Transitioning Safely: 7 Ways Functional Medicine Can Help With FTM Top Surgery Aftercare
7 Ways Functional Medicine Can Help With FTM Top Surgery Aftercare
Congratulations on completing the next step of your transition! Now it's time to focus on caring for your surgery wounds. Click here to learn how.
One of the biggest events in your entire life has come one step closer to realization. You have undergone your top surgery and passed another major milestone in your transition.
Now is the time of celebration and healing. FTM transition is a long process and FTM top surgery aftercare is an important piece to keeping you healthy through this milestone.
Here are some of the best tips that functional medicine can provide. Soon you will be onto a new and bright future.
The Core of Functional Medicine and Recovery
The idea of functional medicine is to take a grand scale look at every symptom and aspect of your health and life. This broader look at the details allows for a more educated diagnosis.
By looking at only the single symptoms, a doctor may come to a diagnosis that could be correct but may have missed something.
Functional medicine wants to check other items like diet, exercise, history of allergies, and others to gain a better understanding of the whole picture.
Inflammation could provoke one diagnosis, but combined with diet it could provoke another. That entire picture could shed new light on the real problem and allow doctors to attack the issue from the right angle.
How does functional medicine help intense transition surgery aftercare? The answer is in the broad picture and what details may get missed without it.
The Best Steps to FTM Top Surgery Aftercare
The FTM top surgery is an intensive surgery that requires a lot of cutting, removal, and restructuring of your pectoral region. During your FTM transition, you will have likely have done a lot of research on the procedure.
Your surgeon will guide you through the pre-operation issues and will provide some form of post-operation suggestions and care. To best prepare you, here are 7 major aftercare tips you should be ready for.
1. Immediate Post Surgery Plans
Surgery of any kind is a major event. While FTM top surgery will finish in a day. Often you will be able to go home right after, there are some issues to consider.
The major one is sedation. You will need sedation for the surgery and such sedation may have after-effects for a while. Do not drive yourself home. You have two options: have a friend or family member drive you or stay at the hospital.
If you want to head home, make sure you preplan everything. Have a ride to and from the hospital and someone to accompany you through the first night. There is a small chance of minor complications and it is better to catch them early.
Most hospitals have an after-surgery care center that they will take you too. This will come with professional care and can last a few days. This may be the safest option, so try and work it into your schedule.
2. Modifying Your Excercise
For many transmen, exercise is a popular way to supplement the testosterone to move your transition forward. After your FTM top surgery, it can be dangerous.
You need to stop any strenuous exercise routines right after the surgery. You will have a lot of healing tissue, and not only will large movements damage the work, but any increased heart rate or sweat can also cause damage as well.
Raising your elbows above your shoulders or chest based workouts are the worst thing you can do post-surgery, for obvious reasons.
Your doctor will advise you when you may continue the exercise. It will be a gradual return to form and by 6 months after the surgery, you should be able to get right back out there.
Walking is a great way to keep up your health and activity, but keep it to a small pace right after the surgery.
3. The Low-Sodium Diet
Your diet is a key factor in your health. During recovery, any salt in your diet can be a dangerous factor that can make recovery longer and harder.
Salt restricts the blood vessels and can lessen the blood flow to the surgical areas. Blood flow will be key in nourishing the damaged tissue, allowing it to heal faster.
Your overall diet won't need to change much beyond that unless you have a specific diet restriction that your doctor will cover.
If you have postoperative nausea, carbonated sodas and dry crackers can help to alleviate it.
4. The Details of Cleanliness
With bandages and surgical areas on a prominent area of your body, showering can be difficult. Until you have a check from your doctor post-surgery that affirms showering, avoid it at all costs.
Until then a sponge bath is best to keep yourself clean and hygienic. Be careful of dirt and grime around the surgical area and keep yourself clean. Keeping your overall activity down and indoors will help you to avoid dirt and grime.
5. Mindful of Irritation and Infections
Speaking of care regarding your bandages and surgical area, be on the lookout for excess irritation or signs of infection.
You will experience mild to moderate pain right after surgery, but the painkillers your doctor can provide will help reduce that. If you stick to the relaxing and resting tactic after surgery, you should be able to avoid dangerous contact.
6. Work Life and Stress Management
Like most surgeries, plan to take some time away from work. For a non-physical job, like an office position, a 2 week rest period should be plenty. For strenuous labor, you may consider 4 to 6 weeks for recovery before returning.
Be careful to plan and budget this absence from work. Consider it another expense to the surgery overall.
As well, stress from non-work materials can be dangerous. Avoid situations that can make you anxious. Activities like rush hour traffic or crowded places can cause trouble for your heart rate and healing process.
7. Scheduled Appointments and Milestones
After the surgery, there will be several milestones and doctor appointments you will need to make to check in on your healing process. Schedule these out ahead of time to mark both your progress and to ensure that healing is going well.
Remember to celebrate! Each of these appointments and healing milestones is another step closer to the transition accomplishment you have been working toward.
This moment can be a powerful one and should be treasured.
The Care You Desire and Deserve
These life management tips will help you through your FTM top surgery aftercare. These small changes are only the start of what functional medicine can offer.
We here at Bliss Medicines believe that functional medicine is a key change in how patient treatment should happen. For more information on how functional medicine can help you, get a free consultation today.