Bowel Prep...why?

Hello,
I received instructions from my gyn regarding preparing for surgery. I was told to do a bowel prep and not eat anything after midnight (surgery is at 7:30 a.m.).

Why do some sisters have to do a bowel prep and others do not? Just curious...

Hi There, First I want to wish you good luck with your surgery I know this is a difficult time for you. My gyn had me do a bowel prep. I was so sick because of this before the surgery. I started the prep at 1 pm and was up at 2am the night before still on the toilet. Then I was so sick for the next two days because I had nothing to eat but ice chips and water due to nausea from the anesthetic. I was three days with no food, it was not fun.It is my understanding that only doctors that are less than sure of their surgical ability do bowel preps on a patient that has no endo. I hope all goes well, take care!

I think it depends a lot on what a surgeon is planning to do and the procedure style. They take into account your bowel's involvement with the surgery they plan on doing as to whether or not you need the full bowel prep (fasting and cleansing) or just the short bowel prep which is really to keep your from having anything in your stomach to vomit up.

Defintely bowel prep is advised for women having repairs, endo, pedunculate fibroids, prolapses and endo.

In some ways having a clean bowel might be easier on you post surgery because you don't have to worry about needing to move your bowels until you actually put some food through you. If you just fast the night/morning of surgery, all that food that you ate the day before has to come out and after narcotics, it can be pretty rough on you.

I also think that some hospitals have different policies about bowel prep - that it's not always the doctor's decision, but it's the hospitals that make all patients do it as a matter for their own protection.

So there's a good side and a bad side to both.

Take care.

Well, I believe the the gyn who is doing my surgery is excellent...board certified, etc. I did check out her qualifications before I met with her (she is my second opinion and I don't know her, but did like her at my meeting with her) but, is having a bowel prep before surgery a doctor's preference, maybe???

By the way, my surgery will be a SAH.

I'm confused...

i'm having a SAH too...no bowel prep for me though. Just stop eating at midnight is all they said.

I had to do the bowel prep, and I was glad I did. They did not know I had endometriosis so bad that everything inside was stuck together and my uterus was completely adhered to my bowel. They had to call in a second surgeon to help decipher boundries due to, as my gyn put it, it was one big mass of tissue inside. Thankfully they did not perforate my bowel. If I had not had the prep and my bowel ended up getting nicked, the infection from fecal matter would have been horrible!!!

I will be 6 weeks on Fri. and expect to be back at work on Monday!!!!!! I feel wonderful now!

Cindy

I'm having SAH too, and I'm doing the bowel prep. I think the decision has to do with doctors preferences, what type of procedures/repairs need to be done. Say if there is a chance that there are adhesions to a bowel, then it is probably necessary to have a clean bowel to repair. I'm not really sure though... a good question to ask at pre-op appointment.

Well, I guess on some level it makes sense. Why not take the precaution and have the bowel prep just in case they run into something they weren't expecting?

I was reading different posts on pre-op appointments and some sisters not having to do a bowel prep and I thought it was strange that my gyn requested it...I am having surgery for 16 week size fibroids...no endo (that I know of).

Thanks all for your responses! You guys are the BEST!!!

time for my stupid question, lol, just kidding.
But umm what exactly is a bowel prep?? I have my preop on Friday so not sure If I'll have to do it or not. Is this a nice way of saying you have to give yourself an enema??

it sounds more like giving yourself dyssentry!

I think an enema sounds gentle compared to what some of the sisters have been saying...

I'll let you know if there is a shock waiting for me on saturday morning!