Herbs and surgery: Not so cut-and-dry Q: My mother is scheduled for hip replacement surgery soon. We have been strongly advised to stop ALL herbal supplements of any kind two weeks before surgery. One doctor has signs plastered all over his office with "DANGER" in bold letters, etc. When I asked why, they explained that it is because of a concern that herbal products thin the blood and can cause increased bleeding during surgery. I'm wondering if that is indeed true, or if it's just a sneaky way for the medical profession to plant that thought that herbal approaches aren't worthwhile. Should we be as concerned as they're implying? JVW: Since he is an herbalist, I will defer to my colleague and regular Nutrition & Healing columnist Kerry Bone on this matter. Here is what Kerry has to say: KB: There is no definitive proof of harm from taking herbs right up to the day of surgery. I think the "two-week warning" approach taken by many doctors is excessive -- and biased. Here's why: The main concern expressed in the medical journals is that some herbs can increase the tendency to bleed. These fears have some rational basis when it comes to garlic and ginger, but the journal articles also mention herbs like feverfew, chamomile, and ginseng, which have NEVER been connected to adverse bleeding. But that doesn't seem to matter to most mainstream doctors: There seems to be a willingness to believe even the flimsiest of arguments, as long as they're attacking herbs. However, it is good to be cautious. That's why I generally recommend that my patients stop taking herbs about one week before surgery. That's one week prior to surgery, not two. Again, garlic and ginger are the only exceptions. Garlic has been credibly linked to adverse bleeding events after surgery, and ginger in high doses could cause the same problem. So in these two instances, I do agree with the mainstream recommendation and always advise my patients to stop taking them two full weeks before surgery. (It's also important to note that the above adverse events for garlic occurred after it had been eaten as a food, not as a dietary supplement. So it's just as crucial to stop eating garlic and ginger before surgery as it is to stop taking supplements.) What is...an aura? An aura is a sensory disturbance that occurs prior to the onset of a migraine headache. An aura can be visual, where the person sees flashing lights, patterns, or some other distortion; auditory, where the person hears buzzing or other sounds; olfactory, where the person smells an odor that is not really present; or tactile, where the person experiences a physical sensation unrelated to an external stimulus. | 
