Question:
Has anyone else been told to give up caffeine prior to surgery?
— Joyce S. (posted on March 26, 2003)
March 26, 2003
Yes, I was and only now at five weeks out the doc says if i just have to
have it i can but he would prefer that I drink de-caf. Reasoning is that
caffeine is an appetite stimunlent and also an irritant to our new pouches.
The idea is to be off it before surgery to help with after surgery.
— Delores S.
March 26, 2003
Caffeine is an activator of the sympathetic nervous system, so I would
imagine
that the doctors want it all out of you before giving you any other meds
(anasthesia, etc). Also,
it affects enzyme levels in your liver that break down the anasthetic so
that your body can get rid of it. Caffeine may
alter how much anasthetic you can safely take.
— Brittany C.
March 26, 2003
I was told by my surgeon and nutritionist, that caffiene is a diuretic. It
would cause you to lose the benefit of the amount caffinated liquid you
drink. I was told to NOT COUNT the amount of caffinated liquid I drink as
part of my total ounces needed for the daily required 2 liters. Not sure if
I'm explaining this correctly. Sorry.
— Fixnmyself
March 26, 2003
Yes and I didn't listen and in the hospital the only time I cried for pain
meds was because of severe headaches I got which were the result of cafeine
withdrawal. After I got out I had someone stop and get my some Snapple
sugar-free iced tea and the headaches stopped. Then I slowly weaned myself
off of caffeine because of its diuretic qualities.
— Lisa N M.
March 26, 2003
after my consultation i gave up my diet pepsi...walked out of the office
thinking it would have to be first to go. my dr said no sodas at all ever
post op....so adios diet pepsi..i had a 6 month wait from consult to
surgery..so shortly after the pepsi i began to let go of the
coffee...little by little and avoided the headaches that go along with
dropping caffeine...at about 6 weeks post op i spoke to my nurtrionist and
she ok'ed me adding coffee to my food plan!! real coffee...it was
heaven!! now i drink about 1 - 1.5 cups a day. much less then my pre op
intake. i have to admit i feel great!! good luck and if i can drop diet
pepsi anything is possible!
— nan K.
March 26, 2003
Yes, but not for the purposes listed previously by other post-ops. Of
course, the other listed items are valid, but my surgeon told me to stop
the caffeine because after surgery, when we are not able to eat as before,
and because we have to use suppliments in our diets, caffeine keeps calcium
from being absorbed by our bodies. In fact, I recently had a check up with
him and he again reiterated this, and again it was due to the calcium
absorption.
— twenc
March 26, 2003
JOYCE ,HEY GOOD LUCK WITH THIS , MY DOCTOR DID NOT TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT
THE SODA DRINKING ESPECIALLY COKES . I JUST DECIDED BACK IN DECEMBER I WAS
ONLY GOING TO DRINK WATER TO GET USED OF THE IDEA AFTER SURGERY THERE IS SO
LITTLE CHOICES SO THAT IS WHAT I DRINK NOW IS WATER ONLY ,EVERYNOW AND THEN
I WILL HAVE SWEET TEA BUT IT IS RARE I FIND ANY SWEET DRINK TO BE TO SWEET
NOW THAT I HAVE STOP DRINKING THE SODAS ..SO JUST DO ON YOUR OWN WILL AND
SLOWLY BUT SURELY YOU WILL BE OKAY. I DID BECAUSE OF ALL THE INFO I READ ON
HERE I EVEN LET GO OF MY BC IN JANUARY..AND THE DOC SAID HE WAS GLAD TO
HEAR THAT I HAD RESEARCHED AND TOOK THOSE MEASURES WAITING FOR DATE AND
THEN I WILL BE GOOD TO GO...GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU DECIDE .A
— A M.
March 26, 2003
I, too, was told that caffeine had to go because of the calcium absorption
problem. I chose not to give it up til the bitter end and had no problems
with the caffeine withdrawal because of the pain meds I was on post-op!! I
guess we are all different. I have not had any caffeine since surgery.
— April S.
March 27, 2003
My doctor told me to give up caffeine before surgery because he didn't want
me to go through caffeine withdrawal immediately post-op! He said it could
be so bad that some people actually had psychotic reactions to caffeine
withdrawal! (I had a 2 pot a day habit pre-op!!!) He said cutting out the
caffeine was a condition of my surgery.
Anyway, I cut waaaaay down and was able to "decaf" myself by
surgery time. Have only now begun drinking caffeine again, and no
problems. But I am keeping a strict control of the quantities this time.
I don't want to creep back up to high quantities again.
— Kathy J.
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