A week after my hip replacement surgery and I have learned quite a bit about inflammation, swelling, healing and how you think you are taking it easy, but the body doesn’t always respond as you expect.
Last week, on January 21, 2014, I went in for my anterior entry total hip replacement surgery. I went into the surgery probably in the best ‘shape’ possible having done the hyper anti-inflammatory diet the two weeks prior. I wanted to go into surgery pain-free and medication free. I did it as an experiment to see,
Does the anti-inflammatory diet really work??
I have been on a mostly anti-inflammatory diet already for over a year or more, or what I also call a modified detox diet. But with the 2 weeks before surgery being sans supplements or NSAIDs like Advil, I was really motivated to try the hyper anti-inflammatory diet to relieve my pain. I was happy to find out that within those two weeks, I was able to be pain free!
The anti-inflammatory diet DOES work!! I even went walking through the mall the evening before surgery with my sister who flew into town to help me. And after 2 hours, I had some fatigue but not the aches I used to have. I also lost the ‘human barometer’ pain where the hip would ache when temperatures dropped significantly. No one would believe me except I have done it and I felt it. Or rather, I didn’t feel the pain, just discomfort of my condition.
After surgery, I have maintained my morning juicing with the added turmeric root, daikon radish, parsley, pineapple and cabbage to my regular mix. And I do believe it helped me get over anesthesia quicker. Although I did have extensive swelling of that left leg, I was sleeping thru the night within 4 days which surprised the nurses following up on me. I have had my fair share of aches and muscle spasms post surgery as my hip, leg and glute muscles learn to engage again. On this end of surgery, I am taking my pain meds. I would be even more miserable without the continuation of the hyper anti-inflammatory diet. I believe it is also helping my liver from being toxified from the medication. That is a word, toxified, right??
So you probably wonder, what is this Hyper Anti-Inflammatory diet?? It is mainly real food, no processed food at all, no wheat, no dairy, alkalizing animal proteins only, no sugar and no use of petroleum based products. I used the general 2 Week Detox Plan as my guide. Then avoided all the foods and chemicals that had been identified by 6-8 months of monthly Nutrition Response Testing. For me, my inflammatory foods were sugar, dairy, wheat, and brown rice. The only chemical that came up was petroleum, so I switched to using shea butter and using a bee wax or shea butter based lip balm, too! Once I eliminated all of those items one by one based on testing, I had the pain drop significantly. I went from taking 2 Advil every 4-6 hours, to 1 Advil maybe 2 every other day.
But I was also taking my anti inflammatory supplements and fish oils. But still hard to achieve when you have bone-on-bone rubbing!
To make the detox plan Hyper Anti-inflammtory, I was diligent with my plan and avoided the inflammatory foods. I did find I could eat a couple of pieces of dark chocolate though, and had a small glass of red wine a couple of times with no ill effect (meaning no pain). Phew! I added the turmeric root, more ginger, handful of parsley, wedge of cabbage, wedge of pineapple and 1-2 inch chunk of daikon radish to my morning juice, and within 30-40 minutes of drinking it, I could feel those first few days the pain would melt away. By the end of the week, I was waking up with less pain and less stiffness so the melting effect was not as drastic. By the end of the second week, I had no pain, but wanted to keep it that way!
The pains and aches post surgery are expected. But I had no idea how my body would respond to surgery. The body doesn’t always respond as I expected with muscle aches or spasms coming later in the day or mainly at night…waking me up from a peaceful sleep. I do know that the journey ahead is still unknown. nAnd I still have no idea how my body will react when the swelling goes away. But I do know, the anti-inflammatory diet has been the one constant that has helped me along the way to be in less pain than I could be. It is helping me think more clearly sooner after surgery.
If you have pain, and have not tried an anti-inflammatory diet or Nutrition Response Testing, I suggest you try both. What do you have to lose but pain?? You have you life of fun and activity to look forward to.
For more information about Joanna and how to get started on an anti-inflammatory diet, please visit www. n-im.net and click on the sports nutrition page. The Anti-inflammatory Plan is a series of 4 sessions to help you become pain free within 2-4 months. It is perfect for those who want to minimize pain going into surgery, recovering after surgery, or have inflammatory issues including arthritis, fractures, or fibromyalgia.