Preparing My Body for Surgery: Surgery Stress Prep

kr-surgery-photo This is me. Hours after adominal surgery. No make-up. Hospital bed-head. I’m Sore. I’m Achey. I’m in Pain. I’m having difficulty standing up straight, feeling the tug, pull and strain of the incision on my stomach, and getting ready for my first post-surgery walk with my trusty IV pole. This my 2nd surgery in 6 weeks. I had adhesions (scar-tissue) and my appendix removed. I’m trying to smile, but I’m also concentrating on not passing-out. My husband took this photo at my request, to share with our 4 kids, so they could see that mommy was doing okay while away from them, “getting better” in the hospital.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because this is the first surgery where I felt like I went into it, and came out of it, prepared for healing.

Keep in mind that I am 45 years old, perimenopausal, mom to 4 kids, work full-time, and I have mulitple autoimmune conditions–all of which predispose me and my body to loads of regular and daily stress.

Add to this list: another surgery.

Surgery is an obvious stressor for anyone. No one can deny it. No matter how you look at it, it is just plain full-of-stress.

For me, surgery is stressful in many different ways: emotionally, spiritually, and, of course, physically.

Emotionally, there is a loss of control as I turn my life over to modern medicine, to fix what I wasn’t able to fix on my own through healthy lifestyle changes. Emotional stress increases cortisol and insulin (toxic stress hormones), drains the adrenal system, changes the alkalinity of the body, and increases the imbalances of the gastrointestional system.

Spiritually, there is a fear of the unknown: Will everything be okay? What if something goes wrong? Will my husband and kids be okay? Sounds a little dramatic (only maybe), but let’s be real here: everyone has this thought when going under the knife–Everyone. Always.

The emotional and spiritual aspects of surgery are tricky and require preparation on another level– to be discussed on a later blog.

The focus of this blog post is on my physical preparation for surgery.

Physically, surgery is an obvious stressor. From the medications, antibiotics, and anesthesia, to incisions, cutting, burning, stitching, and removal of organs, the stress is Real. Graphic? Yes. Surgery, although sterile, is an extremely violent assault on the body. The result is tremendous trauma. And although everything that is experienced during surgery is necessary for the specific reasons of the surgery itself, it doesn’t reduce the stress and toll it takes on the body.

I am a firm believer that you can: pretreat and prepare your self, your body, your mind and your spirit for stress.

I practice this on daily basis in my daily life for daily health and wellness to buffer the effects of daily life-stress.

But this is the first time I have applied my belief specifically to surgery. And now I can say, from my personal experience, that infact you can prepare yourself for the physical stress of surgery.

A week before surgery, I started to feel more worry and concern about my recovery. My last surgery was really hard, and I still felt drained and inflammed. I decided to support my body for the stress ahead, and begin with the healing I knew that I needed to support my recovery. I did this more out of fear than anything else. The first surgery, I wasn’t well prepare for. I just couldn’t experience that again.

Remember, that my health is very important to me. I practice daily wellness as part of my hormone balance and healthy aging plan. If you haven’t taken supplements before, or practiced daily preventive medicine as part of your wellness plan, then remember to start-low and go-slow: for example, if you are adding supplements or probiotics to your wellness for the first time, start with lower doses and increase slowly over-time. Listening to your body along the way, and determining what works, individually, for you.

And as always, discuss and review your treatment plan with your holistic provider or health care practitioner before you begin any supplements or wellness plans.

Also, keep in mind that anytime you begin to supplement and support your body in a healthy way, you are beginning a subtle detox, which can create detox symptoms that go away once your body has removed the toxins from your lymphatic system, blood, and organs (like kidneys, liver, gut, and skin).

Taking time to prepare myself had positive benefits:

I tolerated the anesthesia better,
I’m not as swollen and puffy post-surgery,
I’m not holding on to the toxins like I was before–I literally feel less toxic and yucky,
I’m not as nauseous, and I didn’t throw-up,
and I’m moving better.

The pain is still bad, but I need less pain management this time around.

Here is what worked for me to prepare, and recover better, from the stress and trauma of surgery:
1. Prepping my gut for the surgical antibiotics used: add a daily probiotic. Look for a probiotic with multiple strains of bacteria with amounts in the billions. A daily probiotic of at least 20 billions per day is a good start.

