I am a social smoker, which means I only smoke if I am at a get togethter or if I am having some drinks. The last cigarette I smoked was on New Year Eve. I do not plan on smoking every again not even socially, this is not a problem for me because I have spend days and even weeks without smoking, I know I am not addicted to cigarettes. My surgeon says that he will not operate on anyone unless they are without smoking for 2 months, wow I thought it would be around a month. Now this is going to prospone my surgery even more. My question is for those smokers, how long did you surgeon require that you quit smoking before surgery?

I am a social smoker, which means I only smoke if I am at a get togethter or if I am having some drinks. The last cigarette I smoked was on New Year Eve. I do not plan on smoking every again not even socially, this is not a problem for me because I have spend days and even weeks without smoking, I know I am not addicted to cigarettes. My surgeon says that he will not operate on anyone unless they are without smoking for 2 months, wow I thought it would be around a month. Now this is going to prospone my surgery even more. My question is for those smokers, how long did you surgeon require that you quit smoking before surgery?

Mine said two months. It is hard to heal for a smoker.

hate to admit it, but i never quit. and i still smoke.

Want to be thin. I am glad that you are so honest, thank you. Does anyone know how long you have to stop drinking alcohol before the surgery. Just to be safe I am no longer going to smoke or drink.

I quit drinking 2 weeks before surgery and resumed drinking about a month after. I had no trouble giving up the foods I love but giving up margaritas has been tough.

Smoking is very bad for you. It is not only bad for your heart and your lungs, it is bad for your stomach. It contributes significantlyto ulcers and GERD (kind of bad for bandsters). Maybe you might consider giving it up entirely since you are investing so much time, pain, and money in the new healthier you. It sounds like you aren't really that attached to it.:rolleyes2:

Not trying to be a SA, but rather to suggest a change in perspective. Wish you luck.

My surgeon required 30 days smoke free. I quit 3 months in anticipation of surgery. Couldn't schedule until insurance approval and didn't want smoking to postpone surgery. Unfortunatly I started back 2 weeks after surgery. It is really tough to give up food and smokes at the same time. Something to think about.

i was a tad bit more then a social smoker, and i quit the day before my surgery adn i have not smoked since... and it has not bothered me . I had my last cocktail a wonderful lemondrop martini 3 weeks before surgery and again have not touched anything. My surgery was November 17th and i feel great -- lol seriouly i do feel really good . i will allow myself a glass of wine on my birthday or at my 1/2 way point which ever comes first.....

everyone has there "thing" that they either can or cant stop.. for those of you that dont smoke - please dont preach about how bad smoking is... we all know that .. so is being over weight .... and obviously we are here to do something about that ..so when you are ready to quit smoking , hopefully you will have a great support team to help you ... it is alot to give up --- no alcohol ( too many calories) , no smoking and then no food -(lol) not much more in life to enjoy as a "bad" vice ....

I really appreciate everyone's input. Thank you very much. It is not difficult to quit smoking for me, I usually only smoke if I am having a glass of wine or a beer, but it is not very difficult for me to let that go. What is difficult for me is to not be able to drink a glass of wine or a margarita every now and then. It is a bit overwhelming no alcohol, no cigarettes, no food. Exercise, exercise, excercise; is that what my new pass time is going to be?

Mine required 12 weeks.

If I were you, I would be up front about it with your doctor. Tell him the exact date that you quit -- but also tell him exactly how much you smoke. The reason being that as a matter of standard practice, many doctors will include an order to test for smoking during your preop bloodwork.

You'll be told that nicotine leaves your bloodstream in 48 hours, and that's true - but they don't test for nicotine. They test for the metabolite, Cotinine. You'll find various numbers on the internet about how long cotinine stays in your bloodstream (most of these manipulated by people trying to sell detox miracles that don't work), but the general consensus is that it may stay in your bloodstream for up to 12 weeks.

