Bonus: Biohacking Surgery & Recovery with Dave Asprey

You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. Formerly Bulletproof Radio. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. Actually, today it's not really a normal episode of the Human Upgrade, because today I'm going to share some personal stuff with you. I'm going to tell you how to heal faster than you're supposed to and what to do before and after you go into surgery. Today, I'm going to share some personal stuff with you. I'm going to tell you how to heal faster than you're supposed to and what to do before and after you go into surgery. For about, oh, 20 years, I've been sharing everything I can about biohacking and anti aging, so you can learn all the different ways to upgrade your yourself, to be younger, to be more powerful. And one of the most important things you can do, like I did when I was 19 and went in for my first knee surgery, is prepare yourself before surgery and then do things during and after surgery so that you recover better and faster than you otherwise would have. This is not the stuff that you're likely to hear about in the hospital, but it's the stuff they should tell you about in this case. Oh, about seven years ago, I did this amazing yoga class and I was doing crow pose. That's when you're sort of squatting, but you're only on your hands. And I kicked back to plank pose. And if you're in yoga, that's one of those things like, ooh, you can do that? Yeah, I can do that. But when I landed, I stubbed my toe like, Dave, you're doing a podcast about stubbing your toe? No. What I didn't do was get it fixed. At first, when it didn't feel better in a couple days, I should have gone to a functional movement specialist, but I didn't. And over time, my body decided to fuse the joint because the joint was permanently impacted and because I had a genetic weakness in the shape of my joint that I didn't know about. So eventually, when my toe wouldn't bend, I couldn't do yoga the way I wanted to. And it was affecting things like hiking. So I found a foot surgeon and said, all right, I'm going to go and I'm going to find the best surgeon I can, which is part of actually having good outcomes, is having someone who knows what they're doing. After some research, I chose a podiatrist and foot surgeon named Dr. Ali Sadri in LA, and he runs a company called Evosport and the reason I went with him is that he invented a couple of the surgeries and he has his own surgical theater. What this meant was I could stay out of a normal hospital where, frankly, they feed you like crap and you don't get the attention you want. So shop around. Maybe you will go into the hospital, but you still want to be able to have control of your environment as much as you can. What I decided to do before the surgery was make sure that my body was in a state where it was ready to recover from a big hit. Sort of like you'd get ready to do a marathon or a really big workout or something that matters greatly to you. So I got extra sleep. I made sure I had the right minerals. I took certain probiotics, and I upped supplements from mitochondrial function, and I dialed back on certain supplements that might increase risk of bleeding. Now you say, dave, you're having a foot surgery. Whatever. No, this is about going in and taking 3 millimeters out of the main bone in my foot, shortening it, screwing it back together, and then reshaping a joint. So this was joint reconstruction surgery, and I didn't want to be down and out for a long time. So during the surgery, I knew I was going to be awake. And you have a choice of anesthetics that you can use. So I worked with the anesthesiologist to say, look, do I really need to be asleep? Do I want my brain to be foggy for a couple days? Or do I want to just lay there and chill? So I talk in a video, in fact, a whole documentary on how to heal about what I actually did there so that it could both communicate with the doctor, but I wouldn't feel anything. And if you're worried about surgery, if you're afraid, maybe you want to go all the way under, knowing that you have an increased risk of micro blood clots. These are blood clots that don't seem to affect you very much, but they can cause brain fog and fatigue even a few months after surgery. But they don't normally get caught because they aren't big enough to really cause a major stroke. So I tend to not like general anesthetic unless I don't have a choice. Did you know that you probably didn't. Did you know that you're oftentimes likely to get given drugs that make you forget any pain you experience so that you still experience it, your body experiences it, but you just won't remember it? I didn't think that was a good idea. I like to be fully aware of what my body experienced. So I said I didn't want to do that. And by the way, I never felt any pain whatsoever, even during the recover. This was completely pain free in a way I've never experienced because of all the different biohacks that I stacked up. And when you watch the video documentary that I did about this, which is a gift, it's not anything I'm charging for. It's just a full documentary of what to do before, during, and after surgery, you realize, oh, here's the different healing techniques. Here's how I used hyperbaric oxygen. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. Here's how I used hyperbaric oxygen before and after the surgery. Here's all the things with lasers, all the right supplements, even changes in sleep, changes in diet post surgery in order just to heal faster than you're supposed to. And I didn't want to have any downtime mentally, and I never did. And I didn't want to have physical downtime, except normally you take about two weeks of not walking on your foot. I was able to walk on my foot Sooner. In fact, Dr. Ali said, Dave, I haven't seen anyone heal this fast. It's ridiculous. After one day, he said, you can stop antibiotics. You don't need them with a wound this clean. How did I do that? Well, I'm going to tell you everything, and it's more than I could fit in a single podcast. And it's a video because you need to see how I do some of this stuff. So all you need to do is go to daveasprey.com heal and I will teach you everything you would ever want to know about before surgery, during surgery and after surgery, so that you come in strong, you have a better surgical experience, and you recover way faster than you're supposed to. I talk about ozone, I talk about electricity. I talk about different types of exclusion zone water. I talk about enzymes. I talk about mitochondrial enhancement minerals, probiotics, postbiotics, and even things like mushrooms. All of the stuff that will work and why it would work and how you would do it. If this sounds interesting to you, you want to know what to do to have control of your biology at a time when, frankly, a lot of people take quite a while to recover and there's increased risk of all kinds of bad things like infections, like systemic issues like just not healing very well and building strong tissues. All of that. Well, I avoided that stuff and I want you to avoid it too. And it doesn't matter if you're having bone surgery or any other kind of surgery. These are the things your body can do to heal faster. Go to daveasprey.com heal watch the documentary Use the Resources. It's my gift to you. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.

A Human Upgrade, formerly Bulletproof Radio, was created and is hosted by Dave Asprey. The information contained in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. Before using any products referenced on the podcast, consult with your healthcare provider carefully read all labels, and heed all directions and cautions that accompany the products. Information found or received through the podcast should not be used in place of a consultation or advice from a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have a medical problem or should you have any healthcare questions, please promptly call or see your healthcare provider. This podcast, including Dave Asprey and the producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. This podcast may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. This podcast is owned by Bulletproof Media.