Smoking

[vsgsurvive 0]

When can I start smoking again after surgery? Please I dun need advices that I should quit smoking cuz I only smoke 1 cigarette aday, just answer my question if you know [emoji4][emoji4] thanks [emoji173]

[Krista27 340]

Never. I know that's not what you want to hear but it's the truth.

[aNYCdb 310]

You should definitely consult your doctor, but I believe the general expectation is never.

[abefroman329 704]

I get sick sucking in air whe I’m chewing bubble gum, I can’t imagine how sick smoking would make me.

[veronica97 22]

Smoking affects your ability to heal as it is. I had a coworker who resumed smoking right after bypass and he had a ton of problems with bleeding and had to be readmitted for three weeks. The truth is that you need to quit. You are making such a wonderful decision for your health by having the surgery and you’ll have to stop smoking anyway. Why start back up?

[GirlShrinking 110]

Smoking affects your ability to heal as it is. I had a coworker who resumed smoking right after bypass and he had a ton of problems with bleeding and had to be readmitted for three weeks. The truth is that you need to quit. You are making such a wonderful decision for your health by having the surgery and you’ll have to stop smoking anyway. Why start back up?

I totally agree with you Veronica. I’m doing this surgery with my sister (she smokes) I don’t and she’s struggling to quit.. she’s gone from 2 1/2 packs a day to 5-7 cigs a day.. told her she’s doing well but she really needs to push harder than me to get this surgery. Nicotine levels are tested before the surgery date and if she doesn’t meet the drs accepted nicotine levels she can not get the surgery.

Just gotta keep reminding her that this is for good and for life.. it’s not worth risking it all of a drag of smoke.. especially if you’ve fully quit smoking (to whom ever is wanting to smoke again/thinking about smoking)



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[Creekimp13 5,838]

You smoke and you'll swallow nicotine laced saliva that goes straight to your stomach. It will impede healing, it can cause ulcers, leaks and massive problems for you.

Don't do it. It's not worth it.

Talk to your doctor about it.

If you're hell bent to smoke again, I wouldn't even think about it for at least six months. Your stomach has to heal. And even then? You're taking major risks of big problems.

It was explained over and over and over...that you had to quit for life.

If at any point in the process you recall a doctor saying to you that "just one cigarette a day" was ok...you need to find that doctor and have them put that in writing....so you can sue them when you end up on a feeding tube for weeks.

You are playing with fire.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Creekimp13

[Creekimp13 5,838]

PS..sorry if that sounded judgy or bitchy...but truly...this is one of the few things all doctors agree there is no middle ground on. Not meaning to pick on you. Just don't want anything to happen to you.

[logicwand 269]

My doctor knows I smoke an e-cigarette with a very low nicotine juice. I quit smoking cigarettes in 2012. Best thing I’ve ever done. I’m smoking my e-cig and I’m 3 weeks post op. I plan to quit this too. But I’m taking baby steps. One life change at a time for me. Lol

[trinjen 32]

Just don’t. If you only smoke once a day then what’s the point

[trinjen 32]

Ps- I quit cold turkey after being a pack/day smoker for 10 years. Your lousy one a day is just dumb to me honestly lol

[Dragon64 142]

You're having surgery to get healthy, so follow suit and put down the "coffin nails" too!

[meli81 119]

I would say a year or so until ur tummy heals complete but smoking can cause ulcers FYI I quit before surgery and I’m not going back but everyone is diff

[Toomanytacos 251]

Hi Sweetheart

I know by reading these responses, you're probably feeling really shitty. I get it. I LOVED smoking. IT was my favorite thing. IT was my "crack cocaine" I had smoked since I was 14 years old. IT began as a fun thing, a sneaky thing, that made us kids feel so cool. By age 15, I was an addict. I started out, half a pack, then a pack, then.. you know how it goes. I was smoking easy, 2 1/2 packs - 3 a day. I loved ciggs. It became me. I t was my friend, my companion. I couldnt even watch a movie without smoking.. An hour of not smoking , miserable

