Anti Viral meds pre/post surgery

[onceagain]

I just had translab procedure done on 6/4.  My Dr put me on anti viral meds day before and for several days after.  Nurses were surprised.  Supposedly it protects against shingles type virus from getting activated on nerve(just my guess)   Has any one else had this course of treatment?

[Boppie]

Many patients have these drugs prescribed to prevent the herpes virus from attacking the facial nerves during the recovery period.

[sabuck]

Yes my doctor put me on this protocol post-op but said the medical community is not sure if there is a relationship to helping save facial nerve damage or not. In fact I was under the impression it is sort of a somwhat experimental treatment. I did have loss of facial nerves for about 7-10 days that ocurred about a week after surgery. Steriod treatment did finally resolve the problem but did the antiviral help? Who knows?

[Boppie]

I believe the idea is to avoid a herpes effect on the weakened nerve that could be Bell's Palsey (temporary but a nuisance).

[OTO]

When I had my surgery at the House Clinic, they prescribed FAMVIR (anti-viral med) for 5 days prior to surgery.   There is literature that the shingles virus might "reside" along the facial nerve.   The thought is to prevent it from activating and causing Bell's Palsy issues post surgery.

[chocolatetruffle]

when i was at House, i was also prescribed FAMIR 3 days before and after my surgery.  i was told it was an experimental thing to see how the drug will affect a successful facial nerve outcome.  The only facial weakness i experienced was inability to raise my eyebrow for 1 week, so i guess it kinda worked? anyway, House is expected to come out with a white paper on this research.  Hope this helps!

[leapyrtwins]

Have personally never heard of this, but it's an interesting concept.

Had a very positive facial nerve outcome - only a little weakness the first day post op but one dose of steroids cleared it up.

Jan

[Jim Scott]

Onceagain:

The pre-op anti-viral treatment is news to me, too.  Like Jan, I didn't have this and had no real facial nerve problems.  However, it's encouraging to know that doctors are attentive to AN post-op complications and working to minimize them.  I'm not surprise that the House Clinic is in the forefront of this experiment.  I'll look forward to reading their report when it's published for general consumption.   Thanks for the heads-up on this new development. 

Jim

[Cheryl R]

I was given Valtrex,the anti viral med after my 2001 surgery and only while I was in the hospital.   I did not recieive it with the next surgeries.                 I never did ask exactly why they were using it.       I knew what the med was but was surprised over its use.
                                            Cheryl R

[hruss]

Hey Onceagain,

 I was put on strong medicines immediately after my both surgeries, each medicine treatment lasting about 1 week - I think this is the right way to prevent any complications. Furthermore, I was also put on IV medicines 3 days before my first surgery – they explained to me that they prepare the brain and the surrounded by the AN organs for the surgery. Plus, I have not had any facial complications.

So need to worry.

Jim, when will the report of House Ear Clinic be issued? I would like also to read it, too.

Best
Hrissy

[hruss]

opps sorry i meant "So NO need to worry!"