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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Can I Take Lexilium To Aid Sleep Before 2 Days Of Surgery Which Requires General Anesthesia?

I have been using lexilium to aid me sleep during the night on regular basis for the last couple of weeks, however, I have been scheduled for surgery that will take place after 2 days and would like to know whether I may use lexilium to aid me sleep during these anxious nights knowing that I will have the surgery that would most likely require general anethstesia? Please advise.
Mon, 13 Jan 2014
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Psychiatrist,  's  Response
Greetings !

Well ideally you should have first told about your use of sleep aid drug like lexilium to your operating surgeon because being a benzodiazepine drug it has a tendency to cause central nervous system depression thereby aggravating the action of general anaesthetic agent which is going to be used for surgery and thus increasing risk for you.

So I suggest that since you have been taking lexilium for past 2 weeks which by now must have allowed this drug to establish steady state plasma levels in your body which means that even if you stop the drug now some amount of it will stay in your system for the next 10-14 days at least so now what you can do is that you inform your surgeon about it and after discussing this with him you shall decide on not taking this drug for 2 days before surgery and at least 2 days after surgery so that it dos not interfere much with your surgery preparation and recovery.

I hope this helps

Regards
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Can I Take Lexilium To Aid Sleep Before 2 Days Of Surgery Which Requires General Anesthesia?

Greetings ! Well ideally you should have first told about your use of sleep aid drug like lexilium to your operating surgeon because being a benzodiazepine drug it has a tendency to cause central nervous system depression thereby aggravating the action of general anaesthetic agent which is going to be used for surgery and thus increasing risk for you. So I suggest that since you have been taking lexilium for past 2 weeks which by now must have allowed this drug to establish steady state plasma levels in your body which means that even if you stop the drug now some amount of it will stay in your system for the next 10-14 days at least so now what you can do is that you inform your surgeon about it and after discussing this with him you shall decide on not taking this drug for 2 days before surgery and at least 2 days after surgery so that it dos not interfere much with your surgery preparation and recovery. I hope this helps Regards