EDIT: Thread topic changed to a general 'advice surrounding getting wisdom teeth removed'.
Title is pretty much self explanatory. I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed this weekend, so I won't be able to eat anything solid or hot/warm for at least a day or more. However, I'd still like to be able to get a few nutrients in to my diet.
Alongside supplement drinks, what options do I have?
Posts
On a serious note, are you getting both sides done, or one at a time?
If both sides, yogurt is good, pudding, rice pudding, cottage cheese, applesauce. You can probably manage to carefully eat a ground beef dish, like a hamburger patty.
Both sides.
I think I pretty much survived on icecream and smoothies until I could handle soup.
I guess you could also try mashing stuff up really really good if you want some vegetables or something.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Anyways, other things to eat. Mashed potatoes saved my ass. Not the real kind, just the instant stuff in a bag. Uniformed texture and delicious. I also mixed some instant potato flakes in with some tomato soup to make something more substantial. Once you have a little more freedom (but before you can eat real food), baked potatoes are a godsend. They seem like real food on the plate, but go down much nicer.
I ate pudding, apple sauce, and the aforementioned fake mashed potatoes for the first couple days. Then soup for a few more afterwards. Everyone's a bit different though... the extraction wiped me out (one of the teeth had to be broken and extracted in pieces), but others are fine after a couple days.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
The worst part for me, though, was not the pain (though I was in substantial pain) but watching my roommates come home with huge burgers or pizza or something and I had to eat applesauce.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
And applesauce.
But mostly Vicodin.
edit: It might be easier to just ask for Percocet and take less.
Now, it could be that I have such crazy awesome pain tolerance that I should be headlining my own Marvel comic book, but I rather doubt it.
If you drool in your sleep though, you're going to want to make sure your pillow is wrapped in a towel or otherwise easily washable, because you probably will be leaking blood for a couple of days.
My two weeks are up on tuesday, and I've survived off of Slim Fast + Banana + Blender, V8 Juice, and a multivitamin.
Going to the bathroom sucks, but I havent been hungry and I've been getting all of my necessary nutrients. Careful with v8 while your sockets are still fresh though, since it is pretty pulpy.
Some people recover faster than others, though. It took me two weeks...and a friend of mine who'd gotten his out the previous week only needed 3 days to recover. I'm also not sure what pain meds they'll be giving you for afterwards, but I'd recommend waking up in the middle of the night and taking another dose if you're allowed. I skipped this one night and decided to sleep instead; the next morning was horribly unpleasant.
Also, be extremely careful and eat as much as you can even though I guarantee you won't want to. I wasn't careful when I got mine cut out and I dropped 25 pounds in less than a week. I was a skinny guy to begin with and by the time it was done I looked like death (not warmed over). This probably wouldn't happen to you but don't risk it.
after a while some broth or soup..
after getting back on solids i recommend things that are based on ground meat (easy to chew) and mashed potatoes..
i had three removed and stuck to yoghurt and such for a day or three i think. then slowly moved up...
Painkillers did squat and vicodin made me throw up and incredibly nausious after taking two pills. I did not eat anything for a day after the operation, the extreme discomfort of just moving my mouth was more severe than my hunger, could only drink room temperature water (hot and cold were too much.)
When I did start eating again, it was only rice pudding with cinnamon, applesauce, and water for a week.
I also had a funny taste in my mouth for 4 days right after the operation, until I finally got fed up with constantly using plain and salt-water rinses they recommended and went straight for listerine. A good rinse with that and I spit up this large mass of crap that had finally gotten dislodged from my jaw, the foul taste was gone.
So anyways, I reccomend drink lots of water, use a spoon to eat soft things, and avoid straws as you do NOT want to dislodge that scab and get dry socket. GENTLY Rinse your mouth out after every time you eat as food particles getting stuck in the sockets can also cause problems.
Thanks for the advice guys. I hadn't realised how much this process was going to suck, now I'm really not looking forwards to this weekend. But yeah... Thanks. :?
This is a major problem for me. I'm already borderline underweight, and really need to avoid loosing any more since I've already been hospitalised for it. I suppose I should just eat a shitload in the days before the operation.
i'm in the same weight class as you. had 3 removed under surgery. you feel like shit when you wake up, but then get better by the day. It kinda sucks, but the exact amount of hindrance seems to vary from person to person.
i got kinda cranky when the pain meds wore off (really counted down till the next one). Was pretty weak from having no activity and little food for a few days, but nothing dramatic.
but all in all it wasn't that bad.. just me sitting on my bed for 3/4 days watching dvd's and listening to audiobooks.. have lots of passive entertainment prepared (nothing that requires any effort or moveing.. you won't be practicing the guitar or playing your wii..)
and oh yeah: motherfucking cold packs. I had three which i rotated all the time. my experience would've been a lot worse if i didn't have those.
also; take a picture of your face a while after the operation, you're most likely to never look as fucked up, bloated and pathetic as then.
