dVH/RALH: Upcoming hysterectomy 6/21: Bowel Prep - How bad is it?

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Leighh All I can say is that it can't be any worse than not having one! I was not given a bowel prep, and I had no eating restrictions until midnight before before the surgery and also no eating restrictions after surgery. Still, I chose to eat a healthy vegan diet, lots of fiber, no junk food prior to surgery. The morning after, in the hospital, I had eggs and potatoes. Boy was I ever sorry that I didn't do a liquid diet at least the day before, and a bowel prep, and then a liquid diet the day after ... Or at least vegetable soup at the most. I went home the day after surgery. That evening, I endured extremely painful constipation for 14 hours, before I finally had a painfully hard lump of a bowel movement. I had been shaking and sweating, like I was in labor. I was afraid I was going to pop a stitch. In fact, my stitches started falling out, vaginally one week later. Be very thankful for the good advice of your doctor to do a bowel prep.

I am sorry that you had such a painful and terrible experience during your recovery.

However, each patient needs to follow instructions of their doctor. You should only do bowel prep if your doctor requests you do one. The same with diet before. You should only do a liquid diet if your doctor asks you to do one. Every patient is different, every surgery is different, and every doctor is different. They are expecting you to be in a certain medical state by what you do (or do not do) the day or days before your surgery. Your health depends on it.