I must confess that I am a smoker!

I have read a few times that some surgeons will not operate on smokers and was wondering if this is the case for surgeons in Belgium and Paris in particular as it is likely I will be goingto one of these places to get my band put in.

I want to give up but I'm worried I will eat even more, so I would prefer to do it when I have restriction. I am prepared to give up before surgery if it will reduce risks and make recovery better.

Would love to hear your opinions

x Katie

Hi Katie

I am also a smoker, banded in Belgium by Dr Mignon who knew I smoked and it didnt bother him. I refuse to give up until I have lost all the weight I need to! I do plan to quit but I know I will crave all the things that go down easily if I cant have a cigarette, so for me it wouldnt make sense to quit now.

take care,

Donna x.

Hi Katie,

Im a smoker as well and my doc knew about it and the only time I couldnt smoke was like a day before surgery and then while staying in hospital.while in hospital you wont even care about cigarette:-)

my doc even agreed that it would be too much stress for the body to lose weight and stop smoking at once.of course he doesnt support smoking.

I was a smoker when i was banded, its unwise to carry on with it as it stops the healing process of the skin and i was more prone to infection, and i payed the price 4 it, if you can quit its best for you and your recovery process.

I will try and give up a month before the op, after all I'll have a great incentive.

As an ex smoker, all I can say is chewing gum.

I have given up a couple of times but promised my sisters after our mother's death that I would give up for good. Well I didn't give up staright away but was forced to if I wanted to visit my sister. I didn't want her to know I'd broken my promise. So on the 5 hour journey down, I smoked my last cigarettes then hit the nicorette chewing gum.

That was it for me, I spent about a month on the nic gum but got really sick of the taste and tried Wrigleys Extra, been chewing them ever since. Infact I think I've replaced one addiction with another! I get grumpy if I don't have a gum close to hand. It's bizarrely funny.

You have to be ready to give up, if your not there really isn't any point in trying. I know that the risk of putting on more weight was a definite worry for me but to be honest I don't think it had such a detrimental affect, the under active thyroid caused the worse damage. It could be that I still kept my mouth busy with gum, so it stopped the food cravings!

I know surgeons are great at scare mongering sometimes, but they can work with most things. But, as Sugarplum says there are more risks to a smoker than a non smoker. What ever you chose will be the right decision for you.

Kind regards

Suzannex