Most doctors are very up front and will tell you in your preop visit that if they find you've been smoking within the 8 or 12 weeks that they've instructed you to be smoke free, they will cancel your surgery. And some will refuse to reschedule. I even heard one story about a doctor who was wheeling a patient into the OR when he found out, and he ordered her out of the hospital.

Rather than chance it, I was honest and told my doctor that I would only be nicotine free for 6 weeks at the time of the surgery -- but that I had actually quit smoking two weeks prior. I let them know that my blood work would show the cotinine because I was using an electronic cigarette, with a 6 mg nicotine level, but that even when I was smoking regular cigarettes, they were lights and I only smoked about a half pack a day.

They appreciated my honesty, weighed all that information and cleared me for surgery.

If you would like to quit smoking all together, I would recommend getting an ecig. It worked for me!

On an aside, I could send you a link to a humor article that I wrote about it in my blog, but I'm afraid the language isn't very good. I was in the throes of a full on nicotine withdrawal attack at the time, and feeling fairly grumpy (as in, I wanted to kill people, ha ha). If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you the link.

Best of luck to you!

Well, I was a social smoker too and, honestly, I cannot even remember when my last smoke was... maybe one month before surgery. But, I never declared myself as a 'smoker' to my surgeon because I didn't think smoking 1-2 cigarettes a month really meant you were a 'smoker'. And, I don't know all of what they tested for when I went for my pre-op testing, but they said my results were all good including my chest x-ray.

As for alcohol, I used to drink almost daily. I cut that out about one month before surgery, but I still had a couple glasses of wine w/my friend about one week before surgery. I had surgery on 12/17, then had wine again on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve. My surgeon did not give any cutoff date for drinking alcohol. The dietition did say to try to avoid it after just because of the calories, but that it wouldn't hurt the band. I feel good that I was just able to give up my daily habit w/it and it didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought it would. I feel like I have a lot more respect for my body now that I have this band and a chance at getting my health back.

I really appreciate everyone's input. Thank you very much. It is not difficult to quit smoking for me, I usually only smoke if I am having a glass of wine or a beer, but it is not very difficult for me to let that go. What is difficult for me is to not be able to drink a glass of wine or a margarita every now and then. It is a bit overwhelming no alcohol, no cigarettes, no food. Exercise, exercise, excercise; is that what my new pass time is going to be?

I totally agree! Quitting all these things at once! I had to quit Pot, too. AND SEX!

I am a social smoker, which means I only smoke if I am at a get togethter or if I am having some drinks. The last cigarette I smoked was on New Year Eve. I do not plan on smoking every again not even socially, this is not a problem for me because I have spend days and even weeks without smoking, I know I am not addicted to cigarettes. My surgeon says that he will not operate on anyone unless they are without smoking for 2 months, wow I thought it would be around a month. Now this is going to prospone my surgery even more. My question is for those smokers, how long did you surgeon require that you quit smoking before surgery?

Funnily enough, quitting smoking is what got me fat. I used to smoke 20-30 a day until 5 years ago and then quit. I gained about 1 and a half stone a year for the next 5 years. I used to have a cigarete instead of a meal and once they were gone the weight just seemed to creep up on me.

That said, packing them in was one of the best things I ever did. I would be dead now if I still smoked like I did.

my surgeon asks that you not smoke for one week before surgery- he also said that if you couldnt quit, at least cut back to 5 or less cigs a day. Thats what I did and everything went fine.

My surgeon said 2 months at the seminar, then when I met with him it changed to 2 weeks then his nurse said 24 hours before the procedure soooo....who knows lol I did do the 2 weeks prior to surgery but have been having a few here and there since I had it done and I know I need to stop but like you said giving up eating, drinking, cigarettes and pop has been a BI TC H so all I can do is take each day at a time. :thumbup:

I don't remember the exact number of days required by my surgeon, as it did not apply to me. But he is one who tests the blood to be certain the smoker has quit and will cancel the surgery if the test is positive.

Denise