Is a Longer Pre-Op Liquid Phase Necessary?

I was curious because I read about quite a few pre-op patients going through 1-2 weeks of liquids before the big day. I'm currently 9 days away from surgery. The doc instructed me to do clear liquids the day before surgery and NPO after midnight. Even in our pre-op nutrition class, I was told this. So I wonder, is it necessary to be on liquids for more than 24 hours?

I've already increased my water consumption and started on multivitamins and Calcium Citrate weeks ago, is there anything else I should be doing at this point?

Thanks a bunch...Hope everyone on the east coast is hanging in there. We got ya in our prayers here.

Barbara

SW- 407 / CW- 359

Different surgeons have different protocols.  Mine didn't require preop liquid diet other than the 24 hours before surgery.  Suggest you follow your surgeons instructions.

I followed the same instructions as you but they had run more labs and I was working on my vitamin D3 as well.  If your D3 is low, and almost all Americans are low, you might want to go ahead and look at taking dry D3. I get mine from Vitalady.com along with all my other vites.

--gina

It's all in the doctor's preferences.  Some do a longer liquid diet to shrink their liver.  Some docs like to give plenty of time to completely empty the intestines for a neater working environment for them.  Some docs just don't make a big deal about any of it.  My doc only required NPO after midnight, with a request not to eat any bbq ribs the night before, which made me giggle.  She said its just down right gross to deal with.

Thank you ladies for chiming in, I couldn't understand the reason for doing liquids longer than a day, other than to lose a few pounds or shrink my liver as Valerie had mentioned. But every surgeon is different and each has their own protocols.

Only 8 more days!!

Each surgeon is different.  Mine did not do the liquid diet.  It would have been better because my liver was very large.  I questioned more than once.  The first month was extremely rough.  I feel that I would have done better with a liquid diet.

If the longer diet truly did shrink the liver I could see it. But, the liver does not shrink in 2-3 weeks, it will have a reduced amount of glycogen and in turn is not as "slippery" to handle by the surgeon. That's what I was told and it made sense to me. 

I didn't have to be on a diet either, just nothing to eat/drink after midnight.

There is no medical/surgical reason to be on liquids for more than the night or before, really.  

Some surgeons make you do it because they feel it'll help you lose some weight to make their job easier, but obviously a restricted high-protein oral diet should be able to do the same thing.  I'm not a big fan of a pre-op liquid diet if it puts protein consumption at a deficit.  Shouldn't go into a major surgery anything less than well-nourished.

I'm on the final day of my 14 day clear liquid pre-op diet.  I still don't believe it's necessary. I'm glad that I lost 19.2 pounds, but I feel week and exhausted!  I couldn't even clean my 1 bedroom condo yesterday without having to sit down every 10 minutes.  Not to mention my own arm is starting to look tasty to me. LOL!!!!!!!  

Consider yourself blessed to not have been required to do this ridiculous step.  I'm sure you will do just fine! 

All the best,

Abe