Diet taboos after curettage

Avoid iced drinks, spicy, or greasy soups for one week. Try to stay away from alcohol and highly stimulating drinks with high concentrations of caffeine for one month. There is absolutely no need to take blood-activating medicated meals right after surgery. Most of the other so-called statements such as "cannot touch cold fruits and cannot eat hairy foods" have no clear clinical basis and do not need to be strictly followed.

Over the years I have been working in gynecology clinics, I have seen too many patients who have fallen into the trap. Not long ago, a young girl born in the 2000s had just finished her early pregnancy evacuation. Her boyfriend was waiting at the door with a glass of poplar nectar with ice. He said that he bought it specially because he knew she liked to eat it. As a result, the girl squatted on the ground in pain and couldn't stand up after just two sips. There was no problem with the emergency B-ultrasound. It was just that the ice stimulated the pelvic blood vessels and caused cramping pain.

In fact, there is no unified conclusion on the taboos of ice food in the academic circles. If you are a person who eats ice all year round, you can eat popsicles without diarrhea in the winter. If you are craving for a few sips of yogurt or fruit that are cool at room temperature, there is no need to feel guilty. But if you usually get stomachache when you drink iced milk tea, or the pain makes you writhing during menstrual period, then it is best to endure it during the two weeks after the operation, and there is no need to make yourself suffer.

As for the taboo of severe spicy food, it is more real. It is not the old saying that "hair will leave the root of the disease". It is that capsaicin will dilate blood vessels throughout the body. The endometrium that has just been cured is full of fresh wounds. Once the blood vessels expand, the bleeding that has almost stopped may increase. Last week, a patient who underwent curettage to check for polyps invited a friend to eat spicy hot pot on the second day after the operation. After eating, the bleeding was heavier than menstrual flow. He rushed over in a panic and checked for a long time, but there was no residue. He just ate spicy food, so he went home and rested for two days.

Many elders think that after the operation, they need to take a lot of tonic, so they have to drink the old hen soup and pig's trotters soup, and the layer of oil floating on them is forced to drink. This is actually a big pitfall. Most people have to rest for 3-7 days after dilation and curettage. The amount of activity is much smaller than usual, and gastrointestinal motility is slow. Drinking something too oily will cause constipation or diarrhea. When constipated, you will squat on the toilet and strain, and the increased abdominal pressure will cause pain in the uterine wound, which in turn will slow recovery. If it is a dilation and curettage related to early pregnancy, the progesterone has not been completely metabolized, and drinking too much greasy soup will easily cause breast swelling. The kind of pain that is so swollen that you can't even touch it, is really no easier than surgery.

This is also why you should try not to drink alcohol within one month. Alcohol will affect coagulation function, dilate blood vessels, increase the risk of bleeding, and may react with antibiotics and hemostatic drugs prescribed after surgery. In severe cases, it may be dangerous. As for high-caffeine products such as espresso and functional drinks, hormone fluctuations after surgery can easily lead to insomnia and irritability. Drinking these drinks can make you more nervous and unable to sleep, and recovery will be slow if you don't get enough rest. Of course, if you usually have a cup of American latte every day and it has become a habit, you can switch to drinking a low-causal or lighter latte. After drinking it, you will not have panic or insomnia, and you don’t have to completely quit. Comfort is the first priority.

The easiest pitfall is blind supplementation. Many people make soup with ginseng, angelica, and saffron right after surgery, saying they want to replenish qi and blood. However, it turns out that these things have the effect of promoting blood circulation. After eating, they bleed loudly, but they lose more qi and blood in vain. I usually tell patients that they should eat something light and easy to digest in the week before surgery, such as tomato and egg noodles, steamed sea bass, stir-fried vegetables, and some fruits at room temperature, which are more effective than any tonic costing thousands of dollars. When the bleeding is completely gone, if you want to make up for it, put two red dates and a few wolfberries in the porridge, which is completely enough.

Many people ask if they can eat fruits. They say that fruits are "cool" and will cause disease. This is really a misunderstanding. As long as it is not iced watermelon or frozen bayberry just taken out of the refrigerator, you can eat apples, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas at room temperature. The vitamins and dietary fiber in them can also prevent constipation. Not long ago, an aunt accompanied her daughter for an operation, but she refused to let her touch any fruit, saying it was too cold. As a result, her daughter was constipated for three days, squatting on the toilet until she cried. In the end, she was treated with Kaiselu, which made her suffer worse than the operation.

In fact, there are really not so many rigid rules that you must abide by, and you don’t have to worry about listening to the online saying that “you must avoid it for 30 days or you will be sick for the rest of your life.” Everyone’s physique is different, and the judgment criteria are very simple: after eating something, if you feel comfortable and do not have stomachache or sudden increase in bleeding, then you can eat it. If you feel uncomfortable after eating, then don’t touch it. It is easier to use than any standardized taboo list.