I'm scared, & need some immediate help guys!!

[Sweet Little Sister]

Hi everyone!! I posted this over in the "experiences" section, but they suggested that I post it over here, too. I know I'm a little late, since I may not be able to get back online after tonight, so hopefully you guys can help me tonight or I can sneak on for a few minutes this week!! Thanks for any help!!

I'm having some minor surgery on Friday. I smoke weed every day, & was told this is really bad before going under anesthesia. I don't know when to stop, AND when I can start up again. I was told they'll have a real hard time bringing me out of the anesthesia. Has anyone else been through this?? Please help me!!

Also, HOW do you fall asleep without weed?? I don't want to die, you know?? I know how paranoid I sound, but I'm worried. I spoke to the nurse, but her son OD'ed, so I'm sure she ws being overly cautious. I was told I couldn't even have a regular cigarette the day of the surgery!! I KNOW I've done that before!!

Any advice would be very much appreciated. And today is the only day I'll be able to get online until possibly Thursday, so thanks so much in advance!!

Sweet Little Sister Reviewed by Sweet Little Sister on 11-19-2007. I'm scared, & need some immediate help guys!! Hi everyone!! I posted this over in the "experiences" section, but they suggested that I post it over here, too. I know I'm a little late, since I may not be able to get back online after tonight, so hopefully you guys can help me tonight or I can sneak on for a few minutes this week!! Thanks for any help!! I'm having some minor surgery on Friday. I smoke weed every day, & was told this is really bad before going under anesthesia. I don't know when to stop, AND when I can start up again. I Rating: 5

[silkyblue]

Drs urge you to give up smoke prior to surgery
you'll be okay


good luck ~~

[birdgirl73]

Sweet Sis, someone has frightened you unnecessarily. We'll also hope Fake Boobs Rule, our resident physician who works in precisely the field of anesthesia, will chime in here later and help reassure you further.

We get this question all the time. I don't know how heavily you smoke, but from a drug-interaction standpoint, you don't likely have much to worry about. You said it's minor surgery, which I'm assuming means IV sedation with a short-acting anesthetic like propolol or thiopental. Or you may even be having local anesthesia simply to deaden a specific area of your body. Chances are not a thing in the world they give you is going to interact with cannabis, which clears amazingly quickly from the body.

If I were you, I'd be completely candid with your anesthesiologist about your smoking history and frequency. If he/she thinks it's going to be a problem, he'll make the call. If it makes you feel any better, I've never yet heard of any physician calling off anyone's surgery because the patient is a heavy pot smoker. They'd be far more likely to do that if you were a heavy cigarette smoker. (Which I hope you're not!)

The real reason it's not ideal to smoke before surgery is because it's best for people who're about to undergo general anesthesia to have lungs that are as clear and free of irritants as is possible. Smoke of any kind is an irritant. If they're going to intubate you and breathe for you during an operation, you absorb less anesthesia and use it more efficiently with clear lungs. And you get fewer post-surgical and post-anesthetic complications, too, like pneumonia.

You didn't say what sort of surgery you're having or whether you're having it done in a hospital or not. It'll help FBR, our other mod, to know that if you don't mind sharing it. Also, please reassure us that you're not into other drugs besides cannabis. If you were a heavy user/abuser of something like narcotic pain relievers, that could be a problem with your ability to wake up.

Good luck! Try not to worry, OK?

[Weedhound]

I didn't know FBR was an anesthesiologist...Wow :thumbsup:

[Sweet Little Sister]

I USED to be a heavy pill popper.... Soma & Fioricets. I'm an addict but I've made my doctor's aware of this & haven't touched the stuff in a couple of years. I HAVE been abusing Tylenol PM's, but have cut down drastically. I've told them about that. They did a blood test on my liver & it's fine.

I'm getting a D&C. I'm going to have to be put under because I've never had children, so my cervix is too tight. I smoke a few bowls a night, & sometimes add a couple of bongs. If it matters, I'll be 44 next month. I'm allergic to Lidocaine, so I don't know what type of anesthesia they'll be using on me.

They mentioned something about how hard it would be to wake me up from the sedation & said I can't even smoke when I get home that night!! Please tell me this isn't true!! And do I REALLY have to stop after tonight?? They said I can have a couple of drinks on Thanksgiving, so I don't get it!! I'm so worried about not being able to sleep, I'm talking myself into it, I'm sure. But I also love getting high!! As we all do!!

