Question:
Smoking
I had the lap band surgery this past wed., and I was wondering if people go back to smoking after WLS? If so, how long after surgery? — [Deactivated Member] (posted on October 24, 2008)
October 24, 2008
Lap band surgery Wednesday? Smoking on Friday? Are the rqmnts different for
Lap Band than they are for RNY?
— zieberrae
October 24, 2008
If you have quit for a week and have gone through the physical widthdrawal
why ould you want to start back up. That is like starting to eat like you
did before surgery. If you have made it this far you can make it forever.
You can do it.
— jeffkopp
October 24, 2008
how long has it been since you have had a smoke? if you have gone for a
week and not had one, you are one step closer to not being a smoker
anymore. I know it is hard as i am a smoker in the stopping process, the
cravings are horrible, worse than food cravings i think, it helps for me to
keep busy, keepy my hands and mind busy so i don't focus on wanting a
smoke. Also it helps to change your routine that your use to as a smoker,
chewing on a straw or holding a pencil has also helped. Good luck to you,
just think you have gone a whole week without one, you can go even longer i
bet.
— Grace M.
October 24, 2008
No, No, No way. As I always say, not all thin people are healthy. You
have had such a blessing in having WLS and I hope you are not contemplating
going back to smoking. It doesn't make sense to me to be thin, and still
unhealthy with smoking. You can either die from obesity or lung cancer, or
neither. Please make the decision for good health and a long life.
Best of luck,
Dawn Vickers, RN, BLC, CLC
— DawnVic
October 24, 2008
I quit smoking a year before surgery and it'll be 6 years on January
1st....You couldn't give me free cigarettes for the rest of my life to get
me to ever smoke again. It was so hard to quit! I smoked for 24 years! 2
packs a day! There was nothing about it I liked except maybe once or twice
a day after a meal and then...the rest of the time was just an overwhelming
habitual thing that didn't even "feel good"....I'm not one of
those people that nags others who do smoke or makes comments...but there is
nothing about smoking that beats not smoking! That's not even including all
the health problems and bad colds and the wretched smell and the damage it
does on your walls , curtains and furniture...your kids and pets and the
air in your home....your car! I know you've heard it all...We all have!
...Go get some nicorette gum or patches or anything but don't smoke again!
I quit with the gum...It was the only way I ever did it and succeeded...I
gained a lot of weight too...about 60 lbs. But it was worth it to finally
quit and never had brohncitis and sinus infections again! You couldn't pay
a salary me AND give me free cigs to start again. It's just plain bad! Not
even in moderation is it good! Me I stay quit...forever!
— .Anita R.
October 24, 2008
Now that you have been off smoking for a while....maybe it is time to quit
all together. Esp. if you are going to start exercising to promote your wt
loss. But if that is not something you are willing to consider....you at
least need to give your body a chance to heal and recover. Post surgery
smoking can delay healing, increase risk for post op complications like
pneumonia. So if you are going back to smoking....give yourself several
weeks to heal before lighting up.
— jamiedaugherty
October 25, 2008
I started smoking right after I got out of the hospital. I didn't wait. It
does delay the healing. If you get pneumonia and have to cough it's going
to hurt.
I was a pack and a half smoker for 35 years. I had WLS in Feb 04, I am well
below my goal weight. Last May 08 I was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. Every
Single Doctor I saw told me it was from smoking. I had to have my Kidney,
Ureter, Bladder Cuff and gallbladder out. You see smoking is processed by
the kidneys and urinary track. When you smoke all the carcinogens affect
the whole urinary system. My tumor is a Grade 3 very aggressive. I have
pain every day.
My Doctor put me on Wellbutrin 300 MG a day. Insurance pays for it because
its an anti depressant. But the nicotine block is amazing. I don't crave
nor do I ever want to smoke a cancer stick again. Talk to your Doctor today
about going on Wellbutrin. Its been 6 months for me.
— Kimberly Ten Kate
October 25, 2008
No, you should not consider smoking after surgery. The purpose of the
surgery is to help you live a longer, healthier life. Do you really think
that smoking is a good idea?
— rrosenc
October 25, 2008
I don't want to be negative or chastise you, but why would you go through
all of the procedures to have weight loss surgery to increase your life
span and health, then began a habit that would contradict your success. I
used to smoke as well and will never ever do it again. I guess by the
grace of God, I was able to do it "cold-turkey". Remember, we
are all in this together and as a support group, we need to help you
through this very difficult time.
— Teresa J.
October 25, 2008
Well, TR, Kimberly's response should give us all conviction to stay on the
healthy road pre and post-op. Now, I know all too well the ease of stress
etc a cigarette can give and I'm only an occassional smoker, but I for one
am giving that habit the heave-ho. It's good training for the resolve I'm
learning to acquire in my pre-op period. Best of luck to you and to you,
Kimberly.
— opheliafl
October 25, 2008
I'm a board certified tobacco treatment specialist, trained by one of the
premier smoking cessation programs in the nation, so hopefully I'll be able
to give you some constructive tips - I've only seen two other comments that
actually gave strategies to use as opposed to reasons. I'm sure you're a
smart person, it's not a matter of reasoning as much as it is the decision
to quit & then getting the tools/knowledge that will help you to STAY
quit. People quit briefly a fair amount of time.
Since I haven't had the opportunity to work with you in a clinical setting,
I haven't been able to assess the particular situations & emotions that
trigger your cravings & habits that prompt you to light up, nor do I
know your medical history or what medications you may be on - so, please
take this as general advice & seek help from a smoking cessation
program IN ADDITION TO your physician. I'm always stunned by most doctor's
blind reliance on medication alone, like feelings & habits are nothing.
Research shows medication + tobacco-specific replacement strategies
(cessation program advice) = the best LONG-term quit rate. Why am I
emphasizing "long", meaning you quit for 7 or more months.
