The FastDay Forum

Hi Julie, Hope you are doing better! I just have a few moments so did not read the previous replys above, so I don't know whether I'm duplicating anyone -- sorry! I thought I would tell you what our Fast is like. We do 4:3 and 5:2 most of the time. But, there are interventions that cause us to do 6:1. You might consider being a little flexible while healing. Deejay

Julie,
ADFnFuel is male and probably a lot younger than we are. That makes a HUGE difference in how your body recovers from surgery.

Do you know if you were given cortisone in some form or other during or after surgery? That will ramp up hunger dramatically. Some other drugs may, too. Anything that increases insulin resistance or blood sugar can make it much tougher to fast.

So I join in with the throng suggesting that you go easy on yourself and give yourself a long time to recover.

Sadly, I also join in with the throng who need a neck fusion. I just saw the orthopedic surgeon this morning. Apparently my discs are completely gone in the base of my neck and strange things are growing out of the bones. I will be having an MRI to see if there is a danger of compression to the spinal cord. I really don't want surgery. I have a long history of bizarre medical things happening that doctors have "never seen before" and would prefer one of them not be death on the table. But we'll see. . .

Glad that your surgery went so well. And since I'm living proof that you can be a reasonable weight for most of your whole life and still have endless problems with your spine you don't have to feel that your weight is what caused your problems.

It was my ponytail that caused my problem. I think it was trapped under hubby when I rolled out of bed. The body rolled but the head stayed put, putting tremendous strain on the neck, which ruptured the disk.
If you need the surgery ask if you can be referred to a specialist orthopedic hospital. My doctor did it for me, the reasoning being that you are better off being treated by someone who does 5 of your operations a week than a surgeon who only does 5 a year.

That is very wise advice, @Julieathome!

I'm going to avoid surgery as long as I can. I'm not in horrible pain, as this has come on gradually over many months, and not like yours the result of a sudden trauma. I have quite a few other ruptured discs that I've lived with for 17 years now. So if this is like the others, and flares up and calms down, I might just live with it. The MRI will tell us if I have to worry about paralysis if I don't act. With my back disc I actually developed paralysis when it first ruptured, but it went away after several weeks and has not come back again.

The best hospitals in my region are in Boston, which is 2 hours away from where I live. But there may be issues with whether my insurance will pay for me to go there. Whatever the case, you can be sure I will carefully check out the surgeon as I am very suspicious of all the local doctors, many of whom appear to have moved to our beautiful, rural region because they were either a) not good enough to get hired into a well-paying big city practice, or b) kicked out of a big city practice for incompetence. Harsh words, yes, but the stories I could tell. . . .

I have a series of surgeries to book. I currently have a plan to fast afterwards to reduce the inflammation but I look upon that more like a set of guidelines and to be set aside if I feel very differently after the procedure. And, even if it were OK to continue with fasting after the 1st one, it doesn't mean it will be appropriate after each of the others.

Sometimes, I can't tell if my plans are appropriately flexible or pure havering.

Julie - I can relate to what you have gone through and understand to some extent what you must have been gone through. I was scared s-tless several weeks before my surgery and in the prep room they had to sedate me cause my eyes rolled in fear. And that was a ordinary hip replacement.
The first days after surgery I was totally unable to eat - just looking at food made me ill and lucky The DH who got my lunch one day The nurses told me I had to eat to be able to heal....so day 3 I throw myself at the meals and ate quickly before the nausea hit....I got through 1/3 of the portions.

On Monday it is 5 weeks after surgery and I know some parts take 3 month to heal and some up to 6, but so far I haven't had it in me to fast. Not that I eat very much as it is, but I firmly believe that my body tell me to eat for tissues and bones to heal. Oh don't I haven't tried to fast cause I have, I've tried Mondays, Tusedays and Thursday to no avail - my body yells - eat!!!
Well I haven't gained any weight and the pair of capri pants I bought during the spring tend to glide down a bit and my wedding rings are loose for the first time in a long while.

Peebles - I was extremely lucky to have an employer who have every employees insured so that we get private care and don't have to wait forever - from I met the surgeon first time to surgery, 2 months. Plus it was done in a private hospital and all it cost me was 500SEK. "My" surgeon is tremendously good, he does nothing else but hip - and knee replacements and have along with his staff developed his own methods and post op ways. I was so lucky!

I'll bet my body will tell me when it's time to get back into the saddle

Thats what it was like for me. I just couldn't fast, I was a protein fiend. I also had the medication withdrawal to go through too which took 12 weeks in all before I considered myself free of the after affects as it wasn't just painkillers. I did start fasting, but then 'crashed', everything just got on top of me, I couldn't cope, so I stepped away from everything that was causing stress, including the exercise and told myself to chill until after my holiday, which I did do.
Now I'm back, I'm stuggling a bit with sticking to a fast, but I'm not stressing about it. As long as I don't slip into pig out mode I will get a grip on it again.

I was told that my surgery will take about 2 years to be fully healed as the bone graft has to dissolve then be rebuilt by the body which will take 18 months to 2 years depending on age fitness health etc. I do wish I had private health insurance, it would have been a boon and saved me 2 years of terrible pain.