I'm having my surgery on 12/15 and I was told I need to quit smoking for the surgery. And I'm having difficulties doing so. DId anybody not quit before there surgery? DOes smoking effect your recovery? What if I cut just cut back? My lung function is normal- I don't get winded easily. I usually smoke a pack a day. Yesterday I had a half a pack. Does anybody have any suggestions for quitting?

Just had my last cig on Tuesday. Get the Patch. It helps. I smoked just before and the day after my surgery. I don't know what effect it had on my recovery. But if you can swing it, now is as good a time as any. You'll quit when you are ready. Good luck. It feels good to be done with them. :confused: You can do it!!!!

Just had my last cig on Tuesday. Get the patch. It helps. I smoked just before and the day after my surgery. I don't know what effect it had on my recovery. But if you can swing it, now is as good a time as any. You'll quit when you are ready. Good luck. It feels good to be done with them. :confused: You can do it!!!!

:clap2: Congrats, Best Me!!!!!!!!! You are sooooooooooo right. It feels so good not to have that monkey on your back any more. It feels every bit as good as losing 97 pounds!

(Smoke free for 11 years next month.)

I expect to die of lung cancer or something equally horrible before long and that's okay with me since I don't want to live to be 86 like my mother. I smoke a lot and it helps me relax. I get a bit irritated with folks who are "holier than thou," especialy ex-smokers who think anyone can quit at any time. Maybe they are right, but I don't want to quit. I like smoking even though I am pariah everywhere. By the way, my 86 year old mother smokes and has for 46 years. She's still ticking.

I'm having my surgery on 12/15 and I was told I need to quit smoking for the surgery. And I'm having difficulties doing so. DId anybody not quit before there surgery? DOes smoking effect your recovery? What if I cut just cut back? My lung function is normal- I don't get winded easily. I usually smoke a pack a day. Yesterday I had a half a pack. Does anybody have any suggestions for quitting?

i didnt quit. actually, i had two the day of the surgery. granted i only ever smoke up to five a day, but still.

it's the carbonmonoxide in the smoking that is why they reccommed stopping two weeks before surgery. cause it decreases the oxygen in the blood flow, it decreases the healing abilities.

in the end babe, it's your choice. but honestly, i think the band is a huge decision, and go you for taking control of your weight:clap2:!! we're all here for you!! :biggrin1:

Thank you for your support and feedback. I was thinking of cutting down. I usually smoke a pack a day. But I was thinking Of cutting down to 10 today 5 tomorrow and thereafter and then try to stop the monday before my friday surgery. I want to quit but it's hard going on a liquid type of diet w/o the cigarettes (especially the first few days). I can give up food I can give up diet coke (even though that will be a struggle) But it will definately be harder to give up the cigarettes.

Hi, I had my surgery on September 25, 2006, but started planning around May, 2006. I quit smoking June 25, 2006. To tell you darn truth, I think about smoking all the time. It was something I went to after a meal, when I woke up, when I had a conversation. But honestly, I feel so much better that the surgeons said I had to quit before surgery. (23 CIGS PER DAY)

Think about all the money you will save for the NEW CLOTHING you will have FOR THAT NEW SEXY BODY!!! YAY!

Im 8 weeks into stopping smoking, im finding it harder than giving up food !

When I first started to quit smoking, I was pulling my hair out. It does get easier. Here in New York, we have "PHONE SUPPORT GROUPS" I also used the patch which really helped.

I said to my nutrcianist the other day, I think I would lose more weight if I started smoking again. But my hubby, said, "I won't let you start again, you are doing too many things for your health and quitting smoking is one of them"

You can do it...Write me anytime you need support:rapture:

LYNN

The last cigarette I smoked was two days before Thanksgiving. This is my second attempt at quitting, and it's much easier than the first time.

MUCH EASIER.

The difference is, I knew what to expect. I knew about the depression and crying, the cravings and feeling light-headed (because of increased oxygen in the lungs). This time I have been taking Wellbutrin (for about 6 months now), and it makes a huge difference.

So, today marks 12 days smoke-free. It would be a lie to say that I don't miss smoking. I do miss it. It would be a lie to say that I don't want to smoke. I do.

But it would also be a lie to say that I am going to get healthy by having lap band surgery, yet continue to smoke. I can't be healthy and smoke -- no matter what weight I'm at. I know that for a fact.

Now, before some of you pounce on me for saying that -- and thinking that I'm wagging my finger at you for smoking --- I'M NOT. In fact, I think it very, very wrong for one person -- or an entire nation of people -- to tell another person that they can't smoke. It just pisses me off that they've passed the Smoke-Free law here in Ohio. It really does. Granted, I do think it wrong to smoke inside a restaurant or any other public place. I never did that. I didn't smoke in the house. It's wrong for me to expose non-smokers to my smoke.

