it.