TAH: Liquid diet before surgery?

Hi ladies,
I am considering going on a liquid diet 48 hours prior to my TAH, for 2 reasons. First, I don't want to have anything "in there" that will turn to concrete due to the meds they give you, and secondly, I figure that if I don't put anything in there, I'll not have to face a bm in the hospital. I have read that they don't let you eat until 48 hours after surgery, so that would be 4 days w/o eating anything. Anyone have any words of advice? Does this seem like a logical plan? Do they release you from the hospital w/o having had a bm?

Have you received your pre-op instructions from your doctor yet? The most important thing is to do exactly what your doctor instructs you to do. You don't want to show up the morning of surgery dehydrated and have your surgery postponed.

I didn't have a bowel prep or any change in diet before my surgery and I wasn't required to have a BM in the hospital. My doctor just listened to make sure my bowels were moving before I was discharged.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before you change your diet before surgery.



Deb

Hi Loracann~
The week of my surgery I just wasn't very hungry as the nerves had set in.
The hospital and your Dr. should let you know at your pre op appts. If not ask. Each hosp is different however I requested a liquid diet just because I didn't want any straining going on. I didn't bm until after I was home however at the hosp. I was put on a mild stool softener and continued that at home too..still taking one at night but thinking of stopping when the meds run out. Who needs to worry about that ontop of trying to recover.

Like I said check with your doc. and hosp.

Good Luck

As the other (((sisters))) have said, your doctor should give you instructions as to your pre-op diet and any bowel prep.

These instructions seem to run the gamut -- some (like me) had no bowel prep and no limits on diet. My only orders were nothing by mouth after midnight the night before surgery. Others do a bowel prep the day before, and still others have a bowel prep and diet restrictions.

As for the post-op bm, I was not required to have one before I was discharged. Again, this seems to vary from doctor to doctor, depending on what you had done.

My instructions from the surgeon were 3 days of liquid diet, no other bowel preparation (I had a TAH). After surgery I continued on liquids for 1.5 days, the first solid food I had was 1/2 a cheese sandwich with a cup of tea. I had a bowel movement at the hospital on day 3, no issues then or afterwards. Despite all the extra fluids I had all the normal gas / rib pains.

Prior to the surgery I was not hungry but did get quite dizzy. Could not handle cooking for the family! Something that helped me was home made chicken soup, strained and clear. My doctor allowed a drop of milk with the tea and coffee. Had lots of jello (no red) and lemon ice blocks

Please check with your doctor before making any decisions. Wishing you a speedy recovery

my doc only said to eat lightly, and do a fleet enema the night before...you should call you doctor and see what he thinks.

the only thing I had to do to go home was have pain managed by oral medication, walk, pee, and pass gas.

I had no bowel prep and no diet restrictions. I choose to eat foods high in fiber the day before surgery and I drank lots of liquids. Make sure that you stay well hydrating as they will be putting an IV in and that can be a problem if you are dehydrated!
After surgery I was on a liquid diet due to reacting to the demeral, I was sick for the first 48 hours. I had to eat solid food before my doctor would let me go home. I am not sure if a BM was required, I had 2 before leaving the hospital with out too much problem.
Good luck!

Hi Loracann,
I have not had my Hysterectomy as of yet, but my instructions are for bowel prep the night before and also a liquid diet the day before. YIKES! I wont be able to have my M&M's!! (giggle).
What were your Doctors instructions? From what im reading here it looks like everyone has something different to do before surgery. It varies by Doctor I suppose. Good luck to you on your surgery. I wish you good health and happiness!

I have my pre-op on Monday, July 26th so I haven't received my exact instructions yet. I, too, see that many received different instructions (probably due to either type of Hysterectomy or doc's preference). I will see what my doc says on Monday. At this point in time, I don't really see any hard, fast rules, so I'm guessing the liquid diet isn't going to be a problem. I really was considering it more for my comfort than for anything surgically related. Thanks all : )

Good luck with your Pre Op. Keeping you in my Prayers.