Nicotine Testing

[TheStarvingMom 5]

So Yay! I just got my surgery date for Sept 21st today

But Boooo! After having not smoked for 2 months I smoked an entire pack yesterday... My pre-op testing is on September 12th... Does anyone know what kind of test they will do (blood, saliva, urine?) and if I will be able to pass it? If it matters I am having my surgery at University Hospital in NE Ohio...

[Gordita81 98]

I know my surgeon in RI does urine test and said that it will pick up anything within the last 2 months. Good luck to you. I hope everything works out for you.

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[dede_mont 105]

Mine did bloodwork.. I googled to see how long it takes to get nicotine out it only takes 3 to 4 days. But there is another chimical in cigarettes that takes 10 -15 days to get out of your system. Drink lots of Water to flush your system

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[Cervidae 2,389]

The non-smoking requirements exist because having nicotine in your system can greatly impede healing, so there's a very practical reason this may be an issue. In addition, it's going to be important not to smoke after after surgery because of the risk of ulcers, so a lot of places are extremely strict about it and want proof that you can resist smoking for whatever period of time they see fit. My program did a test that would detect nicotine in your system in the last 6 weeks, and made me sign a contract promising I would not smoke at all after surgery, especially not for the first two years. I do hope everything works out for you! I know how stressful this whole experience can be. Best of luck to you.

[Djmohr 6,965]

Guys, I don't mean to be a jerk here but very bad things can happen if you smoke with healing post any surgery. Especially ones where they are cutting your stomach out or rerouting your intestines or both.

Thank goodness I quit 30 years ago but my program did several tests that they told you about just to make sure. If it was in our systems surgery was cancelled. Not postponed cancelled. After everything you have gone through, you have to decide what is more important. It was clearly layed out that our Bariatric program would dump us as patients if that happened. They simply don't want the risk of complications given we are morbidly obese and have enough problems.

It is all about the healing with smoking.

I just had my first plastics 5 weeks ago and my surgeon told me she won't even take on a smoker at all.

You may get lucky and have no complications but it seems to me, you have enough to worry about with all the changes you will be going through.

Have you figured out what drove you to smoke and smoke so much? Those same issues could impact your eating behaviors too.

Maybe it is just me, but not a chance in the world I would have done anything that would cause me to have a surgery cancelled.

Do you know if that is what your surgeon will do? Or what are the ramifications if he discovers you have been smoking. Maybe a short relapse won't matter.....

Not sure here but my advice would be to speak with a therapist about why and nip it in the bud.

[reeniemay 64]

So Yay! I just got my surgery date for Sept 21st today

But Boooo! After having not smoked for 2 months I smoked an entire pack yesterday... My pre-op testing is on September 12th... Does anyone know what kind of test they will do (blood, saliva, urine?) and if I will be able to pass it? If it matters I am having my surgery at University Hospital in NE Ohio...

I quit on July 4 and had surgery on the 17th. I passed both tests. The one a week before my surgery and the one the day of my surgery. Unfortunately a week after my surgery I was very depressed I started again, I am sooo stupid. So I am now working on quitting AGAIN. Let me be a lesson to you!!

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Edited August 20, 2016 by reeniemay

[CocoSmurf 7]

So Yay! I just got my surgery date for Sept 21st today

But Boooo! After having not smoked for 2 months I smoked an entire pack yesterday... My pre-op testing is on September 12th... Does anyone know what kind of test they will do (blood, saliva, urine?) and if I will be able to pass it? If it matters I am having my surgery at University Hospital in NE Ohio...

Hi Amber, I just had my RNY at University Hospitals on July 21st. My pre-op testing consisted of lots of blood tests, a urine sample, an EKG (if you didn't get one from a cardiologist, which I did as part of my pre-op requirements). I'm not sure what they tested me for, I imagine nicotine, but not sure. Didn't ask. They didn't specify because I'm a former smoker who quit years ago. I don't know if they'd specifically talk about it if you're a current smoker.

It's best to avoid it from here on out though, as it does hinder healing quite a bit. Also, it was explained to me, at least for bypass patients, that because of the risk of ulcers, if you get one in your remnant stomach, they can't get to it to fix it with an endoscopy like they normally would, so it can quickly turn into something life threatening requiring major surgery.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your surgery! You're in good hands at UHHS.

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[sandeeb 13]

On top of that le e tell you what anesthesia does to you lungs! When you wake up in the record room your lungs are going to friggin HURT ! You are going to regret every cigarette you smoked!

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[TheStarvingMom 5]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and info. I do know the risk of smoking which is why I quit 2 months ago- but I had some family circumstances that made me stress quite a bit and I broke and smoked a pack of ciggs. Havent smoked since. Just really hoping I will be able to pass, I am just hoping and praying that one set back won't undo the 9 months of work I have put in... So thanks everyone!

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,899]

You were able to quit for 2 months, great work!

Be careful of the stress smoking you did. Post surgery there will still be stresses in all of our lives.

You don't want to have a cross addiction to deal with stress once food (and hopefully nicotine) are removed as your go to stress reliever.

Try to get control of the things that stress you in a productive way now so you will not have to deal with them in a less productive way post WLS.

As others pointed out, there are health reasons why you shouldn't be smoking pre/post surgery.

Good luck. You can do it!