Why can't you eat before surgery

People are not allowed to eat before having surgery. Some people don't quite understand this. In fact, not eating and drinking before surgery is entirely for the sake of one's own health. Anesthesia will definitely be required during surgery. After anesthesia, people will enter a deep sleep state, during which people are completely unconscious. Once food and water enter the trachea, it will cause suffocation. If it is not discovered in time, it may be life-threatening.

Reason 1: When patients undergo surgery, they are often prone to nausea and vomiting due to the stimulation of drugs. If there is something in the stomach, it may be inhaled into the trachea and lungs when vomiting, causing life-threatening danger. Therefore, not only can patients not eat before surgery, some of them also need to undergo enema to remove remaining food in the gastrointestinal tract.

Reason 2: Due to the size, age, and general condition of the patient, eating and drinking should be prohibited 12 hours before general surgical operations, and drinking water should be prohibited starting 4 hours before the operation. Start fasting after dinner. You can drink 250-500ml of boiled water or sugar water before going to bed, but do not consume any other high-nutrition beverages or solid food. It should be emphasized here that dairy products are not beverages but solid foods because they take a longer time to be digested in the stomach. If it is the first surgery on the day of surgery, do not drink water or eat any food after getting up in the morning; if it is a connecting surgery, you can drink a small amount of boiled water or sugar water 4 hours before the surgery. Pediatric patients are generally prohibited from eating (including dairy products) 6 hours before surgery and drinking water 3 hours before surgery. Specific fasting precautions should be strictly followed according to the doctor's instructions.

Reason three: Gastrointestinal preparation is an important part of preoperative preparation. This is to prevent vomiting during anesthesia or surgery and cause suffocation or aspiration pneumonia. This vomiting reaction may occur at any time during anesthesia, especially during endotracheal intubation, suction and catheter removal. If you undergo surgery under anesthesia after eating or drinking a lot of water, the food in your stomach may be vomited out before it can be digested and enter the intestines. This will not only affect the normal progress of the operation, but may also cause serious complications and even threaten the patient's life safety.