I am having preop testing next week and have just quit smoking as they will not do surgery if you have nicotine in your blood. Anyone have this problem of having to quit and how long does it take to get out of your blood??

I don't smoke but at the pre-op seminar they told the people that do that they should stop smoking 30 days before surgery. I don't know if that means it takes that amount of time to get out of your system or what? They also told us that they will test urine the morning of surgery. There are high, high warnings about smoking after surgery because it can cause bleeding ulcers and severe stomach problems and may increase the chance of erosion from what I've heard. Good luck to you!

Try to follow the advice given. I am not a heavy smoker but a dedicated one none the less. I smoked up until the operation and as soon as I left after my operation - i had no complications. However I am not a doctor or nurse or any kind of health practitioner. I have now had to quit though because of jaw surgery and am using the patch which seems to be helping. good luck!

I was a smoker up until about 2 weeks before my surgery. I randomly just told myself to finish my pack and quit it. I had a few left and I haven't picked up a cigarette since then. Surprisingly enough the day after they called and gave me my surgery date, it was meant to be. I just decided that if I'm going to have lap band surgery I might as well quit smoking too, this is about making ourselves healthy all around. Good luck with quitting!!

i read up and depending on how much you smoke it takes about 4 days(on a light smoker) and up to 2 months on a pack a day or more smoker to clear nicotine from the system. i, being a smoker was told friday i had to quit and monday i started fresh... i have had a few but i dont want to prolong my surgery for anything!!

best of luck!!!

I was a half a pack a day smoker. I got the call(2/22) for my surgery date (4/21) and the pre op testing (3/31) and was told that I needed to be smokefree. I started right then! I had patches, gum and lozenges. I think I chewed 2pcs of gum for total time of 5mins and sucked on a lozenge for about 2mins...never used the patches :-D they just were not me. I quit cold on 3/4, I had 1 smoke that day, 1 on the 1st of the month, and 1 on the 28th of feb. Is it hard???YES! But it is important that you follow the surgeons orders...btw, got my test results back yestrday and no trace of nicotine! Good luck!

My doctor advised that if I wasn't going to quit 8weeks prior, to not quit until after surgery, he said you don't want you lungs to be in distress during surgery.