yep-i'm a big fat smoker:eek: ! i am weaning myself off cigarettes, and am wondering what the general criteria is for smoking---how long before surgery do you have to quit? hope to hear from ya!

Each surgeon is different mine said 2 weeks...I had trouble after surgery breathing so I wish I'd done a month...hell in truth I wish I never started.

i went to my seminar and my doc wants me smoke free for 3 months prior to surgery!!! omg-just when i think i'm fat enough---take away my cigarettes!!! so....here goes nothing! wish me luck!

Good luck chubbola.....I quit cold turkey 14 years ago after smoking 1-1/2 pack / day for over 20 years. It was the best thing I had ever done until the lapband which takes equal praise.

I didn't realize until I had been smoke free for quite some time how strong the odor is on your clothes, in your car, in your house. I had a man come into my restaurant today and he just reeked of smoke.....like the strong odor coming from a full dirty ashtray. One lady commented to me that it totally put her off her lovely lunch...I smelled it too but unfortunately I couldn't (and wouldn't) turn him away and had nowhere to seat him

except near other customers. Just a thought for you on how the otherside experiences your habit.

I am an entirely different person today because of it....no gum, no pills, no Patches.....just woke up one day and decided I didn't want to smoke anylonger and from that day on I have never had so much as a puff. I was violently ill from withdrawl for two weeks and for at least 6 months the urge to light up was very strong...but I toughed it out and did it....therefore, SO CAN YOU!

I am a self pay bandster....I like to think that all the money I saved over the last 14 years being smoke free paid for my band.

Carol

thanks for the inspiration, woodys! as a smoker, i can hardly even stand the smell myself-so i think it'll be great once i can actually quit! i've been a horrible smoker-blowing the smoke away from me, waving my hand around to keep it off of me-but i know i still stink! i'll make it-i have a goal of getting the band, and nothing is going to stop me-not even a big fat smoke!!!!! it'll be worth it-i know it!!!!!

Good luck on the smoking, chubbola. Quitting is so hard. I was FINALLY able to do it about ten years ago after trying many times. The only help I can offer is to give an endorsement to the Nicoret gum. That did help me at the time, I recall. I assume that is OK on a pre-op diet, but I'm not sure.

Unfortunately there is no "band" for smoking. It would be great if you could put a "neck band" around your throat to stop smoking. I can imagine going for a "fill" for your "neck band." An "overfill" might be a serious problem, if you see what I mean.

No, there is no real help on this. It's just something that has to be done one day at a time and it is not easy. Yes, of course it's worth it, but you know that. Good luck.

Mark

I quit smoking about 17 months ago and I agree you wouldn't believe how much more I notice the smell. To me things even taste different.

I can say that I couple of times my husband and I have gone out to different bars and the smell on my clothes is so awful when we get home. My husband is not and has never been a smoker so many times I have asked him why he ever even dated me when I was a smoker and he wasn't. The whole thing would turn me off now!

As for the smoker side of it. I just decided that I wanted to quit. I have 2 teenagers and don't want them to smoke so I felt that I needed to be a role model.

Besides with all the money I have saved I can put towards my band