Smoking?

Since you are even asking this question, I would encourage you to rethink having surgery.  

Weight Loss Surgery takes a lot of commitment, of which only one is to stop smoking.

If you are not ready and willing to quit, then it is likely that you are also not ready for the commitment necessary to be successful.

Wishing you a successful journey.

Encourage me to re-think surgery because.... I asked a question? WOW. Not even sure what else to say at this point... WOW.

BTW.... I did quit. And it was only a question... not a statement of 'I'm still smoking and want to know why I have to quit"...

So much for supportive feedback.

I think you should ask yourself why you would ask such a question????

If you were totally committed to the quit, then why even ask the question to begin with???

I could not think of one reason why someone would ask the question you asked if it was not for the purpose of ascertaining whether they could have surgery and still continue to smoke...

And, by the way, it's attitudes like yours that make  veterans question why we bother hanging out trying to help.

My surgeon would not operate if you hadn't stopped smoking.  Most surgeons won't, since smoking greatly increases your risk of a number of complications.

Yes, that was what I was told too... that I would not be approved for surgery if I remained a smoker. So I quit... 6 months. Even though they told me later, '3 months' was enough. The reason I asked is because most surgery... any kind of surgery.... the doctor's ask that you quit smoking, yet.. you will see people smoking right up until they go into the hospital, and smoking as soon as they are up and walking.... so just really wondered why is it so necessary, when it doesn't appear to be 'necessary' for other surgeries that also claim 'it's necessary'.

Thank you for your input. :) Take care.

I am still Pre Op and my GP help me do what i need it to quit and i am now 1 month and a week with out smoking she ran  the test and sent it to my surgeon since he requires you to quit . now i am on his agenda to see me at the end of this month after i see the psychologist . I feel good and glad i gave it up . i have a pack on top of my fridge its open and one is missing out of it the last on i smoked as a reminder that i could and did do it, no cravings and feel nauseated at the smell of other smoking around me. I know that the surgery was a huge motivator for me to commit to quitting, but it is not the only thing also is the chance to start fresh and make my whole life style clean and healthy . Best of luck . I feel no cigarette can give me any of the wonderful benefits that come with WLS. Health and years added to my life being #1 .

Bibi

Good for you for quitting, and having the strength to maintain it with an open pack on your fridge! That is AMAZING strength and determination. :) I am curious tho... I have had what I thought was every test possible in the health field.. and now wonder if I was ever tested for smoking? How is that test done?

You see, I'm asthmatic. Smoking kept my asthma calm... I know how that sounds, but the way my doctor spelled it out, was that the cigarette smoke was 'deadening' the capillaries in my lungs, therefore my asthma was calm... whereas when I quit, I constantly had inhalers nearby. Only use as necessary, but as a non-smoker, I use them far more frequently than I did as a smoker.

Thank you for your input, and I look forward to finding out about a 'smoking test'... :) Take care.

I also have asthma and i feel better now but when i 1st started to quit i dealt with a cleansing period and it was horrid i kept coughing up all kinds of stuff and i stayed sick. but with working out and not smoking i have not had an attack in 3 weeks. As for the test it was just included in my blood work . .. Best of luck you can do it 

I encourage you to quit.  I know it is hard since I went through this myself.   I quit several months before the surgery and am glad I did.  It was hard enough to breathe after surgery from the pressure in my abdomen.  I cannot imagine if that was reduced from smoking and my surgery went excellent without any complications.  The breathing specialist even commented that I was close to normal breathing 2-hours post op and it was still hard!    Also, I don't think I would have had the energy levels to make it through these first few days if I still smoked since the calorie count is so low.

It requires a lot of changes to go through WLS and if you can tackle some of them earlier it will be easier.  For me, I also had to give up my addiction to Diet Coke and coffee!  It still allowed myself one of each until 2-days before surgery and know in a few weeks I can add back in 1 coffee per day but it's been a little hard.

As far as quitting is concerned, I think it actually helped me prepare for surgery to tackle some of the "head hunger".  The same mental urges that triggered me to smoke, tell me that I need food and I can combat better.  I know that I am not hungry since I just had a protein shake and I can calm myself down quickly just telling myself that.  That is the same thing I had to do for a few months with smoking - I didn't need the nicotine (I used nicotine replacement), but I still thought I did.

To quit, I used the patch to quit during the day (I got vivid dreams at night that would keep me up) with a mini nicotine lozenge in the morning.    Eight months later, I still use a lozenge once in a while (although I haven't wanted any since surgery last week).  

After I quit, my husband followed by example and used Chantix to quit.  He had some "minor" side effects from the drug about 6-weeks after taking it and quit the drug, but is glad he did it because he is smoke-free.  The Chantix seemed to work very well for him.

I don't know if they tested my bloodwork or not.  I know when you smoke there is a chemical that is broken down that they test for.  I don't know if nicotine replacement causes this or not since I was using it while being tested and nothing was flagged; however, I did tell my nutrionitst that I was using the replacement.

Good luck and hang in there!

Thanks for your input. I did quit. :) If you read some of my other replies, you'll understand I was just looking to find out if any smokers actually didn't quit. I also like my diet coke & coffee... however, I can't tell you the last time I finished one. While I like the taste, I could never finish an entire can or bottle... So I think that will be a lot easier to give up for me... but my coffee... well, now I have a weakness for it. I used to take it with cream and sugar... then started this journey, and changed to milk & sweetner... now that I'm on the liquid diet, I drink it black with sweetner. However, I will likely give that up too... at least for awhile. I have a hard enough time getting enough liquid in my body on a daily basis, without trying to add the perk of a coffee... I think I will savour my last one tho... which will be this Friday, as it's a day of celebration for me.

My up-coming surgery is very important to me, and my family. So I will follow all the rules,.. because it's important. Again, thank you for your comment, and good luck to you too! :)