When you undergo vascular surgery, you can expect to go through three phases: preparation, surgery, and recovery. When you take the proper steps during surgery preparations, it can help reduce your downtime and your risk of complications after surgery. For a successful recovery after vascular surgery, there are four strategies you can use to speed up your recovery and get back to enjoying your life.
Quit Smoking Before Surgery
Smoking and vaping greatly impacts your body’s ability to heal. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, which means when you smoke, it causes your blood vessels to tighten and constrict. When your blood vessels constrict, it reduces your oxygen levels and blood flow to your incision site. Wounds that lack the necessary resources to heal can take longer to close, which can increase your risk of complications.
If you have a vascular surgery coming up, you should stop smoking prior to your surgery date. By quitting smoking, you can improve your circulation, promote better wound healing, and lower your risk of infection. For those having trouble quitting smoking, there are numerous resources you can look into to help you quit, including:
- Counseling Services: Talking to a professional can help you work through stressful situations that make you want to smoke again.
- Support Systems: Friends, family, and quit-smoking programs can help support you throughout your daily life.
- Form New Habits: You can help distract yourself from smoking by spending more time on healthy habits, such as exercising or deep breathing.
- Utilize Alternatives: Talk to your doctor about using nicotine patches, medications, or other alternatives to ease your transition away from smoking.
Tailor Your Medication Regimen Based on Professional Guidance from Your Doctor
After vascular surgery, your medication regimen can impact how your body recovers. Medication can be helpful for preventing pain, blood clots, and infections, but it can require precision to achieve the correct balance and duration for your unique case. There are a few common medications that your doctor may prescribe post-surgery, such as:
- Anticoagulants: These medications prevent your blood from clotting excessively, effectively reducing your risk of complications like a stroke, heart attack, or pulmonary embolism.
- Pain medication: Vascular surgery can cause pain like any other surgery, so your doctor will prescribe pain medication to help keep you comfortable as you recover.
- Antibiotics: In order to prevent infection, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics to fight against bacteria.
Once your doctor has prescribed medications following surgery, it is vital to your recovery to follow the instructions exactly. Stopping any medication or changing the dosage without your doctor’s opinion can cause delays with your recovery. Make sure to keep track of the medications your doctor prescribes, including the doses, side effects, and effectiveness.
Prior to taking any new medications, talk to your doctor about what medications and supplements you are currently taking to avoid any negative interactions from new medications. If you believe any of your medications are causing a negative side effect, consult your healthcare provider about other medication options.
Prioritize Rest
As your body is healing, it needs to spend more of your energy and resources towards closing your wound. Taking time to rest and prevent overexerting yourself can help speed up your recovery. If you are struggling with prioritizing rest, there are a few ways you can create a rest-promoting environment:
- Remove Distractions: Different activities can keep your mind from resting, such as work, screen time, and other activities that may keep you awake.
- Create a Comfort Zone: You can help prioritize rest by creating a space by a comfortable chair or your bed that houses all the essentials you may need, like chargers, healthy snacks, books, and more.
- Follow Doctor’s Orders: In some cases, your doctor may require you to elevate your legs after surgery to help with blood flow as you rest.
Although it is important to rest, you should also consider your doctor’s recommendations about necessary movement. Your doctor may recommend light movement to help prevent blood clots. To avoid feeling stiff, you can incorporate gentle stretches or short walks into your daily routine to help your circulation, but you should listen to your body to avoid pushing yourself too far before your body is ready. Make sure you talk to your doctor about what stretches and simple exercises are right for your recovery period.
Implement Necessary Lifestyle Modifications
Changing aspects of your lifestyle can drastically impact your recovery. Underlying causes of vascular disease can often come from unhealthy lifestyle choices such as poor diet choices, lack of physical activity, and unresolved stress. Without improving your habits, you can face a higher risk of having recurring vascular health issues.
Your diet can heavily affect your vascular health. To make the most of your recovery period, you should focus your diet on:
- Lean proteins
- Antioxidants
- Vitamins
- Low sodium
- Hydration
By focusing on these aspects of your diet, you can provide your body with all the nutrients it needs to rebuild tissues in your body while controlling your blood pressure. Diet changes can help reduce the strain on your blood vessels while promoting your circulation.
Exercise can be an excellent way to take care of your cardiovascular health. Although you can’t start hitting the gym right after surgery, you can talk to your doctor about how to ease exercise into your recovery. Even simple exercises can help get your blood flowing, like a quick walk around your neighborhood or gentle stretching. For some cases, your doctor may recommend physical therapy to help ensure you have full range of movement as you recover.
Finally, it is important to focus on your mental health as you recover from surgery. Stress can impact your healing in multiple ways, such as:
- Raising blood pressure
- Increasing inflammation in your body
- Straining your immune system
- Causing difficulty sleeping
- Encouraging bad habits like poor diet choices
None of these stress symptoms are beneficial for your recovery. You can try to manage your stress through relaxation techniques, like deep breathing or meditation. If you are still having trouble lowering your stress levels, reach out to family, friends, or even a medical professional for support. Throughout your healing, any support system you establish can help you keep a positive outlook and help you set realistic recovery goals.
Treatment with Michigan Vascular
By quitting smoking, taking your medications appropriately, taking time to rest, and managing your stress, you can help create the optimal conditions for your body to heal. You should always follow the guidelines set out by your doctor, as making gradual changes is better for creating long-term changes. Be patient as your body heals, and reach out to your doctor if you have concerns about how your recovery is going.
At Michigan Vascular Center, we’re committed to providing the highest quality care and support for our patients based on sound principles of vascular disease treatment. If you believe you are at risk of vascular disease, let us help determine the cause and develop a treatment plan for you.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you stay on top of your long-term health with regular testing and screening services
