I'm hoping that you can answer some questions for me that are similar to the one njwhitetail asked about smoking. I quit smoking using nicotine patches right after my surgery consult. I have had problems getting my insurance to approve me, and unfortuantely (Dumb, I know!) I started smoking again. I am still working with the insurance co. and believe I will eventually get approved. My doctor said that I had to stop smoking for 8 weeks prior to surgery, but from what I have read the test will only show if I have smoked in the last two weeks, or there is another test that will show if you have smoked in the last 6-12 months. Is this correct? I am not trying to "pull" anything will definately quit smoking before surgery and stay quit after. I'm wondering if I got the "all clear" from insurance tomorrow, and quit smoking then too, when could I get surgery? Also, since I intend to use patches to quit again, how will they know the difference between cigarette nicotine and patch nicotine? Do the show up different on the tests? Should I skip the patches?:omg:

Does anyone know the answers?

What one of my doctors told me, is that nicotine is nicotine (though I don't personally understand the harm of patches). They told me to quit, don't use the gum or patches.. go cold turkey. That was a bit too much for me to do. Good luck to you though, sounds like you've got your wits about you

Thanks for the reply. I can't imagine quitting without nicotine gum, but I am afraid it will show up on the blood test.

I was told by my doc that the nicotine in patches will show up in a blood test.

I quit about 10 years ago and I don't think I could have done it cold turkey. I tried a lot of times without the nicotine gum and never got past a few, awful days. With the gum it was really doable (although still about the hardest thing I've ever done). Now I am one of those terribly obnoxious ex-smokers who can't even be in the same room with a lit cigarette.

I don't know the answer to your ultimate question, but one thing for sure I don't understand a doctor who advises you to quit cold turkey. To me it just seems like being set up to fail.

The last thing I want to say is that I think the dangers of cigarette smoking are worse than the dangers of obesity. I don't think it makes sense to think of quitting smoking as a minor detail you'll take care of easily on your way to getting the lap band. I think it's going to be really hard, and might involve additional relapses. My recommendation would be to put the surgery on hold for a little while and focus totally on quitting smoking. Once you have that really under control then think about the surgery. Quitting smoking is hard. Doing it two weeks before lap band surgery is, in my opinion, just piling too much difficult change on your poor self. I just think it is really asking a too much of yourself to try and do all that at the same time.

Don't underestimate how hard it will be to quit smoking. I don't think you can easily commit to yourself that you'll quit smoking two weeks before surgery and definitely stay quit. That is a really, really hard thing to do.

You need to quit smoking for your health. If you quit 6-8 weeks prior to surgery you lungs have time to begin functioning in an effective manner. The villa in the lungs start moving again and you can clear secretions and junk out of your lungs. You won't cough as much. You will breathe deeper and anesthesia will be safer.

Stopping before this surgery is a great time to do it. I quit several years ago and gained 25 lbs. Since you will be on liquids and have the band, the tendency to stuff yourself with food vs cigarettes will be under better control. I quit cold turkey. I did get Patches and set a day to quit. But when the day came, I used one patch that day. I didn't need them after that. My mind was made up. I make it sound easy but it wasn't. I had quit and restarted many times before. You just keep trying and then, lo and behold, one time it works.

I could still smoke a cigarette a foot long and enjoy it but I don't crave it and won't pick it up again. I will never be a person that can have one every now and then. If I have one it will become a pack. I know. I have done it before.

Good luck, keep trying and if you need support I will be glad to be there.

Smoking increases your surgery risks and also causes you to produce more secretions (mucus) that can lead to post-op complications like pneumonia. The nicotine is a stimulant and causes an increase in both heart rate and blood pressure.

Hello all,

I myself just quit yesterday. My doc wanted me smoke free a month before surgery. I got down to 2 on Monday:phanvan, 1 on Tuesday:rolleyes:, and 0 yesterday:), and 0 today:D. My question is, my surgery is scheduled for July 3, almost 4 weeks from my last cigarette. Do you think when they do the pre op testing on June 29 that I will still have traces of nicotine in my system or blood:confused:.