You're scheduled for surgery and your surgeon says "you don't need to do anything to prepare." That's medical gaslighting.

In this episode of The Medical Disruptor, I sit down with Dr. Becky Knackstedt, a plastic and reconstructive microsurgeon at Duke with an MD, PhD, and functional medicine certification from the Cleveland Clinic.

She's published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and she's done what almost no surgeon does. She questioned what she was taught.

We get into why surgical prehabilitation dramatically cuts complications, infections, and hospital stays, and why the system still isn't doing it.

Dr. Becky breaks down the protein, vitamin D, and probiotic protocols that actually move the needle on recovery, why just 5 days of targeted nutrition can change your outcome, and the microbiome connection that nobody in surgery is talking about. She also blows up some of the most damaging pre-op myths still being repeated in operating rooms across the country. Omega-3s, estrogen patches, and IUDs do not need to be stopped before surgery, despite what you've been told.

This is the conversation every patient needs before they sign the consent form. Whether it's breast reconstruction, orthopedic surgery, or a cosmetic procedure, the weeks before matter just as much as the surgery itself.

You are not powerless and you are not just a body on a table. You have a role in your own recovery and this episode shows you exactly how to use it.

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Chapters

0:00 Meet Dr. Rebecca Knackstedt

0:30 Her background & credentials

1:00 Why surgery training wasn't enough

2:29 The broken surgical prep model

3:21 Why surgery ignores lifestyle

4:21 Insurance is the real barrier

5:20 What is prehabilitation?

6:56 The full prehab approach

8:10 5 days of immunonutrition

9:26 Bromelain, protein & wound healing

10:22 Clearance vs. true optimization

11:21 The patient who changed everything

13:42 What she started doing differently

15:56 Pain catastrophizing in surgery

16:51 Vitamin D — what you need to know

19:13 Daily vs. weekly Vitamin D dosing

20:49 The microbiome & surgery connection

22:12 Probiotics before surgery

23:46 What labs & assessments matter pre-op

25:57 Why surgeons are pushing back

28:00 How to advocate for yourself

29:33 Why she built Clara Recovery

31:27 Medical gaslighting in surgery

35:28 What to do weeks before surgery

38:35 Advice for clinicians

Guest Links:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567434996173

IG: https://www.instagram.com/surgical_recovery/

YT: https://www.youtube.com/@UCw9aFvRFjNiyiQG3vPkS05Q

Website:www.clararecovery.com

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