{"id":200,"date":"2007-09-22T23:40:07","date_gmt":"2007-09-23T04:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/09\/22\/vicodin-addiction-and-heart-surgery-beware\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T11:18:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T16:18:26","slug":"vicodin-addiction-and-heart-surgery-beware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/09\/22\/vicodin-addiction-and-heart-surgery-beware\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicodin Addiction, Opioid Use And Heart Surgery… Beware!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m just getting back from dinner at my mother-in-law’s house. Bonnie really is such a great cook! She made this cheese, blintz souflee that was yummm-eeeeee.<\/p>\n

Anyways… During dinner, I started speaking with Robert, a retired pharmacist. We started talking about heart valve surgery and the problems I had during my recovery from double heart valve surgery (specifically cardiac depression). I mentioned my post-operative issue with Vicodin and Robert became very intrigued by the discussion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pain<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert used to work as an I.C.U. pharmacist. He went on to tell some really interesting statistics about Vicodin and heart surgery patients.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Robert told me that Vicodin is the preferred pain medication administered following cardiac surgery. Are you ready for the statistic that blew my mind?<\/p>\n

For every ten patients who use Vicodin regularly following heart surgery, one of those ten patients become addicted. One in ten! Or, 10% of heart patients have an addiction to Vicodin!<\/p>\n

I guess I was part of that ten percent group. Looking back on it, there was nothing fun about my Vicodin issue.<\/p>\n

Related Links:<\/p>\n