I take a daily probiotic of 50 billion per day, and I increased my probiotic from 50 billion daily to 100 billion daily (50 billion with breakfast and 50 billion with dinner).

2. Supporting my liver and pancreas with digestive enzymes: Look for a digestive enzyme that has mulitple types of enzymes (enzymes end with the letters “ase” such as: protease (digests proteins), cellulase (digests plants), amylase and maltase (digest sugars), lipase (digests fat), and more. As we age, we make fewer digestive enzymes. It is estimated that by the time we reach 40 years old, our production of digestive enzymes has decreased by 30%, and continues to decrease with age. This contributes to poor digestion, irritable bowel, leaky gut, and reflux.

I take a daily digestive enzyme, and increased from one a day to twice a day before surgery. I also added a pancreatic support called pancreatin with ox bile since I knew that I had adhesions on my liver from a previous galbladder surgery, that would need to be removed, and would stress my pancreas.

3. Boosting my immune system and adrenals with natural adaptogens: Adaptogens are plants that naturally boost and support the immune and adrenal systems. Basically, they prepare the body to handle stress better. Examples of my favorite adaptoens are Ginseng, Rhodiola, and Ashwaghanda. They can be taken in a supplement form, and are often found in adrenal supports.

I have a long history of adrenal fatigue, so I take a daily adrenal support with adaptogens. Before surgery, I increased my adrenal support with more adaptogens to help my body naturally prepare and respond to the stress of surgery.

4. Supporting my cells, lymphatics, and detoxifying organ systems with antioxidants: Antioxidants help reduce free radicals, by binding with and removing toxins from the body, protecting the body from free radical, toxic damage, and destruction of cells. My top 3 favorite powerful daily antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin D3, and vitamin E.

Vitamin C is a potent intracellular antioxidant. This means it strengthens the Inside of the cell. It helps the body make and repair connective tissue like bones, blood vessels, and skin.

I take a daily vitamin C, and doubled my dose before surgery.

Vitamin D3 is a powerful hormone–yes, it is a hormone, not a vitamin. It is your front-line defense system against cancer and autoimmune disease. It boosts mood, energy, and helps maintain a healthy weight. Low levels are associated with chronic disease, autimmune disease (like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis), obesity, inflammation, depression, and cancer.

I take a daily vitamin D3, and increased my dose before surgery.

Vitmain E is a powerful protectant against cellular toxins and boosts cellular repair. It reduces inflammation, and protexts the cells from damage.

I take a daily vitamin E, and doubled my dose before surgery.

5. Flooding my body with green juice, beets, and vegetables–lots of clean, whole, real, raw food full of natural vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and living enzymes. I recommend drinking at least a quart of greens daily for energy, antioxidants, digestion, hormone balance, and healthy aging. You can consume this amount in smoothies or juice. If you are new to smoothies or juicing, start with 8 ounces daily and increase to a quart daily to allow your body to adapt to the increased nutritional density.

I continued my daily quart of greens before surgery, then I did a juice cleanse for the 3 days before surgery (to reduce constipation post surgery and of course boost antioxidants, vitamins and minerals). I drank 4 quarts of juice daily for 3 days. You can download my FREE 3-day juice cleanse with recipes from my facebook page kristierosserwellness.

6. I was vigilant with hydration: water water water, with added lemon. If you are a soda drinker, stop now. And never start again. At the very least, stop a week before surgery. The same goes for alcohol. Your liver is going to be working double-time to detox the medications, anesthesia, and stress hormones from your body, so don’t add alcohol to the detoxification process, please. Love your liver with greens, and give it a chance to do it’s detox job without the additional stress of alcohol.

7. I continued my daily apple cider vinegar shots. If you havent added acv to your wellness plan, you should. This simple daily habit is cheap and effective. Start with 1/8th tsp and increase over time to 1 or 2 tablespoons daily for improved alkalinity, digestion, immunity, and adrenal health.

I plan to continue this wellness plan post-surgery, too, and I will let you know how it goes: what works and what works better.

The most important thing to remember is this:

What you do on a daily basis matters.

Taking care of yourself matters,

And planning ahead to support your body under stressful circumstances, like surgery, is important to your health, hormone balance, aging process, immune system, and recovery.

Live Life Optimally,

Kristie