The
conservative approach is to stop Boluoke® 1 week prior to surgery. The
patient may resume taking Boluoke® 15 days after surgery if no
complication or earlier if the physician deems appropriate.Boluoke® does not significantly affect blood tests like PT and aPTT (thus it does not affect INR). However, patients should always consult their physicians before taking Boluoke® while on any prescriptions.
The capsules used in Boluoke® are enteric coated capsules. They are designed to resist stomach acid and dissolve in the small intestines, because lumbrokinase may be inactivated by stomach acid. Preliminary in-house tests using Sonoclot® machine (manufactured by Sienco, Inc.) indicated that Boluoke® is still effective when taken without the capsules on an empty stomach. However, it is highly recommended that the patients take Boluoke® in its original capsulated format whenever possible.
Contra-indications for Boluoke® are: allergy to lumbrokinase or earthworm; recent surgery; pre-surgery; lumbar puncture or arterial puncture; trauma; active internal bleeding or GI ulceration; any other bleeding disorders/tendencies. Patients should always consult their physicians before taking Boluoke®.
The earthworm has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a few thousand years, and is considered to be one of the safest ingredients in the traditional pharmacopoeias. The studies on Boluoke® showed that when taken at high dosage, some people may experience nausea, diarrhea, bloating, skin itch/rash, which resolved when the product was stopped.
There is a theoretical possibility that Boluoke® may be cleaved and rendered ineffective by other enzymes, so we currently do not recommend taking Boluoke® with another enzyme product at the same time. If you do have to take other enzyme products while on Boluoke®, try to space more time between the dosing of the two enzyme products (i.e. at least 2 hours).
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.