Weed smokers, quitting for surgery?

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Odd_Championship7286@reddit

Not worth risking it! Just do edibles instead

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marprez22la@reddit

Quit weed or quit smoking? If a dry vape is an option then try that. Not the same buzz but not too different and still helps you sleep.

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eyeball-beesting@reddit

This happened to me when I was younger and smoked. I thought I was addicted to weed- smoked about as much as you- first joint as soon as I woke up each morning.

I didn't stop and my surgery went fine- however, that was just me. It might be different for different people. I remember justifying it in my head as this. They have people come in to A&E all the time and have to go into surgery without warning. There is no prep work for them. If it was that dangerous, they wouldn't be able to do that! When you have an addiction, you will do anything to justify your need to keep doing what you are doing.

The advice I have for you is to stop. I never thought I would be able to, but when I did it was easier than I thought. I feel like I was actually more addicted to the nicotine in the spliffs than the actual weed as I didn't also smoke cigarettes. The way I realised this was I stopped smoking joints and used a pipe instead. That way, I realised I wasn't actually craving the weed. So I just stopped and it was the best thing I ever did. I used to think I wouldn't be able to fall asleep without it but my sleep improved so much without it.

This was around 20 years ago and I haven't touched it ever since.

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Happy-Aerie93@reddit

Edibles?

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

I really struggle to get good ones in my area!!

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Happy-Aerie93@reddit

I make butter or oil with flower. I found the instructions/recipe on google

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Happy-Aerie93@reddit

Also, only make a small amount each time in ase you mess it up (less wasted if you get it wrong) and only eat a small amount first and wait for it to kick in before redosing. Coming from someone who it hit way too hard... your body metabolises it differently. Hope I'm not preaching.. good luck x

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NecessaryMorning5636@reddit

I had a breast reduction 2 years ago (I was 50). I didn’t stop smoking. Recovery was a breeze. No pain. Even drove myself to the clinic on day 3 post-op to get the drains taken out. YMMV, this is purely anecdotal.

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poop_69420_@reddit

Edibles

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utukore@reddit

I've had a skin graft as a stoner. I crashed twice in surgery and was told I'd given them 'a bit of a scare' when I woke up.
Im now legally precribed it but would take a break ahead of any surgey given what I was told.

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HuiOnFire@reddit

Imagine 😭

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Imagine….. addiction 😱

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Missbhavin58@reddit

I'm a regular smoker and I had a general anaesthetic for minor dental surgery. Anaesthetist asked if I used weed and I said yes. Op was carried out successfully. I wasn't asked to quit beforehand as it was an unexpected appointment but it didn't bother the Anaesthetist either

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Mikon_Youji@reddit

If you've been advised to stop smoking for now, then stop. I'm sure you will be fine for a little while.

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3Cogs@reddit

If you stop cold, you'll just get a bit jittery for a few days and you might get some very vivid dreams crashing in. Nothing worse than that.

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Thank you for this, I do just need to pull the plaster off but I’m scared at the same time lol

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RhinoRhys@reddit

Yeah REM relapse is wild. Sweet dreams

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3Cogs@reddit

All the best! In my experience it's not too bad, you don't crave it like nicotine although if you smoke you might miss the act of doing it. In my experience it's nowhere near as addictive as tobacco, but you'll miss it and after 2 or 3 days you'll typically get some vivid technicolour dreams. Nothing unpleasant, but intense. It's interesting tbh.

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KFlaps@reddit

Highly recommend you stop, but if you don't, for the love of God make sure you tell your anaesthetist on the day.

I know how difficult it is to stop, I struggled with it for years, but you have to weigh your need to smoke with the need for the surgery.

Try to cut down a little bit each day. For me, once I smoked the gates were open, so try to delay your first joint later and later and put less in when you do. Then go from three to two to one, to a top-loaded cig to just a cig.

For me, I switched to a dry-herb vape and that allowed me to quit tobacco and forced me to cut down on weed, but I didn't have a deadline.

Pop over to /r/leaves if you need support ❤️

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

I appreciate this soo much thank you, I think cutting down would be a great option for me or something I would 100% explore, I literally start my day at 6am and have a smoke so I could really delay that with some willpower lol

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ArmWildFrill@reddit

Your problem will be post-op because you're going to feel worse than someone who doesn't use weed. I use oral cannabis daily, but I'd advise you to stop at least a few days before, but you don't want to be suffering withdrawal when you're having the op. Maybe you've never had a tolerance break before? You really should. You need to take control otherwise it is controlling you.

Never smoke tobacco. It should be a Class A drug and shrooms should be legal like they used to be.

When you get home afterwards that first spliff will be all the sweeter

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KFlaps@reddit

I already wrote a novel to your other reply (sorry lol) but yes, waking and baking is a sure fire way to want to maintain that state all day! The longer you can refrain from that first joint the easier it can be to cut down - just find something else to do in that time you'd normally roll, something that can be a little routine but that takes your mind off it.

I know it's cliche, but like - try spending 5-10mins doing stretches when you wake, rather than rolling, then continue with whatever task you'd normally do if you'd had a smoke!

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cragwatcher@reddit

Honestly, the problem you have here is summed up in one word: 'explore'. This isn't something you explore, it's something you do. Or don't do to be honest. You need to change your mindset. Decide to taper off and then quit entirely by the two week deadline, or cancel the operation. Those are your two options. Pick one.

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Also thank you for being kind

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KFlaps@reddit

I know, I understand it in my bones. I struggled for so long to quit. I'm in my 40's now and I had been a regular toker since my late teens. I must have tried at least 3 or 4 times to properly quit but I was stuck in a cycle of quitting weed but still smoking cigarettes, which made me want a joint, and then trying to quit tobacco by using a pipe/bong whatever for my weed, but still "smoking" it, which combined with nicotine withdrawal, got me back on the tobacco... Rinse and repeat for at least the last decade.