I always wanted to quit, but just the idea, I couldnt. Well that's not entirely true. I never wanted to quit for the first 20 years. I vowed , "I'll go to my deathbed , smoking". My justification. "I'd rather smoke and be happy. Besides they only take off the last few years and those are shitty anyways" But I started to feel the effects of smoking in my early 30's, ( not my last years, that would be shitty anyways)

But I never considered quitting because, I knew I couldnt do it

Fast forward, the surgery. When I found out quitting smoking was a requirement. I hung up the idea of getting the surgery. I mean, I qualified in every way, but the nictoine testing they'd do in order for my insurance to approve me.

I got home, called my aunt and told her I wasn't going to get the surgery afterall.. The reason. I had to quit smoking, which I wasn't willing or able to do. She, as a former smoker who'd quit many times told me, she understood. But I heard disappointment in her voice. Why not even try. Just try. I told her, what if I try and can't. Id be so embarrassed..

She told me, Joanna, people quit many times usually before they are finally successful, but so you owe it to yourself to atleast try. And I did.

I got with my doctor for the Chantix medicine. I liked it because you could still smoke while taking the medicine. I also underwent EMDR with the therapist I've already been seeing for years and years to help get to the beginning of the core of my "love for smoking".

Was it easy? Hell no. I thought I was going to go crazy. I , like you, narrowed it down, and down and down, until I was like 5 ciggs a day, and had to space it out, 5 ciggs in a 24 hour period.

Then I smoked my last cigg, without realizing my las cigg on July 25th around noon. Later that evening, I had 2 more allowed ciggs and I thought to myself, Jo, why not just not smoke them. Smoking them is only going to prolong your imminent quitting. So I did

I never got to realize that cigg I smoked earlier in the day would be my last and I think, maybe that was a good thing.

It's been 8 months (tomorrow) since I've quit. There are many times I still miss it. And it's understandable. We're talking about a 23 year addiction.

But what I learned in quitting

If you can just NOT pick them up, that next cigg, that 1 cigg we all lie to ourselves that will be " all we need" that feeling of needing a cigg will pass, if you can refrain from acting on that nightmareish urge to pick up " just one"

It will pass

And it will come again

But you keep fighting those "moments" .. I compare them to contractions. Those mind blowing moments of misery, where you think you'll die and would give anything for it to just go away. And then it goes away. Those cigg contractions will too

While you're fighting this habit, have zero ciggs in your house . Throw what you do have away

Don't go into the mindset of , "After I have the surgery, I can smoke again"

There are heroin addicts and drug addicts who have quit hard drugs, who have not mastered quitting smoking, tha'ts how hard it is, but so if you're down to 1 cigg, you don't believe this about yourself, but I am here to tell you, you CAN quit. Trust me

I still get people who glare at me when they realize I am a non smoker

Joanna (me) would be the last person in the world you'd ever think would quit.

But it can be done. But you have to really want to do it and by that, you're going to have to find yoru reason for NOT wanting it

Initially for me, it was to get the surgery. But then, it was to get better health. I hated the addiction, the fact that I coudlnt go an hour and half movie with my daughters without a cigg. I hated that I had so much fear of ever being without a cigg in my possession.

Now, I am free of that

and the longer it goes, the easier it becomes

You'll always wish you could smoke, you'll always miss it. Well most people do.

But it gets easier

You'll become it's boss, not the other way around

The key to nicotine is that it makes you think you CANNOT quit, when really, you can

Nicotine is a liar

and once it's out of your system, roughly about a week, youll be left to only deal with the mental anguish of missing it , and that too will subside

Best of luck

Joanna

Edited March 24, 2018 by Toomanytacos

[logicwand 269]

On 3/24/2018 at 12:19 PM, Toomanytacos said:

It's been 8 months (tomorrow) since I've quit. There are many times I still miss it. And it's understandable. We're talking about a 23 year addiction.

Congratulations, Jo! That's awesome!!!