Feed your eyes
You may think that what you eat before and after your cornea transplant is inconsequential. You couldn’t be more wrong. How you prepare and maintain your body before and after the surgery will determine your speed of recovery to a large extent!
The body does not have an infinite supply of energy – in fact, our bodies have a finite amount of energy to cater for the millions of intricate processes that are performed every day. Any additional burden that we place on our bodies requires additional resources – be that in the form of rest or nutrition.
It is best to start preparing your body at least a month before the scheduled operation date. The trauma that your body endures during surgery cannot be underestimated – not only are you being cut into but you are under general anaesthesia which basically paralyses your entire body including the corneal reflexes.
The liver is one of the organs that is heavily taxed due to the general anaesthetic as well as any post-operative pain-killers and anti-inflammatories. It takes at least a month for the GA to work itself out of your system, so it is important to continue to support the liver for four weeks after the surgery.
Nausea and vomiting are common after surgery, due either to the surgical procedure itself, or, less often, to specific anaesthetic drugs. Women are more prone to post-surgery nausea than men. Fortunately, anti-nausea drugs have become so effective that today we can expect to have few, if any, problems with nausea following surgery. Let your anaesthetist know about any experience you’ve had with anaesthesia and discuss plans to prevent and treat any nausea or vomiting that may develop.
Below is a list of supplements that I personally used before and after my operation. I believe that without these, my recovery would have been a lot slower and it would have taken me much longer to recover my overall fitness. It is also important to remember that although these supplements are fantastic – they need a compliant patient.
That means that you should also decrease the burden on your body by not drinking alcohol before and after the op, not smoking (including avoiding places where people smoke), cutting out fatty foods including fast foods and following a nutritious diet from an organic source where possible.
Pre-op:
Eyesight Protection formula (Solal): Alleviates eye fatigue and helps improve low-light vision.
L-Glutamine (Solal): An amino acid that protects the liver and immune system. It also reduces the craving for carbohydrates and lowers elevated blood sugar.
SAMe (S-Adenosyl Methionine) Solal: It is an amino acid that enhances brain function, improves mood and balances neurotransmitters. It has powerful liver detoxifying and anti -inflammatory effects.
Milk Thistle Extract (Silibinin) Solal: Increases levels of glutathione and is a powerful free radical scavenger. It is important for the liver and is particularly effective for protecting the liver against the damaging effects of alcohol (and anaesthetic). It has protective, healing and detoxification effects on the kidneys and helps keep blood sugar levels under control.
Krill Oil (Solal): This is the most absorbable phospholipid form of Omega 3 and has 48 times the antioxidant effects of omega 3 oil. It is important in maintaining heart, brain and immune system functions and helps prevent inflammatory disorders.
Double Vitamin C (Solal): Acts as an anti-oxidant and free radical scavenger. Helps boost the immune system and increases the healing rate of wounds.
Vitamin D3 (Solal): Improves immunity, muscle weakness and pain.
Post Op:
Invisible Fibre (Solal): Sourced from the guar bean, Invisible Fibre lowers the glycaemic Index of foods and increases natural soluble fibre in the diet.
ACES Plus (Solal): Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium and Zinc. It also contains green tea extract, co-enzyme Q10, grape-seed extract and alpha lipoic acid. All of these are very potent anti-oxidants which protects the body against damage from free radicals.
StemEnhance (Stem Tech USA): We need vitamins, antioxidants, good food, doctors and sometimes medication. But none of them rebuild the body. None of them can actually bring back new tissue, bone, organs, or any part of the body. Science has just recently discovered that the only system known that actually rebuilds the body is your own adult stem cells.
Eyesight Protection formula (Solal): Alleviates eye fatigue and helps improve low-light vision.
L-Glutamine (Solal): An amino acid that protects the liver and immune system. It also reduces the craving for carbohydrates and lowers elevated blood sugar.
Milk Thistle Extract (Silibinin) Solal: Increases levels of glutathione and is a powerful free radical scavenger. It is important for the liver and is particularly effective for protecting the liver against the damaging effects of alcohol (and anaesthetic). It has protective, healing and detoxification effects on the kidneys and helps keep blood sugar levels under control.
Krill Oil (Solal): This is the most absorbable phospholipid form of Omega 3 and has 48 times the antioxidant effects of omega 3 oil. It is important in maintaining heart, brain and immune system functions and helps prevent inflammatory disorders.