Hi all.

I had a lapse into vaping and have surgery the 13th. I'm self pay and am wondering if insurance is the main cause for nicotine testing. I'm afraid there will be a nicotine test before the surgery. I am aware it was foolish. Please just peoples' experience with insurance- not desirous of scolders or pleas, or the science of quitting. If you don't understand what that means, please refrain from posting on this thread.

In my experience I was always nicotine tested before a major surgery (usually the day of surgery). Honestly it seemed to be more of a medical standard than insurance requirement because it was done for both self pay and covered procedures

I don't think that's an insurance requirement - I think that's the surgeon's requirement. I had a nicotine test when I first entered my program, but I don't think they rechecked it right before surgery - although some surgeons do.

It mustn’t be a insurance requirement because I am a past smoker and I was never tested.

I was checked at every single appointment leading up to surgery but not on the surgery day itself, though that could have been because I wasn't able to pee enough to give them a sample for the pregnancy test either! I think this is going to vary by surgeon/clinic.

I would seriously doubt that this is an insurance requirement because it's about the body's ability to heal. I'm sorry you're finding it so difficult to stay away from the nicotine. I'm not surprised. You're dealing with a lot as you move towards surgery and the stress makes us want to find a coping mechanism that's familiar to us. If you are on the pre-op diet, it's even harder since you can't cope using food! I know I was watching my friends eating fried food and drink sodas over the weekend and I had a sad salad with a tiny bit of low-fat dressing and the lettuce was all brown and gross and I wanted to shove all their onion rings and french fries in my mouth.

I hope they don't cancel your surgery and that you are able to stay away from the vaping moving forward!

I have not had a nicotine test, ever, in my entire life, so it's clearly not a tried-and-true insurance thing.

That said, I worked for a while in a drug test lab. Nicotine and all its derivatives leave your system within 96 hours (4 days) and is no longer detectable in your urine after that. So give the vape pen to someone else for the next six days and don't fret.

Thanks, Vikingbeast. Can you tell me what the name of the test is that tests for nicotine? I didn’t see anything in my lab order that said cotinine or nicotine.

I suspect if he’s going to give it it will be the day of surgery via ua.

I heard a patch or nicotine gum doesn’t test the same as inhaled nicotine and won’t show up on some test. Would I be ok to use one of these with a ua?

58 minutes ago, Bloodhound said:

I heard a patch or nicotine gum doesn’t test the same as inhaled nicotine and won’t show up on some test. Would I be ok to use one of these with a ua?

In my surgery packet they specifically said no patches or gum with nicotine, but I don't know whether they'd come up on a test. My guess would be yes, since they contain nicotine.

1 hour ago, Bloodhound said:

Thanks, Vikingbeast. Can you tell me what the name of the test is that tests for nicotine? I didn’t see anything in my lab order that said cotinine or nicotine.

I suspect if he’s going to give it it will be the day of surgery via ua.

Quest calls it nicotine and cotinine (and expanded metabolites), and offers three ways: urinalysis, blood specimen plasma, or LC/MS/MS (liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectometry).

Yes, using a patch or Nicorette type gum WILL show up on your test. Don't do it. And make sure you drink enough water, if allowed, to dilute your urine.

https://testdirectory.questdiagnostics.com/test/results?q=Nicotine and Expanded Metabolites, LC%2FMS%2FMS, Urine

Edited September 7, 20215 yr by vikingbeast

Awesome. Thanks everyone for your responses.