BUT -- it's also wrong for non-smokers to "gang up" on other people who do choose to smoke. We all have our rights to do whatever we wish to our own bodies.

Okay. I'm getting down off my soapbox now. Quitting smoking is tough, but it's easier for me this time around because not only am I using the patch again, but I am also on Wellbutrin, and Dr. Curry won't perform my lap band surgery without me quitting smoking. So I just went ahead and quit even before I have a surgery date.

We CAN quit smoking at any time. (This is coming from a woman who--quite intelligently--smoked for about 40 years...duh.)

If you were stranded on a desert island after a plane crash or landed in the hospital for some other reason or were snowed in for a week or so (like my late MIL was), you would have no cigarettes and you wouldn't have much choice and it would be a done deal. Of course, there's the whole starting over issue.

I tried several times to stop and "could not." Even after having life-threatening mycoplasma pneumonia and an oxygen tank in the house for a few weeks. (I went outside to smoke.) Then my 47-year-old husband had a heart attack. I had three days to think about it. I smoked all the way to the hospital to pick him up, and left the rest of the pack on a bench outside the hospital. I knew he wouldn't be able to stop smoking if I was smoking and that we'd just both have to do it together. We haven't smoked since and it's been six and half years.

My father had a similar experience when his girfriend became a grandma. The baby had respiratory problems and the doctor didn't want him in homes where smoking happened or around people who had recently smoked. Girlfriend said, 'It sounds like I have to choose between having my grandson or you in my house." He stopped.

Just so you know...I don't know how much weight you need to lose, but if it's a lot and you do well, you're probably going to encounter a bit of a problem down the road. More and more, the most reputable plastic surgeons are refusing to perform plastic surgery on smokers...especially tummy tucks. Good oxygen flow to the surgical area is crucial to recovery and smoking prevents that and tummy tucks have the highest complication rate of any plastic surgery.

So, good luck dealing with this. Having been inpatient for several visits and hooked up to oxygen and walking away with a COPD diagnosis, I know that sooner or later almost all of us stop, even if it's just for that final admission to the hospital...it's just a matter of what it takes to make it happen.

WAY TO GO BULLWINKLE...KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! Please keep us posted and let us know how you are doing!

It would be a lie to say that I don't miss smoking. I do miss it. It would be a lie to say that I don't want to smoke. I do.

Me, too....and I quit 11 years ago! I loved my cigarettes. I never, ever planned to quit. But then someone I loved was diagnosed with lung Cancer. She went thru treatment - chemo....radiation. She was "cured", she thought. Then it came back. More treatments. Then it spread. It took 18 months. It wasn't pretty. I just kept thinking that if she had only quit smoking 5 years sooner, she wouldn't be dying.

I used to say that everyone has to die sometime and lung Cancer was as good an exit ramp as any. But I was wrong. It spreads - sometimes to your brain, which really sucks, and sometimes to your bones. They become so brittle that every time you move, another one breaks. And it's very hard on the people who love you.

But sometimes I sure do miss it. When I first quit, I was still a smoker in all my dreams. Even now, I can catch a whiff of someone's cigarette and it is more seductive than the smell of fresh-baked Cookies. Just thinking about a cigarette makes me want to light up. That must be why so many ex-smokers are so bitchy about smoking....we're all jealous!

I quit in October - about 5 weeks AFTER my surgery...I took zyban to help wit hteh cravings, and man, I want one every day...but I choose every day NOT to. Wish I was as good so far at selecting good for me foods instead of that damn chocolate!! :-) :angry

I quit smoking 18 yrs ago after smoking for 28 yrs. I started at age 14 in order to fit in with my friends at the time. When I finally quit I was smoking 2-3 packs per day. I got my mind ready first. I knew it was really going to be hard. Harder than dieting. I always bought cigs by the carton & always had at least 1 carton ahead. I told myself when I ran out I was never going to pick up another cigarette. I ran out at 3pm one day & it was my last. I started exercising alot, drinking water & avoiding places & events that would make me want to smoke. It took a good 6 mons before I realized I had not thought about a cigarette all day. I then knew I had it beaten. I know it is hard to break an addiction but it can be done with perseverance. There is a really good book called Five Simple Steps to Emotional Healing by Gloria Arenson. It has helped me lose those last 20 lbs by cutting out my daily sweets.. If it had been around when I quit smoking I know it would have helped.

I smoke and I smoked during my surgery. It had no adverse reaction. I want to quit though and I say that to myself every day.