“Will I be given antidepressants in the hospital?”

It really depends on the type of surgery planned and the type of antidepressant medication. However, your medications are usually continued by the time you leave the hospital. If you’re not able to take anything by mouth after surgery in the hospital, anti-depressant medications are usually held until you can eat/drink. So unless there is a contraindication to resume (ex. Interaction with another med, lab abnormalities, etc) your meds will resume at discharge and possibly while hospitalized depending on your situation (type of surgery, type of medication, no other drug interactions, etc).

While you are able to take pills, they will usually continue them as long as there is no unsafe interaction with your other medications and procedures that they are doing.

Generally speaking you would be able to resume your antidepressants after surgery. It would be important to speak with your physician about this let them know how important it is to you and ask questions.

Dear inquisitive patient,

Yes, you should continue to receive your antidepressants in the hospital. Most medications including antidepressants need to be taken on a daily basis. Your depression doesn't stop because you are undergoing surgery and could potentially worsen given the stress and circumstance of surgery. The hospital should reconcile (review and determine the need to continue or stop medicines) on your admission. Sometimes medications need to be stopped during the time around surgery, but these are usually specific medications such as anticoagulants (blood thinners) or immune system suppressors because these medications could produce a bad outcome for you when taken prior to undergoing surgery.

Thanks.

I always continue antidepressants for my patients. There are very few circumstances when antidepressants are not continued. That being said, a majority of antidepressants have a very long half life, meaning it takes a long time for them to leave your system. This is the same reason it takes so long to get therapeutic on antidepressants. A couple days off of your medication shouldn't be a big deal if you happened to have a circumstance in which your medication needed to be held.

Hope this helps,
Jack Stephens, MD