Smoking

Hey all I am 41 days out from surgery and today I quit smoking. I only quit because the doctor said I had to. Did anyone else quit smoking before surgery and did anyone start back up?

Congratulations David. Kandy

I started back up, immediately sorry that I did, and have quit again. i smoked again for about a month before I came to my senses. I am glad to be rid of cigarettes forever! Hope that answers your question...LOL

How did you quit? I am on Zyban, but I don't think it is working. I am only on my second day of being a non-smoker. It is a lot tougher then I expected.

I used zyban the first time I quit, and had much success. However, this time zyban did not work for me, I am guessing because of the absorbtion factor. So I had to suck it up and quit cold turkey. I drank alot of water and shelled alot of peanuts, but I made it!

I know how you feel. I was told that the dr would not do my surgery until I quit. I used the patch (Nicoderm) it was wonderful. Give it a try. I hope that all goes well for you. Good luck

i stopped smoking cold turkey in 1981 and didn't pick it up again until 5 months after surgery. i think i am nuts. i have done the patch and it helped a lot but now i am smoking again and i hate everything about it, especially myself for trading one addiction for another. if i had any money, i would have liked to have traded for a shopping addiction. i know the only way for me to do it is to just stop and not buy any. the tricks i have been using like leaving cigs in the car or only smoking at work where everyone else smokes, doesn't work. last weekend when i knew i would be completely alone, i bought a pack to "keep me company" how is that any different than pre surgery i would buy cake/candy to keep me company. HELP!

I'm a real newbie. Just scheduled my consultations and can't wait.......but am TERRIFIED of one thing. I'll have to quit smoking before surgery. HOW will I do this!?! The surgery doesn't scare me and living without certain foods and exercising and the whole life change doesn't scare me but..........quitting smoking? Don't know if I can do it! Need lots of advice and more prayers, PLEASE!

hey all smokers - my very first seminar that i went to in june 2003, the first thing i heard was that i had to stop smoking. well, they would not do it unless you stopped and it had to be a minimun of 3 months - there is a test that they do. HOWEVER< there are certain DR in certain states that don't care about that, but look at it this way - smoking is bad for you it disrupts the function of the lungs morbidly obese people have troble with their lungs - so why would you want to get on the table and give the surgeon something else to worry about - please try to quit - i haven't smoked in a year - but that is because i want the surgery - I hopr that i will be able to stay this strong and have this much willpower after i have the surgery becasue i still want a cigarette EVERDAY. ooh by the way, when I had my EKG it still showed that I was a smoker or that I had smoke damage on my lungs/heart that was scary to me cause i didn't think it would show after all this time

I'm so glad you did, I quit 3 years ago, and I started back a couple of month right after my surgery 5/04. It seem that I traded one addition for another. I really, really want to quit, but it will be hard. If you all have any suggestions please let me know. Maria