And yup, I'm a pretty heavy cigarette smoker too. I think I'm allowed to have ONE the morning of the surgery.

[silkyblue]

Im no Doctorate but

Id steer clear of the cigs if your having surgery
untill your well
health is very important

there are a mil and one things to do besides smoke cigs

take care of you! tell them to give you drugs!

[birdgirl73]

Lidocaine's a topical analgesic (pain reliever) and isn't something they'll be using on you intravenously to put you to sleep. As long as they know you're allergic, that's as far as your involvement with that drug will go.

I'm guessing you're going to be simply IV-sedated. FBR may know of D&C instances where they'd need to do full-out intubation anesthesia, but I've never heard of those circumstances. I've had D&Cs after miscarriages, and I was simply heavily sedated with Valium or something like it. You're a little woozy and very relaxed when you wake up, but that's why they watch you for a while afterwards and insist that someone else drive you home and keep an eye on your afterwards.

A D&C won't require more than 10 minutes, and probably way less. Unless they simply think that, because of your addiction history, you may require more sedation than most folks, you will likely wake up like normal and be groggy if you had Valium and more wide awake if they used one of the shorter-acting anesthetics like propolol.

Just make sure you tell them the whole story, particularly your anesthesiologist, and that means about your cigarette use, too. You sound like you're anxious both about the procedure and about the fact that you're going to have to do without your cigarettes and weed before and after. They're correct that you shouldn't smoke cigarettes afterwards, and it'd be far more ideal if you left them off today and didn't smoke again till 3 to 5 days after your procedure's over. You're going to have some expected bleeding after that procedure, and cigarettes don't help wounds--in your case the entire interior surface of your uterus and your cervical os will be your wounds--seal off and heal normally. They also increase your risk of infection and other post-op complications like deep vein thromboses. So they weren't lying about it not being a good idea to smoke afterwards.

Obviously, in a nation of nearly 50 million cigarette smokers, people don't always follow those instructions. But if you want your surgery to be successful and your recovery uncomplicated, try and abstain from tobacco. If you're really that anxious about your ability to sleep before and after, they can prescribe you something to help with that, simply making sure not to give you a enough that it would re-ignite your pill addiction.

Drinks on Thanksgiving is a different thing. You wouldn't want to drink a fifth of Scotch or show up at the hospital drunk the morning of your procedure, obviously, but a drink or two the day before will have been metabolized by your liver and not likely to interfere with your level of sedation the following day. I suspect that whoever has tried to frighten you about your levels of sedation and cannabis interaction doesn't know how fast it clears, either, or has it mistaken for a heavy narcotic.

Good luck to you!

[thcbongman]

I would try to limit your intake on both cigarettes and weed, but I didn't exactly follow the doctors orders before surgery either, but I did inform them of what I done. You have to let them know, they do discourage it of course,

[TheSmokingMonkey]

You should probably abstain for a few days beforehand, but I have never heard of this being a major problem even for a heavy cannabis smoker.

Do quit the cigarettes, though, as they're horrible for you, in or out of surgery, if you are able to. Or at least cut back. The better shape your lungs can be in, the better.

As for the cannabis though, just quit a few days beforehand, it shouldn't be a problem.

I am the one that originally posted the bit about cannabis making novocaine/lidocaine/etc less effective. It's not dangerous; it's just that it can make the topical anesthetics less effective.

FYI; hope that clarifies.

I'm not an anesthesiologist, but I do have a medical background, and I have NEVER heard that cannabis is dangerous when combined with anesthetics. I think somebody fed you some misinformation on that one.

You can OD on anesthetic but a good anesthesiologist will do EVERYTHING medically possible to make sure you have a safe surgery.

[Sweet Little Sister]

SmokingMonkey, I think I was worried because I CAN smoke pretty heavily.... a lot of times I'll feel it the next day. Not that I'm complaining, lol!! I stopped last night, although I was in the room with a couple of people while they smoked a bong. But when it was passed to me, as hard as it was, I declined.

Do you think I can smoke a bowl the night I come home from my surgery? What exactly is your medical background, if you don't mind me asking? Your post makes me feel better.... thanks!! As for the cigarettes.... I'm smoking like crazy at night now, which is when I normally smoke my weed. I'm not anywhere near ready to quit or even cut down, unfortunately.

Thanks to everyone for the help!! I'll try to check back in tomorrow. If I can't, I'll try again after my surgery Friday, assuming all goes well!!