The findings, to be presented next month at the World Congress on Anesthesiology in Montreal, come from a survey of 752 patients led by Alan Kaye of Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock. Herbal supplements, popular for treating everything from the common cold to high cholesterol, are not considered drugs by federal regulators and many doctors. However, because they affect the body in ways similar to drugs, mixing herbal supplements with traditional medicines can be deadly.
Physicians have to ask, and they have to ask in the right way.
A lot of times people expect their doctors to make fun of them for taking these. Today's doctors have not been trained well in herbal remedies, Betz says. The researchers at Texas Tech agree. If you want to take them, that's your choice, but we should be told. The American Society of Anesthesiologists recommends that patients stop taking herbal supplements two to three weeks before surgery.