Question:
Post-Op surgery fasting time

I am going to be having surgery for another health problem soon. I will be required to fast before check-in. Since our pouches are so small, they empty out faster than a normal stomach. When mine is empty, I am very uncomfortable. I also get a hunger headache if I don't eat something. How long should WLS patients fast? My doctor has me eating 7 times a day.    — StarWish624 (posted on October 4, 2006)

October 4, 2006
Hi, Ive had 7 surgeries since having my RNY, and Ive always been told not to eat or drink anything after midnight, it was the same thing before my gastric bypass. Good luck to you.
   — Amy Hoffman

October 4, 2006
It'd be best to talk with your surgeon about this. You don't want to follow your instinct and screw up your future surgery you need do you?
   — Michael Eak

October 5, 2006
Like Amy, I've had many surgeries since gastric bypass. For all of them, I have had nothing to eat or drink from midnight on. There are dangers to having food in your stomach at the time you are put under anesthesia. Although you feel hunger and discomfort if your pouch is "empty", it is nearly impossible to tell if your pouch is absolutely empty (don't mistake your feeling hunger with an assumption that your pouch is entirely empty). Many of us have to deal with the hunger headache (or worse, the caffeine withdrawal headache) when we have surgery-- it's unfortunate, but it is the cost of having surgery.
   — SteveColarossi

October 6, 2006
Like you, I too have had to have many unrelated procedures after bypass. I have been trying every time to put a bug in hospital staff's ear to maybe re-evaluate the criteria for us bypass patients. It is not the food I have issue with, it is liquids...plain WATER. Sometimes my procedure is not until 2 or 3 pm and I have been told not to eat or drink anything, even water...after midnight. Eventually I think this will change, but you have to realize that within the last few years this surgery has really become very commonplace, and the hospitals are the ones actually a little behind the times. They may just be erring on the side of caution, which is ok with me too...as long as I wake up when it's over and I'm not hooked to life support, I won't argue too much. Hang in there!
   — PedalSteelGirl