Worried

Does anyone know if they would still do surgery if u have a head and chest cold,, I feel like im coming down with one,, and is it alright to take cold medicine with the optifast. Im 5 days away from surgery..

I believe you should be ok as long as it is not a lung thing!!!! But i would call the surgeons office on monday !!! for the cold medicine I believe it should be as long as the sugar is low.

Head cold probably but if it's in your chest they may not. My surgery was cancelled the day of because of a cold that was all in my chest. Although I was extremely disappointed at the time now that I've gone through the surgery I am so glad they did. The pain in my chest from the gas was bad, I couldn't imagine having a stuffy chest and hacking cough on top of that.

You also need to make sure your cold medicine doesn't have any nsaids in it-only tylenol or nyquil I would try.

There are lots of no sugar cough medicines if you need some and also sugar free Halls but be careful you don't use too many because the sugar alcohols can cause diarrhea.

A nice home remedy is to take a couple of tylenol. Then to a cup of boiling water add some lemon juice, fresh ginger and some honey or splenda.   It makes a nice soothing drink .

I hope you feel better soon.  

In agreement with Debra on the tea - lots of ginger and lemon - Stash has a ginger and lemon caffeine free herbal tea, but homemade is better, boil the ginger for a least 10 mins.  Also, get some Zinc. It is a wonderful immune booster! Get well very soon.

Debra,

I'm so sorry that you feel like you're coming down with a cold just before your surgery, after all your Opti. 

You could buy some plain saline nasal spray from the pharmacy. 

You could also ask you surgeon if you can take Vitamin C, Echinacea, oregano capsules, Cold FX, a plain decongestant - just pseudoephedrine  (sold from behind the counter in bigger pharmacies), and an antihistamine, like Aerius.  That's what my doctor tells me to take (except for the Cold FX) when I get a cold because my colds always turned into a 4 week cold with a cough and sinus and ear infections before I did all that. 

But, again, please check with your surgeon before you take anything other than the plain saline nasal spray.  You don't want to take anything that might interfere with your operation and the anesthesia.

Jenn. :)