FYI - I'm a former smoker. I KNOW how hard it is to quit. It's been just
over 5 years for me.
That really, really strong craving . . . the one that you're fairly certain
if you don't have a cigarette, you'll go just about crazy . . . lasts about
5 minutes. Not that the thought wouldn't it be nice to have one will
completely go away, but it won't be a seemingly burning need, it will just
be a thought. That's important to know b/c if you can distract yourself
for those 5 minutes, it will get pass. In addition, there's a definite
timeline of frequency of cravings (how much you get those cravings in a
single day, or how quickly they come "back to back") and how
strong that craving is with how long it's been since you quit. The first
few days are the hardest, then it levels off just a bit & will stay the
same until about 2 weeks since you quit & then will level off a fair
bit, & then gets better again 30 days since you quit. At that point,
the frequency & intensity of cravings gets A LOT better. Promise.
Then the cravings will be more of, it would be nice to have one, as opposed
to a nearly overwhelming need. It takes 2 months of no nicotine for your
nicotine receptor sites in your brain (that's how your body actually
utilizes the drug) to go dormant/ be inactive. They're there for life
& can be reactivated by the smallest amounts of nicotine, so don't fool
yourself into thinking you can do it on "special" occasions &
you'll just quit again. The cravings will be like you just quit all over
again - it'll be that way so long as you're smoking "occasional"
puffs or cigarettes - all you do, is keep yourself in the first awful
stages of withdrawal & it's a constant struggle. Quit completely &
it actually gets better.
Like someone else mentioned for strategies - go for a walk (even 5
minutes), keep your hands busy - take up a new hobby that will keep you
occupied. If you're in a place where you can't go for a walk or do your
hobby, take a coin or stashed paperclip (straw, pen, toothpick, rubbing
stone, etc) out of your pocket. Keep sugar free hard candy in stashes all
over the place, or gum. What's nice about the brisk walk (when you can do
it briskly, do it briskly!) is that exercise naturally releases these
feel-good chemicals, endorphins, including serotonin & dopamine. We
all should have an average levels of these. Unfortunately dopamine gets
hooked up in the nicotine cycle so that every time you smoke, dopamine is
released - that's a big part of the emotional reliance, in those stressful,
angry, upset, bored moments - it's relaxing, calming, & pleasant,
right? Well, that's why. It's also why the brisk walk is especially
helpful. Call somebody to discuss your cravings -someone who will do this
in a helpful way, not in an accusatory way that will just make you feel bad
- that's NOT going to actually help. You can also call someone in order to
use the conversation as a distractor, you don't have to mentioned your
cravings at all. You know the activitites that you do, that you enjoy
& make you feel relaxed & happy - do them. Pamper yourself.
Reward yourself with extra time to do these nice things for yourself. You
deserve it. Research has been done on people who have quit drugs like
cocaine & heroine who also quit smoking at a separate time than the
hard drugs & almost all of them say that quitting cigarettes was just
as hard IF NOT HARDER. Reward yourself for your accomplishment. Let go of
any negative feelings about slips. The next time is always a new choice.
Use a slip (not that I'm encouraging it!) as an opportunity to understand
what triggered the craving & what you could have done to counteract it
for future situations.
About 30% of people who take Chantix have problems with nausea &/ or
vomiting, so my guess is that having just had stomach surgery, this might
not be a good option for you. There are other considerations, but again,
since I'm not in a clinical setting with you, I'm not going to go into the
pros & cons of Chantix. I'm also not a doctor, although I have
experience with smoking cessatin medications, I work with doctors in the
clinic for the best choice for the patient - again, talk to you doctor
about helping you!
Like someone mentioned, Wellbutrin has been shown to be a helpful aid to
quit smoking, though it does not block "smoking" or nicotine as
someone mentioned. It's helpful b/c of the dopamine thing a mentioned
earlier. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant, so it helps to keep the dopamine
level up to where it should naturally be if you weren't in nicotine
withdrawal. Wellbutrin is the same formal as Zyban & Burpropion SR,
they're just made by different companies, so whatever your insurance
company covers is a good choice among the 3 - again, there's some medical
considerations for this that you should review with your doctor.
A wonderful way to PERMANENTLY kick the butts is to combine Wellbutrin (or
Zyban or Burpropion SR) with the nicoderm patch AND use the 2 mg gum OR
lozenge for the cravings. Sooooo many people have told me that the gum or
lozenge seriously helped them through the worst of their cravings & are
convinced they would have probably otherwise caved in those moments. If
you use the gum, chew it a few times & "park" it at the side
of your mouth. When you need another "lift", chew it some more
& park it. Don't chew it like a normal piece of gum, that's too much
of a jolt of nicotine all at once. The flavored ones that have come out
recently taste a lot better. As far as the patches go, the general rule of
thumb is to initially give yourself as much nicotine as you've been giving
yourself via smoking & taper off every 2-4 weeks. Different programs
recommend different lengths of time. Buy the next lowest mg patch &
use it another 2-4 weeks until you use the 7 mg patch for 2-4 weeks. Then
just the gum, then stop the gum. Expect a small increase in cravings for a
few days (use gum a little more) each time you decrease the patch mg.
There's different recommendations on maximum allowance of patch mg between
the FDA & the Public Health Service Guidelines (PHSG) recommendation on
the treatment of tobacco. The FDA hasn't reviewed patches since they were
on the market, the PHSG just revised it's guidlines & based it on 8700
studies. Check out the differences, discuss with cessation counselor &
physician, & make a decision.
Sorry so long. Good luck!!!
— Lisey
October 26, 2008
Unfortunately, I am a smoker. I am 8 years post-op, but I think I went back
pretty soon.
— Kelly T.
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