EDIT: Also, probably a good idea to make this thread a general 'wisdom teeth removal' thread. Seems like there's a quite a bit of advice to be had.
1) Yeah, it sucks, but it's not as horrible as everyone makes it out to be, unless you know you have bad reactions to medicines or any type of anestesia they may use.
2) If you're being put under, you're not going to remember anything from "Ok, your going to feel a little sleepy..." to "How the hell did I get to my couch?" (Side note, whoever is taking you should probably be able to support your weight). That's when the pain and bleeding will start. They may/should give you a box of gauze but you might want to buy an extra box of it just in case. Blood + Spit soaks them through pretty good.
3) Make sure you have an ice pack. You're gonna swell up like a balloon. I just alternated mine on either side for about 3-5 minutes at a time.
4) In terms of painkillers, I had vicoden and had 0 issues with it. On it, I felt absolutely fine. Off it, I hurt like hell. Motrin/Ibueprofin though took over after about 2 days (Mostly because I wanted to be able to drive). Oh, and those painkillers? Yeah, they're gonna constipate you, so keep that in mind with your diet.
5) For foods, I did chicken broth and tomato soup to start, then added in mashed potatoes, then chicken noodle soup, then really, it's up to how you feel with what you can eat. By about day 3 or 4 I opted to learn how to chew with my front teeth. If you're big on soda, you're quitting cold turkey till you can eat solid food again. Also, kind of a no brainer but Chips or any food that it really sharp and/or hard is a huge no-no for probably 2 weeks.
6) Ask for a water-pick syringe. Be gentle with it, but it will help clean out your new holes, especially if like me, they gotta cut in deep. For about 2 weeks after getting mine taken out, I used the pick after every meal and would damn near get a full cheeseburger out of the holes.
Hatter brings up a good point. Have a lot of "sedentary" entertainment around. I had a mountain of dvd's I had rented to watch, and when I was tired of laying in bed, I sat on my computer. Until you get back to a semi-normal diet, your energy levels are going to be really low.
I had real issues with opening my mouth and consequently brushing. I was given a mouthwash by the doctor though, it seemed to really help keep the wound clean. I had a pretty nasty case, where the tooth was rotated and stuck against another tooth. Had to be cut in parts, could've been an issue with this.
I was on a prescribed painkiller for 2 days (pretty strong stuff), then on Paracetamol/Codeine for about 8 days. I took 2 days off from work, and mumbled for a few days after that. I found the pain / painkillers to be a bit tiring, but nothing exceptional.
May not be for everyone.
Ice packs are essential. I'm not sure if I was more miserable when the vicodin was wearing off or when the ice pack wasn't cold anymore. Eventually, I actually ended up with 4 ice packs so I could freeze two while I wore two, strapped to each side of my head via an Ace elastic bandage wound around the top of my head and under my chin. It was fairly comical looking.
If you're getting knocked out, bring someone you trust explicitly with you, and make sure they do not take you out in public for any reason afterwords. Stories of me making an ass of myself at work (apparently I demanded to be taken there) and in the grocery store are still told in my presence so everyone can have a big laugh at my expense.
Do not - Do NOT - try to drink through a straw or smoke or suck on anything. If you pull your clots out, you're in for a world of shit. Dry socket is a bitch. I didn't have the displeasure, but my wife did and she said it was pretty awful.
You can pretty much subsist on your gloppy foods of choice. Everything suggested here will work, yogurt, pudding, mashed potatoes, applesauce, ice cream, soup, etc. Smoothies would be good. Take vitamins if you're gonna be on a liquid diet for long. I personally was on cheeseburgers by day 2, mincing them up with my front teeth, but I kinda pushed it and did end up with bits of gunk in my sockets, which was highly unpleasant.
I had a smoothie via spoon fed as my first meal after the extractions. After that I ate like normal really. The worst part is not being able to fully open your mouth, so not everything fits in well.
And side note. I was very irritable after the surgery. Everything annoyed me and I was mad at everyone. Explain to your friends/family that you being an asshole is just from having your teeth ripped out.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
More like, Dribble out.
Do not suck. Do not Spit. The Doc will give you a pamphlet that tells you the Dos and Do nots.
I was just coming in here to say this. When I got my wisdom teeth removed I bled like a stuck pig, through more gauze then I can even remember. I swallowed so much goddamn blood.
There is nothing worse then throwing up a pint of blood mixed with two or three chocolate puddings and a popsicle.
[edit] Personally, in terms of painkillers, I found Vicodin 3's and 5's to be totally ineffective. I would reccomend two vicodin 7.5's every three or four hours, but that might be too much for some people.
@ Fandy, is that av/sig Six String Samurai?
/rant
I personally would be very hesitant to give or receive any advice about pain killers over the forums. Different people have different pain tolerances, different reactions to drugs, and different levels of how impacted their teeth were. My doc actually had me just take ibuprofen and acetaminophen (Tylenol and Motrin) together at the same time. Basically, take what your doctor prescribes you. If you don't need it, take less. If you need more, talk to your doctor.