Intro and Question regarding Surgery

surgery
(J) #1

Hello all:

I am new to these forums- and Keto since 5/14/18. Thanks to my ‘big boss’ who is also keto, I am also a new fan of the 2KD! I am a 44 year old mother of a toddler and CNM/NP as my profession/life calling. I am doing Keto not for weight loss (though I have struggled with my weight and body image since childhood) but rather because I had a lot of pretty extreme reactive hypoglycemia. Diabetes runs very strongly in my family, so I have no doubt that despite my normal BMI, I was eventually headed there. I am very active: I spin, do yoga, strength train, work full-time on my feet a good chunk of the day, and run after an extremely busy 3 year-old boy. Oh, and I step-mom a 15 year-old girl!

I feel good. I’ve not had a bout of hypoglycemia since going keto and can go very long periods (for me, this means 12 waking hours, lol) without food. Amazing. My athletic performance suffered a lot at first, but has recovered. My biggest issue right now is to get enough electrolytes (salt mainly) to stave off the worst leg cramps I have had since pregnancy, but I’m figuring it out.

If you are still with me (TL:DR) My biggest question today is, whether or nor any dietary adjustment is needed after surgical recovery. I am having a BSO (tubes and ovaries removed) next week for ovarian cancer prevention and will be unable to do more than walk for exercise for 2 weeks, and then a slow progression after that. I presume I do not need extra carbs for healing and can continue to keto on. I am hoping that this will also help with the menopausal transition, even though I will start HRT as soon as my surgeon gives me the go-ahead (hopefully within a week.)

Any advice on keto surgical recovery would be much appreciated! I am thoroughly enjoying the education I am getting on these boards (and the books and the podcasts!) and am hoping to be able to become expert enough to guide my PCOS patients into a healthier metabolic state to preserve their ovaries and hormone function.

(CharleyD) #2

First off Welcome aboard!

If I had to do my back surgery over again, I’d never touch a grain of sugar, eat plenty of beef and pork ribs, pork rinds, and supplement homemade bone broth and additionally glycine, collagen, and DHA and EPA (fish oil capsules) at least 3 grams combined DHA+EPA per day.

If you have a good physical therapist, then push them to perform/prescribe scar tissue remodeling. I didn’t know about that until after mine was too old to do anything about it and as a result, constant pain. If you can start early, to form and mold the scar tissue, I think you can get it to where it is not painful later.
For example:

Building back up the core strength will be key, and the emphasis will need to be on being kind to yourself.

The Leg Lifts and Bridges progressions in Convict Conditioning (there are free apps on Google and Apple App Stores that can guide you through the progressions) can build back up the strength in your core using only your bodyweight. There are other calisthenics books out there of course.

https://www.amazon.com/Convict-Conditioning-Weakness-Using-Survival-Strength-ebook/dp/B004XIZN5M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1531753698&sr=1-1&keywords=convict+conditioning

(Ethan) #3

In my nonprofessional opinion, I disagree that carbs are required for healing. Hospitals will pump you full of sugar (aka dextrose, D5) in a drip after surgery anyway. You’ll lose ketosis I have a standing order that no dextrose be given to me. I’d rather fast. I’ll eventually need heart valve replacement and aortic stem replacement surgery. As a diabetic, the dextrose would wreak havoc on my system and even impede healing. I personally think it hurts healing for anybody who has insulin resistance.

(J) #4

I wouldn’t think carbs would be necessary other than for an easy source of energy, but I am feeling reasonably fat-adapted, so thinking I won’t need to carb up. My husband and I had dinner out (anniversary) that was reasonably high carb and I was back in ketosis (blood monitor) by noon the next day (16 hour fast). I will ask for lactated ringers in my IV when I speak to the surgical nurse this week. Thanks!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

If it’s same-day surgery, don’t worry about it, just keto on when you get home. If you will have to spend time eating hospital food, see what your surgeon can arrange. Hospitals are used to patients with special diets. Also, some hospitals let patients select from a fairly large menu, so you ought to be able to work something keto out, such as eggs and sausage for breakfast, hold the toat, a meat sandwich for lunch (ignore the bread), and so on.

(Jarod King) #6

I can’t advise you directly, but I can tell you my experience. I recently had shoulder surgery at the VA, and despite my GPs recommendation, I fasted for 5 days before the surgery, and then remained 100% Keto afterwards. I healed like a rockstar, never needed the pain meds / Percosets they gave me (I took 1 OTC Tylenol when my pain pump quit working after day 2), and had complete recovery in about 1/2 the average time. So it worked very well for me.