How To Prepare Your Body For Surgery

How To Prepare Your Body For Surgery

The prospect of having surgery where you will often be cut open to resolving a health issue that cannot be handled using prescription medicine is a scary thing. Fortunately, the reality is that elective surgeries – ones where you choose to have them rather than being an emergency in the ER – allows you to prepare properly ahead of the appointment date.

There’s a good body of research that indicates people who mentally prepare for their surgery and take the right steps before they get to the hospital tend to have fewer complications thereafter.

Here are a few recommended steps to take before having a surgical procedure.

Get Prepared Emotionally First

Whether a surgery is a one-day thing or will require hospitalization for a few days or a couple of weeks, the lack of control over what will happen causes many men and women to stress unduly. The stressing causes hormones to be released into the bloodstream that impairs the body’s immune system in protecting itself. When the body is in a weakened state post-op, it needs all the help it can get, so staying relaxed ahead of surgery and assuaging your fears is the right thing to do. In this way, you’re helping your body to help itself get well sooner.

Avoid Excessive Exercise

It sounds obvious, but it’s best not to exercise or keep too busy in the days leading up to surgery. When you come into the operating room already exhausted, it doesn’t help matters one bit. While keeping physically fit is a good thing, laying off any regular exercise routines (or extensive shopping trips) is best for people whose mobility isn’t currently impaired due to their medical issue(s).

The basic idea is to keep everything light. If you’re working in the lead-up, then don’t lift heavy boxes or do anything strenuous that could give your body something else to be healing from when you’re going into surgery.

Follow a Sensible Diet

What you should eat in the lead up to your planned surgery changes the closer you get to the date. On the day, you want to stick to still water for liquids and avoid eating solid food too. In the days leading up to the surgery, fiber and whole grains are best avoided. You want to stick to simple carbohydrates that move through your body sooner, so they’re not still with you by the time you are on the operating table.

Depending what time your surgery is, you may need to avoid eating solids and stay completely off dairy products the previous day too. Seek advice from the anesthesiologist or lead surgeon about their recommendations, which may differ depending on the procedure and the anesthesia being used on the day. Your surgeon has probably attended one of the surgical schools shown on bestsurgicaltechschools.com to learn their trade, which should provide reassurance that you’re in good hands and will sail through the procedure.

Avoid Being Around Sick People

When you pick up a cold or something worse, then the surgery could be called off. For this reason, it may be a good idea to have a few days off work before the appointment date or make it a point to walk away from anyone you know is sick or who is sneezing or coughing. Just be sensible about staying as germ-free as possible ahead of your surgery, to avoid problems.

It is not that difficult to prepare yourself mentally and physically ahead of a scheduled surgery. Just take sensible steps to avoid major issues to put your body in the best position to tolerate the procedure and enjoy a faster recovery as a result.

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