Improve Recovery From Surgery

Whether routine or complex, surgery can be a major stress to the body. A great way to deal with that stress is to strengthen the body and the immune system with intravenous (IV) nutrition. With IV nutrition, we can enhance recovery from surgery.

Taking supplements orally is a good thing to do. Taking antioxidants such as vitamin C can help the immune system. Other supplements such as B vitamins help with metabolism. Minerals such as magnesium and zinc have many benefits. While taking these vitamins and nutrients orally is helpful, the benefit of getting these nutrients is greatly enhanced with intravenous delivery.

Bypassing the gastrointestinal tract leads to much better delivery of concentrated nutrients by IV. Also, many people have difficulty tolerating some vitamins at higher doses because of stomach irritation. Most of those people can tolerate IV delivery much better. For instance, some people cannot tolerate more than two or three grams of oral vitamin C. The same people have no difficulty tolerating 10 grams of vitamin C IV or even more. Another benefit of intravenous nutrition is that nutrients are delivered in a concentrated manner, as opposed to slower absorption when taking them orally. This creates a high concentration of nutrients in the bloodstream which enhances delivery where it is needed, into the tissues and cells.

With these advantages, IV nutrition provides several benefits. For instance, those with fatigue often benefit from the metabolic support that IV nutrition provides. There are multiple nutrients that support the immune system when given orally, and these nutrients achieve greater potency when given intravenously. Thus, immune function is enhanced.

Surgery is a great stress on the body. Even for someone healthy, a common refrain is, “That took a lot out of me.” Also, because of the stress, those that undergo surgery are more vulnerable to infection. Using IV nutrition helps deal with this surgical stress and will help minimize fatigue from general anesthesia. With the body worn down, we are more vulnerable to infection after surgery. Because two benefits of IV nutrition are improved energy and enhanced immune function, IV nutrition is very well-suited to help recover from surgery.

A a healthy person may want to undergo one or two IV nutrition sessions before surgery and one or two sessions after therapy. If someone has more health challenges and/or is frail, they would benefit from two or three IV nutrition sessions before surgery and two to four sessions after surgery.

Warren Slaten, M.D., is a pain wellness physician in Ridgewood. For more information, visit HormonesNJ.com.

Tags: IV nutrition, Recovery, Ridgewood, surgery, Warren Slaten, wellness physician