Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference in the way a person recovers from surgery -- the really little things like a stick of gum.Ding Ding Kelly Lee, MD, an ob-gyn at Long Island College Hospital in New York, tells WebMD that the day after a hysterectomy or other gynecologic surgery is usually a long and painful day, marked by gas pain and bloating (common side effects of surgery). But she says that chewing gum three times a day starting the day after the surgery leads to speedier relief of gas pains, which means a quicker return to normal diet. She says, too, that women who chew gum may be able to spend less time in the hospital after surgery, but she says her study was too small to offer proof for shorter hospital stays. Lee conducted the study while she was completing her obstetrics and gynecology training at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.
