Understanding How Fasting Before A Surgery Can Affect You

I this thrack, I will help you understand why fasting is important beore being submited to a surgery and anesthesia. Besides that, I will explain the time needed for each kind of meal, and, more importantly, how this can affect your body and mind in a Ayurvedic point of view.

Transcript

Hi there,

Dear one.

My name is Korini.

I am an anesthesiologist,

Yes,

But more importantly than that is that I am a meditator just like you and that's what makes me so glad to have you here.

You can't imagine how my heart warms up with the chance that you give me to help you at this important moment of your journey.

The perspective of having surgery is very challenging,

Isn't it?

I know that many questions are swirling in your mind right now and probably one of them is about fasting.

Why do you need to fast before a surgery?

How much time is needed and how will this affect you under an Ayurvedic perspective?

Today,

I want to help you with these issues.

The reason that fasting is required prior to a surgical procedure is very simple to understand.

Let's just imagine that after your mouth,

The next part of this big tube that is called your digestive tract is called the esophagus and its primordial function is to carry the food that you eat safely to your stomach.

Why did I say safely?

What could possibly go wrong with such a simple task?

Well,

Right next to your esophagus is another very important tube,

Your trachea,

That leads air to both of your lungs.

Our body is so intelligent that it provides safety mechanisms so that the food that is passing down through the esophagus does not go up to the trachea.

Along with a valve called epiglottis,

There are two very special muscles called sphincters that are always contracted no matter what.

One of them is located in the beginning of the esophagus and the other one is located at the transition to the stomach.

The only moment that they open their doors is when food needs to go down and this prevents it from going back up and into the trachea,

Ending up in our lungs,

Which would cause a severe pneumonia.

When your body is under anesthesia,

These two very important sphincters,

They lose their ability to maintain themselves closed.

As you will be in a horizontal laying down position,

If you have any food inside your stomach,

It will freely go back up through your esophagus and directly into your respiratory tract and this is a very serious complication in anesthesiology.

In order to avoid it,

Before being submitted to anesthesia,

You need to have an empty stomach and that is why fasting is a necessary part of the preparation for a surgery.

After understanding this,

The next question is how much time is needed?

Well,

Many studies have been done to determine this and if you are on any kind of medication,

Please consult your physician because many of them will influence this timing,

But in general guidelines,

We can put it like this.

For clear liquids,

Two hours are recommended.

What would these liquids be?

Water,

Fruit juices without pulp,

Carbonated beverages,

Clear tea and black coffee,

All without sugar.

Light meals require six hours to leave the stomach.

These would be like a toasted bread,

Clear vegetable broth,

Fruit juices with pulp.

For all the other foods,

Eight hours is the recommended time.

More than eight hours of fasting is not at all necessary in the majority of cases.

On the contrary,

It has been proved that excessive time of food probation may be deleterious and end up not being helpful for a healthy recovery.

Your body will need good nutrients in order to heal.

Having said all that and oh please excuse my physiology class here,

I want to talk about how this period of fasting will affect you from an Ayurvedic point of view.

In order to understand how the universe functions,

Everything is classified into certain types of characteristics,

Let's say.

These are called Gunas in Ayurveda.

You can understand them better as if they were adjectives describing all that exists.

All these Gunas can be further put together in three categories of physiological functions,

Better known as Vata,

Pitta and Kapha.

Fasting will cause your body to become lighter,

Drier,

Colder and more rough.

All of these are Gunas of Vata.

This means that Vata will become accumulated and aggravated inside you.

Depending on your constitution and more importantly on how your body is functioning at the moment,

This accumulation of Vata may be easy or really challenging to deal with.

Our emotions are also responsible for bringing Gunas to our existence.

For example,

Anxiety and fear which will be present at a moment prior to a surgery also cause Vata to get aggravated.

What will excess Vata cause?

It will make your heartbeat faster than it needs to.

In some cases,

Even arrhythmias can appear.

High blood pressure levels,

Fast and shallow breathing,

Dry mouth sensation,

Headaches,

Dizziness,

Anxiety and fear may even lead to panic attack.

None of this will be helpful prior to a surgery.

Now you may be asking yourself,

Is there anything to do to minimize these effects?

Yes,

Dear one,

There is.

In modern medicine,

We tend to prescribe pills to ease these symptoms before a surgery.

We call this pre-medication.

It is quite a common practice.

But,

My dear,

Instead of bringing more chemicals to your body,

There are other ways to ease the success Vata.

First of all,

Respecting these fasting hour requirements without prolonging them unnecessarily is very important.

Organize a pre-operative day routine according to the time scheduled for your surgery.

Be sure to provide good nutrients to yourself and be sure to hydrate your body properly with warm beverages.

You may want to add gunas to your day which have a balancing effect.

These are going to be the opposite of the ones that are in excess.

For example,

In order to equilibrate lightness and roughness,

Bring more heaviness by dressing tight but soft clothing,

Sorry,

Soft clothing that just hugs your skin.

If your body is able to digest it,

You could give yourself a massage with warm sesame oil to soothe the excess dryness and coldness.

It is important to keep yourself as warm and cuddled as you can.

I do advise you to avoid social media.

Oh,

Darling,

Please stop doing research about surgery and anesthesia.

This will only serve to leave you more anxious and afraid.

Spend some quality time with someone you love,

A pet,

Or just yourself.

Enjoy some soothing and calm music,

Maybe a nice slow walk under the sun in the middle of nature.

Breathwork and meditation are the best non-pharmacological ways to help at this moment.

Trust me,

You will arrive in a more ideal condition to your surgery if you take care of these aspects.

I can assure you that even the recovery period will be easier if you just take some time to take care of yourself at least one day before your surgery.

You owe this to yourself.

Actually,

You deserve this.

I hope that this information was helpful for you.

Please let me know if you have any doubts or feelings that you would want to share.

I would love to know that.

With all my love and hoping to see you soon,

Namastubhyam.

Reviews

Thank you, Karine, for this caring and informative talk. So helpful before anyone about to have surgery. 🙏❤🙏