Consultation - questions that should be asked?

[RickM 1,747]

the purpose of liquid diet before surgery is to reduce the size of your liver so that it wont be as close to your stomach and in danger of getting nicked...my liquid diet included Protein shakes, which i used a blender, Protein Powder and almond milk and i was allowed to have sugar free, fat free pudding, so i mixed chocolate pudding with shake and it was pretty good and pallettable.... i had surgery on monday night, was done at 9:30 and was awake and up walking around at 12:30-1:00 am, home now and all going well, dr.s said routine surgery, no complications.

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The liver shrinking thing is something of a debatable point within the bariatric community these days, with the current concensus being that no diet of a couple weeks makes a notable difference in the size of a diseased liver. What can be improved is the reduction of a slime coat that forms on the surface of a fatty liver, making it easier to handle for some. The normal protocol for this is a low carbohydrate diet, typically consisting of leaner meats and non-starchy vegetables. Some programs will substitute a meal or two per day with a Protein Shake to get patients used to them for their post-op world, but an all liquid diet provides no real benefit toward this goal. The surgeons who impose these all liquid diets seem to have something else in mind, but I have never found any good reference to it. It might be a belief in it helping get patients ready for weeks of post-op liquids that some use or may simply be a legacy of past practices ("that's the way we've always done it.")

My experience has been that the surgeons who routinely do some of the most complex bariatric procedures and revisions generally don't need their patients to do these diets, even the very heaviest, implying that they're bringing tools and experiences to the table that negate the need for such pre-op treatment. These docs also tend to have more rapid post-op progressions as well, often starting with soft foods in the hospital or after only a few days of liquids rather than weeks; our info binder states that their experience has been that patients tend to do better the sooner they move from the supplements/shakes into real food.

This is why I tend to look a program's pre- and post-op dietary practices as a window (one of several) on their skills and experiences.

Congrats on your routine surgery and recovery, and keep up the sip,sip,sipping and the walkies!

[Hadenough2 13]

the purpose of liquid diet before surgery is to reduce the size of your liver so that it wont be as close to your stomach and in danger of getting nicked...my liquid diet included Protein shakes, which i used a blender, Protein powder and almond milk and i was allowed to have sugar free, fat free pudding, so i mixed chocolate pudding with shake and it was pretty good and pallettable.... i had surgery on monday night, was done at 9:30 and was awake and up walking around at 12:30-1:00 am, home now and all going well, dr.s said routine surgery, no complications.

Sent from my SM-S820L using the BariatricPal App

The liver shrinking thing is something of a debatable point within the bariatric community these days, with the current concensus being that no diet of a couple weeks makes a notable difference in the size of a diseased liver. What can be improved is the reduction of a slime coat that forms on the surface of a fatty liver, making it easier to handle for some. The normal protocol for this is a low carbohydrate diet, typically consisting of leaner meats and non-starchy vegetables. Some programs will substitute a meal or two per day with a Protein Shake to get patients used to them for their post-op world, but an all liquid diet provides no real benefit toward this goal. The surgeons who impose these all liquid diets seem to have something else in mind, but I have never found any good reference to it. It might be a belief in it helping get patients ready for weeks of post-op liquids that some use or may simply be a legacy of past practices ("that's the way we've always done it.")

My experience has been that the surgeons who routinely do some of the most complex bariatric procedures and revisions generally don't need their patients to do these diets, even the very heaviest, implying that they're bringing tools and experiences to the table that negate the need for such pre-op treatment. These docs also tend to have more rapid post-op progressions as well, often starting with soft foods in the hospital or after only a few days of liquids rather than weeks; our info binder states that their experience has been that patients tend to do better the sooner they move from the supplements/shakes into real food.

This is why I tend to look a program's pre- and post-op dietary practices as a window (one of several) on their skills and experiences.

Congrats on your routine surgery and recovery, and keep up the sip,sip,sipping and the walkies!

thanks, i can see your point....guess my research has not been that extensive, my dr. did tell me that they can tell by looking at the liver whether a person follows the diet or not and that many do not....but obviously the surgery still happened..for me doing the shakes before surgery, allowed me time for learning and experimenting what i liked and didnt....got so good at it, i can make a Protein Drink taste just as good as Mcdonalds shake and healthier...between a combo of unsweetened almond milk, ice, no sugar, no fat choco pudding (homemade w/ skim milk), nonfat, plain greek yogurt, vanilla protein powder...course right now, 6 days after surgery, i have omitted a few of these ingredients temporarily.

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[Frustr8 7,886]

What % of you people don't need to shrink your LIVER by a liquid or nearly liquid pre-diet? Am I engaged in something that should have been buried with the dinosaurs?

[CrankyMagpie 509]

My doc is very experienced (one of the first two to have performed the gastric sleeve operation) and insists on a one-week liquid diet before surgery. He also makes his patients lose 10% of their body weight before the surgery. (And, I mean, he's popular--booked out for months in advance--so I guess he can afford to cherry-pick patients so that his stats stay good, too.)

I have read some of the studies about this, and there is a noticeable change in the size of the liver when patients are put on a very low calorie or ketogenic diet before the surgery takes place. It isn't total bunk.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Hi @ Cranky Magpie! I just read a study recently that states for every week of liver-shrinking diet your liver diminishes 2.4% in size. I figured for the length of diet I'm doing now, my liver will be 12% smaller for my RnY surgery September 5th. I think those are pretty cool stats.😛

[karolynn Gould 0]

Smoking is an issue as it impedes the healing process. Need to quit sooner than later

[Born in Missouri 1,264]

Here's how to check up on your surgeon regarding any disciplinary actions, etc.

https://www.reputationdefender.com/blog/orm/how-check-your-doctors-reputation

[pugmom234 30]

I wanted to know how long of a recovery time I should expect. I like how long until I am back to “normal” activities.

Pre-op testing. I have started this process before and the requirements are different.

My surgeon has a PA, I was curious if I could see just him or if I had to see both.

There is a ton I kept thinking of lol