How to Speed Healing After Surgery or Accident

If you have recently had or are about to have surgery or if you have been injured in an accident you can improve your chances of a quicker recovery. Although surgery is sometimes necessary to help improve your health, or save your life, recovering from it can be very stressful on many levels. There are always factors to consider. Be certain to communicate with your medical team. Ask your doctor if there are any restrictions regarding movement, diet, climate, medications, requirements for at home medical assistance, or complementary therapies. They can help you lay out a recovery plan or wellness program. Beyond the typical recovery routine that may include medications, physical therapy, or visits with a counselor or nurse, your body will need to get all of the supportive nutrients that are required for complete and speedy recovery. The following list will give you some idea of all that can be added to your health recovery regime—with the approval of your physician.

1. Rest and immobilization as required by your doctor.Be sure that your room has adequate fresh air as ionization helps recovery time; having an oxygen rich environment and sunshine are important – again unless restricted by your medical team.

2. Bathing or showering as allowed – at least warm sponge baths to remove toxins being eliminated by your skin.

3. Fill the room with fresh flowers and plants to uplift your mood.

4. Watch TV programs and movies that make you feel good – and if you are allowed to laugh definitely watch movies that keep you laughing and giggling often. Improving your mood is definitely important to healing. In fact, there are now hospital humor programs where personnel are trained to help make you laugh. Laughter is very healing!

5. Allow only those visitors with a positive mental outlook; people that make you feel happy when you see them.

6. Keep your bowels moving. Some medications have side effects that include sluggish bowel movements or constipation. Drink purified water at room temperature unless you are really warm and cool water feels better to you. However, digestion is always best without too hot or too cold water in the digestive tract. Stay away from coffee because caffeine may be dehydrating. Consider the proper diet to help yourself heal well

7. Your diet (again check with your personal physician to be certain these suggestions are appropriate for you) should be filled with foods that are nutrient rich. And every bite and everything you drink should be as valuable as possible. That means that you should eat foods that are whole, grown without herbicides, pesticides, unchanged by man. Avoid processed foods and drinks. Get close to nature. Sometimes baby foods are required if you cannot swallow easily or have compromised digestion or loss of appetite. If not, just follow some of the suggestions below:

Clear broths either chicken, beef or veal are good for healing. Soups that start with a clear brother and contain fresh vegetables as well are important. When you are ill or injured your body will not readily produce the enzymes it needs to complete digestion. We will talk about digestion enzymes a little later.

Having sufficient protein is critical to healing. As protein is assimilated it is broken down into amino acids, often called the building blocks. So, if you are unable to eat foods such as fish, chicken, turkey, veal, portk, eggs, cheese, tofu, beans, nuts and seeds, you may need to purchase protein powders and mix them with soy milk, almond milk, regular milk, or just room temp water. Ionized whey powders are probably the easiest to assimilate in small quantities, but again chew the shake (I know that sounds weird) because it would be similar to eating a steak without chewing it–very concentrated and not easily absorbed even in powdered form if you are ill. Sip on the shakes that you drink–some people enjoy adding fruit like berries or bananas.

Eat more fruits and vegetables for starters. Avoid sugars, too much salt. Avoid snacks and lifeless foods that rob your body of energy. Avoid sodas, alcohol, white flour breads, cereals, pancakes and pastas. Avoid candy and cakes unless just occasional.

Buy organically grown and made foods if possible. Instead of drinking fruit juices eat the whole food. However, if you can get organically grown fruits and vegetables you can make delicious juices (save the pulp for soup) by combining dark green veggies with carrots and beets and pear juice or pineapple or cherry or apple to make it more palatable. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with life supporting nutrients such as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. If you have a juicer that’s terrific, if you don’t you can just use a food processor or a blender to pulverize pulp and some seeds. Be sure that you chew the juice, do not just swallow it. Your digestive system will work best if you don’t just swallow foods even when “juiced.” Chew to begin the signal to the brain that you will need enzymes for complete digestion.

Beets and beet tops, dandelion greens, parsley, argula, mustard greens, carrots and tops, and fresh lemon juice are wonderful to support liver function. Supporting your liver is extremely important as it will help you to purify your blood. The liver will help to remove toxic residue from anaesthesia and other medications. It helps to flush away waste products of all kinds so it is very important to give the liver all that needs to do its job well.

8. Vitamins/Minerals/other nutrients: Giving your body a multi-vitamin/mineral formula is integral to healing. Concentrate as well on anti-oxidants such as Vitamins A,C,E, + Zinc. Add to that a formula that includes other protective elements such as grapeseed extract, green tea (not if you have high blood pressure because it is stimulating) berries,…many anti-oxidants available today in combination formulas. A separate bone building formula that includes, Vitamin D, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Boron, is important. (ask the doctor again because certain medications may be conflicting here) important to rebuilding bone.

9. Exercise and rehabilitation routinely help to strengthen muscle, ligaments, tendons and bones. Circulation is integral to wellness. Do what you are allowed to do. Check into “rubber stretch bands” to help initiate mobility if allowed –really good and gentle on joints for starters. Rebounders are also good for circulation as you become more mobile. These are mini trampolines and you can gently bounce while watching TV or listening to music–very enjoyable experience and good for you. Let your physical therapist, nurse or aid instruct you here.

10. Homeopathic remedies can also be beneficial to stimulate your body’s immune system and healing response time. Please seek the advice of an MD who practices homeopathic medicine. Go to www.vithoulkas.com to find highly trained classical homeopaths in your area.

11. Stress relief measures such as Yoga, Bio-Feedback, Meditation: Learning how to quiet and clear the mind of stressful thoughts, worries, and fears can add much to your healing program. When your body stops getting disturbing signals from your brain it can more readily attend to physical healing. Do whatever seems to soothe you most. If allowed soaking in a warm tub might help reduce aching muscles and calm the nerves. Aromatherapy is also good for soothing your senses. Try lavender under your pillow, or vanilla candles to bring tranquility. Music is also wonderful for the nervous system. Choose calming classical music, new age flutes and bells, easy listening tunes to help stay relaxed.

12. Massage therapy and acupuncture or acupressure can complement your healing program. Bringing greater circulation to an injured or ill body can speed healing. Ask your physician if this is allowed. Sometimes having circulation cuffs on your legs are recommended by doctors after surgery or injury. This might be a good way to speed healing with limited exertion.

13. Digestive Enzymes help you assimilate and absorb nutrients that are important to healing. A product such as AbsorbAid that has been clinically tested and scientifically proven to increase the absorption of vital nutrients by up to 71% can really help speed recovery time. AbsorbAid is a 100% plant based enzyme formula that works well for most all individuals–if you can eat fruits and vegetables you can take AbsorbAid Platinum. It is so safe the original AbsorbAid has been used in feeding tubes in nursing home trials with excellent results at increasing protein utilization. Amino acids are the building blocks so adding AbsorbAid digestive enzymes can really be beneficial.

14. Visualization: Visualize yourself totally well, doing whatever it is that you most enjoy in your mind first —I used to tell my patients to See, Feel and make it Real! The joy you get from imagining yourself completely well and up doing what you most enjoy can uplift your spirits and speed healing. Guided imagery tapes are readily available today.

15. Prayer and Faith: have a profound effect on healing for many people. When you believe that you will be well it can elevate your body’s responses. There are many documented cases of people healing when they are certain they will! So prepare yourself for recovery and get excited about it!

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

How to Speed Healing After Surgery or Accident by Janet Angel