HF 6404

Medicines, Herbs and Vitamins that Affect Bleeding

Many medicines, herbs, vitamins and diet supplements may increase bleeding during and after a test or surgery. Below is a list of some that may cause bleeding. Tell your doctor about all the medicines, herbs, vitamins or supplements that you are taking before any test or surgery.

Blood Thinners

Stop taking your blood thinners as told by your doctor. Do not restart it until told to. Contact your doctor’s office if you are not sure a medicine is safe to take. Stop taking:

  • Coumadin® 5 days before surgery ortest if INR is between 2-3. Stopwarfarin 6 days before if INR isbetween 3-4.5.

  • Fragmin® 24 hours before surgery ortest.

  • Lovenox® 12 hours before surgery ortest.

Stop taking these medicines 1 day before for standard bleeding risk patients and 2 days before for high bleeding risk patients:

  • Eliquis®

  • Pradaxa® normal kidney

  • Xarelto® *

  • Savasya*

*Patients with impaired kidney function will need to stop these 3-5 days prior to surgery or test.

If you have impaired kidney function, stop 2 days before if standard bleeding risk, or 4 days before if high bleeding risk:

  • Pradaxa®

Antiplatelets

  • Aspirin (any brand, all doses)-your surgeon’s office will let you know when to stop taking this medicine.

  • Pletal® stop 1-2 days before surgery or test.

  • Plavix® stop 5-7 days before. Your surgeon may want to adjust this.

  • Effient® stop 5-7 days before surgery or test.

  • Brillinta® stop 5 days before surgery or test. Your surgeon may adjust this.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)

Stop taking these 7 days before and for 7 days after your surgery or test.

  • Celebrex®

  • Voltaren® or Cataflam®

  • Dolobid®

  • Lodine®

  • Nalfon®

  • Ibuprofen, Motrin® Advil® Nuprin®

  • Indocin®

  • Orudis® or Actron®

  • Toradol®

  • Mobic®

  • Relafen®

  • Naproxen, Naprosyn® or Aleve®

  • Daypro®

  • Feldene®

  • Clinoril®

Herbs, Vitamins, Diet Supplements

Stop taking these 10-14 days before and for 7 days after your surgery or test:

  • Dong quai

  • Feverfew

  • Garlic (high dose)

  • Ginger

  • Ginkgo biloba

  • Ginseng

  • Omega-3-fatty acid (high dose)

  • Vitamin E (high dose)

  • Tumeric

To Our Patient’s Doctor:

To find out more, please see our guidelines at UW Health www.uwhealth.org

If you are a patient receiving care at UnityPoint – Meriter, Swedish American or a health system outside of UW Health, please use the phone numbers provided in your discharge instructions for any questions or concerns.