Question:
Pre-op I quit smoking and now my head is all stopped up any of you have this before.

Pre-op I quit smoking and now my head is all stopped up any of you have this before. I had heard that I had to quit smoking before I have the surgery so I did now I feel just bla!! Do I have a head cold or is it from quitting?    — [Anonymous] (posted on December 29, 2001)

December 28, 2001
I cannot help you with the question, but I am trying to quit in order to be healthy and to comply with my surgeon's request that I quit several months before surgery. How did you do it? The patch does not help me at all.
   — J. D.

December 28, 2001
I quit smoking on October 15 of this year. Surgery (VG) was November 12 of this year. No sooner that I quit I felt absolutely horrible. Coughed up gunk and felt like I had some kind of really bad chest cold. This lasted until 2 weeks after surgery. Man it was so hard. I should have quit sooner. Doc told me it was my lungs trying to clear out all the junk. When you smoke, the celia (fine baby hairs that filter air) get paralyzed from the nicotine. When you quit the start to return to normal and have a hard time with all the gunk on them. That is where the coughing comes from with the other gunk. Try to quit a.s.a.p. and maybe you can avoid this. All other times I quit I never had this happen. BTW (by the way) I quit cold turkey. So did hubby. He used everything from patches to zyban and said cold turkey was the easiest and man was he addicted. Hope this helps.
   — Cinna G.

December 28, 2001
When I quit smoking I had that stuffy head feeling too. Even had a lot of mucous so I took some sinus pills and that helped me. I think it lasted about ten days or so. Glad to hear that you stopped because you really are doing yourself a huge favor. It will improve your chances of having less complications during the surgery.
   — J V.

December 28, 2001
I have quit for surgery as well, it has been almost 4 monthes. I used the patch... The directions say to place the patch on your arm...Don't. when the Doctor gives you a patch he tells you to wash your chest with alcahol and place the patch on your chest...Correct? Placeing the patch on my arm made no scence to me, I placed it on my chest, and it stayed alot better, it also got into my system faster. Besure to switch sides each day. Now as for genaric patches, K-Mart has a brand that is just fantastic, I have tried both the genaric and the name brand...They both work about the same. Now I have noticed that my nose is a bit stuffy these past weeks... And I am taking hurbs to try to counter what ever it is I may get. But I think that it will take time for our nasel passages to return to normal. I hope I helped someone qiut somking! With WLS Love...Ruth
   — Ruth S.

December 29, 2001
TY all I thought I was the only one i quit cold T to ty all for your help
   — Barbara S.

December 29, 2001
Every time I quit smoking or try to quit, I get a cold or sore throat or something of that nature... you are not alone.
   — Janet C.

December 29, 2001
When I quit something in August 2000, I had a headcahe for about a week and my throat felt like I needed to constantly swallow or spit, even thought here was nothing there. The blah feeling lasted about three weeks with me, then I didn't miss ciggarettes at all until I hit the three month mark. Good luck with non smoking.
   — blank first name B.