Just a thought

I am almost 5 weeks post op and what I have learned here is that all s are different. I am not knocking any of them with the following suggestion. I am just offering it as a fellow sister.

My dr. was a female and also had a hysterectomy so knew what it was like. Anyway, I understand that most people get a suppository and/or an enema before surgery. I did not and it is not necessary. I just had to not eat or drink after midnight the night before.

I might suggest you bring this up to your own dr. I had none of the poo poo problems everyone speaks of. I just took a stool softener in th morning and one at night, as well as Milk of magnesia every evening while in the castle. I had a BM on the 2nd day. I kept taking the 2 stool softeners and have never had trouble.

I am just trying to save anyone I can from the horrors I have read they go through.
As for , I didn't have pain with that either. Take you ex-strength gas-x before you eat and at bed time.

You may think this is only my experience, but all women I have met with my dr. have the same results.

Sorry this is so long. Just trying to help if I can.

Different DR's have different procedures and requirements for pre op preparation. The reason for an enema isn't to prevent constipation after surgery. Sometimes the DR may feel s/he needs the bowels to be empty so they have more room to work, sometimes there could be adhesions and if they're attached to the bowels it makes it easier to work with them if they are empty.

So the bottom line is follow your own DR's instructions, whether you are told to do bowel prep or not.

The bowels are shut down by the anesthesia and it takes a couple of days to get them going again. The heavy duty pain killers are also a major cause of constipation.

Don't take any medications without your DR's ok.

As I said I was not telling people what to do, just suggesting they talk to their dr. Also my dr. did say she didn't do enimas so there would be no problems with BM,s afterwards.

I never said they did enimas for constipation so I'm not sue why you said that.

Yes, my bowels were shut down for 2 days and that's all. Others have spoken of 5 or more days with pain and terrible gas and when they did go it was huge and hard.

I was only offering a possible option to dicuss with the dr. I'm sorry if I sound peeved, but I hate being reprimanded for things I didn't say and as if I said to disregard the dr. which I did not.

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I might suggest you bring this up to your own dr. I had none of the poo poo problems everyone speaks of. I just took a stool softener in th morning and one at night, as well as Milk of magnesia every evening while in the castle. I had a BM on the 2nd day. I kept taking the 2 stool softeners and have never had trouble.

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I never said they did enimas for constipation so I'm not sue why you said that.

It is a very common misconception among a lot of the ladies who are pre op, and I would guess also post op, that the reason for the bowel prep is to avoid constipation. There has been a lot of discussion lately with ladies deciding, without their DR's advice or direction, to go on a liquid diet, or even fast the day before surgery, and also take laxatives or use other means to clean out their bowels to avoid constipation after.

Any time there is the opportunity to remind ladies on this board to make sure they talk to their DR's and discuss any concerns about their treatment, and get the ok before taking ANY OTC medication, or changing the directions, that reminder will be given.

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I was only offering a possible option to dicuss with the dr. I'm sorry if I sound peeved, but I hate being reprimanded for things I didn't say and as if I said to disregard the dr. which I did not.

And my reply was to others, to make sure that they remember to check with their DR's first.

that many ladies aren't aware of. I didn't want to do the bowel prep and I asked my doc if I could get by without it. He told me the reason he does it is if he should have to do work on the bowels for unforseen reasons and there is feces in the bowel then I could be required to have a colostomy bag. Which is a tube that comes out of your stomach for your feces to eliminate through. But this could be avoided if the bowels were free of feces. At that point, I was MORE than happy to do the bowel prep.

On a good note, for those of you who are required to do the bowel prep. It is usually the Golytely that most women complain about so much because it is a gallon that has to be drank and it tastes awful. There is an alternative that you can ask your Dr about, it is made by Fleet, it is only 1 small bottle and then a few pills and a suppository. Much easier to handle than the golytely. Good Luck.



Dawn

mlweeman I am sorry, I thought I had made it clear it was something to talk to the dr. about, but maybe it was best that you reiterate that point.

I was just offering an option to discuss. Not by any means wanting anyone to be a vigilante.

After my surgery I told my GYN that I'd rather give myself 2 fleet enemas than drink the magnesium citrate and he said every doctor is different and he prefers this method. Some don't require a bowel prep at all. Darn, why couldn't I have one of those! The prep just prevents anything unsuspected plus give's more 'room.' Considering it was a week, yes, a week, before my first BM and I was taking stool softeners every day in the hospital and at home, I'm kinda glad I had the bowel prep!! There wouldn't not have been enough room for all the 'stuff' and I may have exploded. It took citrucel to finally do the trick.

TC

I also didn't have to do a bowel prep and like you, didn't have any problems with constipation, though the gas pains did get me for a few days, even with the Gas-X.

Though I've worked in the medical field for many years in several different capacities, it still amazes me at the diversity of methods and procedures that doctors all use to accomplish the exact same thing.

Ladies, I would say it would be worth a shot to discuss this option with your doctor. After all, the worst that can happen is that you still have to do the prep. And you just might get lucky and NOT have to go through all that hassle!

Best wishes and s,

Lisa