Appendix Removal Surgery

My brother had his appendix removed last night via laparoscopic surgery, and he is very concerned about losing weight and strength during recovery, so I am posting some questions for him.

Has anyone undergone such a surgery? I am wondering when he could start lifting again and what sort of poundages he should start with and how quickly he should work back up to his previous maxes, which were around 455 for squat, 515 for dead, 385 for bench, 325 clean and jerk.

He had just started a program that involved working up to heavy singles every other week and would like to contine it asap.

Also what sort of diet should he follow during recovery? he was eating around 4500 cals a day, pretty much maintenance for him at a weight of 210-215, pretty high carb, no sups, less than 200g protein a day. I’m thinking more protein would likely speed recovery for him, but should he be eating this many cals say within a couple days post surgery?

thanks.

Appendicitis is unfortunate, but common. I’m not a surgeon, but I would estimate his surgeons will advise him to take about 3-4 weeks off off from lifting, giving the abdominal wall some time to heal, and probably return at about half intensity.

As for diet, as long as he is getting adequate calories and protein, he should be fine. Additional protein probably would not be necessary.

As far as losing ground during this… it’s going to happen. But it will come back. Remember, appendicitis can be life threatening in some instances, so just be happy for what you’ve got.

I had my tonsils out over winter break. Lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. My problem was that I could not eat because of the surgery. Your brother will be able to eat (assuming pain meds don’t make him nauseous), so he will not lose so much. I gained the 20 lbs. back after about 6 weeks of lifting and eating. As much as it sucks, after a month or so back in the game, he’ll be back where he was pre-op.

He thinks the cause of the sudden inflammation, (it happened really quick but did not rupture, although it was quite swollen), was protein powder that he recently bought? Anyone think this is likely? This was the first time he had ever tried protein powder.

For the most part, I don’t think we understand why people get appendicitis. I would think the protein powder was just circumstantial.

Hey paulMD, you’re doctor I take it…what amount of time would you reccomend before attemping max lifts again? thanks.

Hi there. Sorry to hear of your brother’s surgery. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I had an emergency apendectomy last August(laproscopic also). I was extremely sore for about three weeks and had even a hard time standing straight. I was told to give about 6 weeks for recovery before I attempted any type of lifting or twisting or bending over, etc. Recovery time is individual and depends on that persons state prior. After three weeks I began very light activities, even if I could only manage a walk that day.

Your brother will know what he is feeling up to and will just have to adjust his activity depending on the day. If he does something that his body doesn’t like, he’ll know it soon enough. You have to be careful about not ripping the stitches. I did that and had to watch for infection.

As far as diet goes, I would for sure think that it is important to keep up his protein intake.

Eating right, sleep and keep active doing what you can do will make recovery time as fast as possible. Once again, hope all is well with your brother soon:)

Susan

Lots water and lots of glutamine.Glutamine,besides repairing muscle also repairs organ tissue,arterial walls etc.Enzyme loading at night and before meals also speeds recovery!

As before, I think 3-4 weeks before lifting. You don’t want to tear the stitches or cause an incisional hernia. I would think 6-8 weeks before max lifts again, but agree that it will be individual. Wasn’t it Ben Rothlisberger from the Steelers that had an appendectomy a year or more back… as I recall, it took him a while to get back, and he may have pushed it a little fast.

Yeah don’t rush it. He is already going to be out for a while. No reason to rush back, only to complicate things and wind up with another hospitol visit, and a possibility of being out of the weight room that much longer.

I’m still pretty nauseaous a week after surgery. Dropped 15lbs so far.

what do you guys think about calethestics and light, like 25lb db exercises? I feel like I could do these no porblem once I am able to get down enough calories, hopefully in couple days.

I got some glutamine, makes me nauseaous I think, but I’ll try it at night after i have nothing left to eat. What is a proper dosage?

I’d like to start off with some light workouts in 2 more weeks and get back to heavy lifting in 6-8 weeks as suggested above. Is there any programs any one recommends? As well any suppsy ou think will help speed my recovery? I’ve never taken supps before, so guidelines on when and how to take would be helpful.

Appendicitis SUCKS! Man, the sleepless night before my surgery was one of the most painful, excruciating nights of my life.

