if a surgeon says you have to fast, you have to fast. end of story.
if a surgeon says your child has to fast, they have to fast. even if they are rreeeaaaallly hungry. even if they beg for food. even if they cry. even if they throw a tantrum. even if they scream for hours.
if a surgeon says you have to fast, you have to fast.
For a bit more context/plainer language from a child life specialist:
the medicine the doctor gives you to make you sleep, called anesthesia, makes you sleep differently than you do at night. Medicine sleep is so deep that the muscle that keeps your stomach closed falls asleep too.
Your stomach and your lungs are connected by your esophagus, which connects to your mouth and brings air to your lungs and food into your stomach.
Because you’ll be laying flat on your back, This means if you have food in your stomach it can come up out of your stomach, and because they’re connected by your esophagus, food or drink that comes out of your stomach can go into your lungs.
Because they aren’t supposed to have stuff other than air in them, having food or drinks in your lungs can make you really sick.
The doctors really don’t want that to happen, which is why they ask you not to eat or drink anything the day you’re having your surgery/whatever you’re getting anesthesia for. It can be really hard but it’s important!
everyone move over this post is about fish religion now
you've heard of Legal Eagle now get ready for the Surgeon Sturgeon
you’ve heard of Legal
Eagle now get ready for
the Surgeon Sturgeon
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
Importantly - this is also why they don't want you to eat during labor. If things go south fast and they need to anesthetize you, it'll be safer to do so.
Then why, as I've seen people ask, will they still operate it someone comes in in an ambulance who hasn't fasted? It can't be that important if they'll operate anyway when you really need itC right? Well, normally, for example a knee surgery, the risk they're weighing against is the person going home and letting their knee injury sit for another day while they actually fast. It's one extra day of waiting versus a surgery that's exactly the same except much safer.
When one extra day of waiting will kill you, the math tilts the other way, and fast. Aspiration pnuemonia isn't going to kill you faster than a severed carotid artery.
(Also, please just tell your anesthesiologist what drugs you're on. Combining amphetamines with anesthesia unawares can Just Kill You.)
It's also mostly so you don't shit and mf barf yourself up cause anesthesia can do that . And it's not pretty.





















