Help to speed up recovery from surgery, injury and scars

Added October 29, 2009, Under: Diets, Health, Nutrition, Sickness, Skin Conditions

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If you have been injured or you are undergoing surgery, there is much you can do to aid your recovery more quickly.

Obviously, if you are already on a healthy diet then you are on track in helping your recovery but if you know you are about to have surgery, what you eat before and after surgery can help you heal more quickly.

Certain amino acids seem to help wounds heal faster so any meals should include fish, chicken, eggs, brown rice, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.  Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Zinc are important supplements too.  A glass of pure orange juice or a couple of whole oranges will take care of the daily Vitamin C.   Thirty minutes or so of sunlight exposure on most of your body several times a week will take care of the Vitamin D.  But if that is not possible, take a Vitamin D3 supplement with added Zinc.  A multivitamin that includes B12 and iron (to help bone marrow to form new blood cells) is good while an amino acid supplement that contains glutamine would be the cherry on the top.

Vitamin C is important because studies have found that levels of this vital vitamin can drop when you have been injured or undergone surgery.  The minimum intake should be  between 300 mg to 1g per day during a recovery period.  Apart from citrus fruits, a good source of Vitamin C is rose hips or you might like to try a product known as Pure Camu from the Amazon Herb Company which you will find on www.amazondreams.amazonherb.net

Zinc reduces wound healing time as well as rapidly reducing wound size while bolstering your immune function to avoid infection.  So take a supplement before surgery to bring your levels up.  The recommended dose is 30 mg per day.

Apart from using sunlight to ensure your dose of Vitamin D, sunlight also accelerates wound healing too.  Patients who are exposed to sunlight heal far faster than those who are not.

You can also heal any scars by using H-Scars from Healing Natural Oils or even use to treat fresh wounds so that you eliminate scarring even before it occurs.  Remember that an injury does not become a scar until the wound is complete healed.

If you have undergone oral surgery, this can be more difficult because you need to eat well.  Yet some patients lose weight after oral surgery because of difficulty eating plus any nausea they feel.  Again if you know you are going to have surgery, build up your immune system and levels of vitamins beforehand.  Lay in a stock of nutritious soft or liquid food such as liquid dietary supplements designed for cancer patients and rich broths and smoothies.  You will find great recipes for smoothies containing every kind of healthy fruit and vegetables.   You will be able to get all the nutrition you need from these.  Try www.smoothie-recipes.com/healthy/ for lots of ideas.

By taking care of your body as you recover from any kind of surgery or injury, you will find your pain and healing time greatly reduced.  Even getting a massage or participating in yoga can be very beneficial. Acupuncture can help speed wound recovery if you are interested in this alternative method.   Treating the tissues near the wound with acupuncture can boost local circulation and help eliminate scar tissue too.

Finally, good news for the future, as scientist say they have discovered an antibody that could minimize the major internal beleeding seen in traumas like bullet wounds and car crashes.  The team at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has discovered that a protein called histone is responsible for much of the damage during these traumas.  They say they have found a specific type of antibody that can block the ability of this histone to cause such damage.   Extensive testing will continue.

And if you are going to be undergoing surgery in the near future, make sure you build up your own immune system and follow the tips above for a quicker recovery from surgery, injury and scarring.

All the very best for a full and speedy recovery.