Anyway, I had my appendix removed when I was a runner and since your brother seems relatively fit, he’ll heal faster than if he wasn’t.

3-4 days after: Don’t do anything. Just stay home and rest!

5-8 days after: Going to class is fine, but don’t stress yourself. TAKE YOUR PAINKILLERS WITH YOU! One time I had to walk a mile home from class without any painkillers since 7 hours earlier. It was absolutely horrendous.

2-4 weeks: Still not fit enough for physical activity. Anything involving use of abs will be somewhat painful – even stepping down from a high sidewalk.

5+ weeks: Can probably start light exercise, but there will be two indicators for this. First of all, your brother’s body will tell him when he’s ready – he MUST listen to it! Secondly, there will be at least one post-op meeting with the doctor and at this point the doctor will assess your brothers progress.

I personally only had one post-op meeting and then they said “don’t come back unless you start hurting again.” Needless to say, I didn’t come back.

REST REST REST - and don’t force it. It’s hard to lay off the exercise, but there’s no sense in rushing back into it.

PS who wants to see my scar?

Had appendix removed about 25yrs. ago ,had to stay in hospital for 4-5 days after eating ice chips which sucked because it burst before they took it out.Before they took staples out of incision i used to tighten stomach muscles and do pushups and body weight squats ,calf raises.I think tightening stomach muscles helped get back my strength faster .

didnt lose much strength or weight,back to hard training pretty quick.one thing i remember is everybody getting mad at me for puttin some knots on some fellers noggin while still having the staples in stomach,i guess as they say ,you do some dumb things when your young and feel invincible. GOOD LUCK!!

I read an article (on here) about how during periods of time where you cannot work out, like vacation for example, that taking bcaa’s will help you retain more muscle, and maybe fish oil for any inflammation. I didn’t see these suggestions already posted.

[quote]anthropocentric wrote:
Appendicitis SUCKS! Man, the sleepless night before my surgery was one of the most painful, excruciating nights of my life.

Anyway, I had my appendix removed when I was a runner and since your brother seems relatively fit, he’ll heal faster than if he wasn’t.

3-4 days after: Don’t do anything. Just stay home and rest!

5-8 days after: Going to class is fine, but don’t stress yourself. TAKE YOUR PAINKILLERS WITH YOU! One time I had to walk a mile home from class without any painkillers since 7 hours earlier. It was absolutely horrendous.

2-4 weeks: Still not fit enough for physical activity. Anything involving use of abs will be somewhat painful – even stepping down from a high sidewalk.

5+ weeks: Can probably start light exercise, but there will be two indicators for this. First of all, your brother’s body will tell him when he’s ready – he MUST listen to it! Secondly, there will be at least one post-op meeting with the doctor and at this point the doctor will assess your brothers progress.

I personally only had one post-op meeting and then they said “don’t come back unless you start hurting again.” Needless to say, I didn’t come back.

REST REST REST - and don’t force it. It’s hard to lay off the exercise, but there’s no sense in rushing back into it.

PS who wants to see my scar?[/quote]

Feeling pain from steping down from a side walk 4 weeks later? Seems a bit extreme, did you have open surgery? He was released from the hospital within a few hrs of having it removed, and his main problem now is he feels like throwing up whenever he moves around.

[quote]Joe84 wrote:
Feeling pain from steping down from a side walk 4 weeks later? Seems a bit extreme, did you have open surgery? He was released from the hospital within a few hrs of having it removed, and his main problem now is he feels like throwing up whenever he moves around. [/quote]

As you’d expect, you feel less and less pain as time goes on while you heal. So at 4 weeks, you’re going to be a lot stronger than at 2 weeks, but there might still be some pain here and there doing various movements.

After I started running again, I noticed that I was still strong enough to run a solid 5-6 miles after 4+ weeks of being sedentary.

His nausea should wear off pretty fast, but if it doesn’t then he should try to keep his painkiller dosage as low as possible while still preventing pain.

Anyway, 8 months after surgery, the only reminder that I have is a 2 inch scar that I’ll have for the rest of my life.

he is quite lucky that the surgery could be performed laparoscopically–smaller incisions and quicker recovery. Thus, people posting who have had open surgeries probably have inflated recovery times. My brother had the same surgery and recovered much faster than the poster who had pain a month out.

Just a thought