Medical Disruptor™ by Dr. E
Medical Disruptor™ by Dr. E
Dr. Efrat LaMandre PhD, FNP-C
What the Microbiome Has to Do With How You Heal ft Dr. Rebecca Knackstedt
42 minutes Posted May 26, 2026 at 10:23 pm.
Meet Dr. Rebecca Knackstedt
Her background & credentials
Why surgery training wasn't enough
The broken surgical prep model
Why surgery ignores lifestyle
Insurance is the real barrier
What is prehabilitation?
The full prehab approach
5 days of immunonutrition
Bromelain, protein & wound healing
Clearance vs. true optimization
The patient who changed everything
What she started doing differently
Pain catastrophizing in surgery
Vitamin D — what you need to know
Daily vs. weekly Vitamin D dosing
The microbiome & surgery connection
Probiotics before surgery
What labs & assessments matter pre-op
Why surgeons are pushing back
How to advocate for yourself
Why she built Clara Recovery
Medical gaslighting in surgery
What to do weeks before surgery
Advice for clinicians
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42:35
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Show notes
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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IG: https://www.instagram.com/surgical_recovery/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/@UCw9aFvRFjNiyiQG3vPkS05Q 
Website:www.clararecovery.com
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