Dextromethorphan After General Anesthesia Safe?

[SpunkySkunk347]

I am going to be put under for surgery to have my wisdom teeth removed, and was planning on taking 300mg doses of dextromethorphan for the pain after the surgery.

I was wondering if there are any dangerous interactions between dextromethorphan and any of the drugs still in my system used to put me under.

I don't know which drugs exactly are being used to put me under, but I'll only be unconscious for an hour (2 hours max) if that helps.

My biggest concern would be something like a seizure, or going unconscious again due to the drugs used for general anesthesia still left in my system in active amounts.

I might ask the surgeon beforehand what drugs are being used, and then come back here and post what they were.

I'm thinking that dextromethorphan will be much more effective at reducing pain after the surgery than oxycodone or some other opioid

Thanks in advance for any responses!

My best guess would be that fentanyl is what they'll be using, probably in combination with another short lasting sedative, based on how short the period of time is that I'll be unconsciouss

 

[BallsStapledToLeg]

I would tread very carefully with regards to post anesthesia DXM, if they used any synthetic opioids there may be a risk of serotonin syndrome (most common synthetic opioids are serotonin releasers).

I would just stick with the oxycodone till a day or two post surgery, why risk it?

 

[sekio]

I'm thinking that dextromethorphan will be much more effective at reducing pain after the surgery than oxycodone or some other opioid

It's not, in general. DXM is a lousy painkiller. It is better off used as an opioid adjuvant at ~60mg doses.

Stick to anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) and topical lidocaine if you don't have access to opioids. The problem you will run into with DXM is that it isn't exactly amenable to redosing; your initial first plateau dose might give you effects, but the pain from wisdom teeth removal is usually at least a few days if not a week. So you'll have a hard time getting the dose right/

Besides you shouldn't be stressing your body with powerful SNRI/dissociative drugs so soon after a surgery; it increases your risk for infection and prolongs healing time.

 

[SpunkySkunk347]

I got a 5mg oxycodone prescription but my opiate tolerance, particularly to oxycodone, is too high - my baseline tolerance to oxycodone is permanently at 30mg for an effective dose, so I ended up taking them all already.

I'm going to try roughing it on just 800mg doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but I'm betting I'll be in so much pain that I'll end up taking DXM anyways.

Do you really think DXM is a lousy painkiller? With past experiences on DXM, I couldn't feel my body or my entire face, let alone my teeth; I'm hoping that taking a 300mg dose the first two nights will be enough to help me get to sleep at least. Do you really think it will prolong recovery time?

I am really hoping that they'll have given me a big shot of hydromorphone or morphine post surgery to get me through the worst of the pain those first few hours after the surgery.

I'm no stranger to pain; I broke my collarbone when I was 7 (only got codeine for it) and my femur when I was 16. After surgery for my femur, I actually didn't like using the morphine drip they gave me because it made me dizzy - and being dizzy when you're stuck laying in bed in a hospital all day sucks. I didn't take the hydrocodone they gave me when I got out of the hospital either (again, I was stuck laying in bed and it made me dizzy and nauseated). Anyways, I'm hoping that my natural tolerance to pain will be enough to pull me through this. Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Had my wisdom teeth removed today; they just refilled my prescription to oxy for me when I asked, so I won't be having to resort to using DXM anymore

They didn't put me entirely under either - which they didn't tell me they'd be doing. They just gave me a mega-dose of novacaine (I couldn't feel my mouth, lips, or chin at all for a good 4 and a half hours after the surgery) and some fentanyl from an IV. I couldn't feel much of what was going on though, and it wasn't too uncomfortable -- the surgeon cleverly told me "we're just cleaning your teeth right now", which was pretty clever, because I believed him and didn't even know they were operating on me. The surgeon made it sound like they were waiting for the drugs to knock me unconscious and were just cleaning my teeth in the meantime.