What finally worked for me was switching to a dry herb vape for my weed, combined with a normal vape for my nicotine.

Dry herb vapes need a sort of minimum amount to work, and are also much more efficient. I found that I was using less weed to be as (if not more) stoned but crucially, I couldn't just have "a cheeky little joint" (I was terrible for having little top loaded cigarettes all the time) - I either got baked, or I didn't. This kind of naturally made me hold off until the evenings to have my vape.

Now, it's not the same.... nothing is quite like having a joint. It's not just the smoking of it, it's the routine around rolling it. It's that 5 minutes of peace and anticipation and calm before you light up, that's all part of the ritual. The trick is when you replace something with something else, you have to build a new ritual. I would still grind my weed slowly, pack my little vape methodically, and while it was taking a few mins to heat up, just relax with my normal nicotine vape. Then, have a relaxed 5-10 minutes with my herb vape, and once it was spent have another 5-10 mins with my nic vape. All in all about 20-25 minutes.

Slowly over a year I put less and less in my herb vape, and as my tolerance reduced I started to find that the minimum amount needed actually got me too baked. At the same time I slowly reduced my nicotine in my normal vape, until one day I ran out of weed (grinder and jar scraped as we all do), and just decided not to go see my guy. The first two weeks were shitty but I bought a little CBD vape which seemed to help, and I kept my vaping my nic vape for a few months longer til I got my nic to zero, then (rather appropriately) quit that the day of an operation to remove a lump from my nose.

It's been 3yrs since I quit tobacco, 17 months since I quit weed and 15 months since I quit nicotine/ecigs (and 4 years since the coke habit - 2020/21 was not good for my mental health lol).

The weirdest thing is, I don't miss weed at all. It's crazy. It was such a big part of my life for so long, and I thought I'd never enjoy my movies or gaming or especially those long walks through the countryside on a sunny day with a couple of J's, but it's...fine?! Like, really fine. Turns out I've got ADHD and was self medicating/dopamine chasing for over two decades so now I'm coming to terms with living life without the filter of being stoned the whole time.

Anyway, I realise I've actually written a whole damned story, sorry. My point was, I know it's not easy, and what worked for me may not work for you. At the end of the day, quitting any kind of substance is an incredibly personal experience and one of the hardest things anyone can fucking do.

Weed gets dismissed because "oh it's just weed", but that shit's insidious. What starts as a few joints with friends can become an all day every day habit and you don't really think anything of it, because it's just weed. Then you go "wait, would I be ok with this if it was a glass of wine or a shot of vodka?" and you realise that probably waking and doing a shot isn't a good place to be - and that your fun weed habit maybe isn't so fun. Then you start getting older and your memory gets worse and you can't remember the last time you dreamt and you find yourself making excuses to not do things with friends because it means you can't have a smoke and fuuuuuck, you realise you're addicted...

Seriously, spend a bit of time browsing /r/leaves. Read others stories, see if you recognise any of them in yourself and if you feel in your heart that you want to quit, then start figuring out what might work for you, because you can do it, you've just gotta figure out what works for you and if you fail, then you learn from it and try again!

Reddit is a cynical place, but there are some great communities and people here too!

Best of luck, not just with this but with the operation as well ❤️

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Dollypunch@reddit

I second the dry herb vape

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gunpowdervacuum@reddit

You stop smoking.

It can increase your risk of necrosis, which means the tissues around incisions rot and die away. Plus, weed can interact with other medications such as anaesthetics, especially if you don’t declare them to your anaesthetist, who could (and possibly would) refuse to support the operation.

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MayDuppname@reddit

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6650211/

As the above study shows, the answer is actually much harder to explain. Since the USA made weed a controlled substance in the 70s (and most other countries followed suit after pressure from the US govt) researchers have been unable to legally do studies to test the effects on humans.

Different animals respond differently to weed plus anaesthetics, so animal testing studies are virtually useless, but there have been dangerous interactions in some animals that aren't found in humans.

Weed has become much stronger since the 70s, so old studies can't be used reliably either. Each strain of plant also has different 'ingredients' and metabolites; a test done on one strain can't be assumed to apply to others.

So the answer is, there aren't officially enough studies to prove safety or otherwise.

Now to reassure OP a bit. Weed and anaesthetics are generally fine together, no major interactions. So long as you don't go under when you're actually high, it shouldn't make much of a difference.

They generally do blood tests before you go under anyway which would highlight any thc in your system (but you're right, it should always be disclosed before any treatment). So long as you don't actually go in stoned (ie 24 hours between last use and op), and so long as you've told them, you should be fine.

There are effects from acute adminstration of cannabis (ie when you're high) including differences in stomach emptying duration, which may affect anaesthetics. Don't have a joint before the op.

I've had major life saving emergency surgery with my system full of it (pain relief: my appendix had burst, but the hospitals sent me home 5 times before finally diagnosing it correctly) - and I did specifically alert them to that fact. I remember the phrase, "Yes, we did find some blood in your cannabis stream" being used by the surgeon.

You're more likely as a weed user to need more pain relief after the op, and the effects of (weed) withdrawal post-operatively can make that worse.

I'd always recommend you follow any instructions given to you by medical professionals. But since the research isn't there to back up or refute advice, it can't be considered iron clad.

Chemically and medically, nothing horrendous should happen because there's (remnants of) weed in your system when anaesthetised.

I am a medical professional but surgery and anaesthetics aren't my specialty. What I've said here is a summary of the above link, similar research and my own experience. My final tip is not to take medical advice from random people on Reddit or social media - and that includes me!

The research isn't there. We can't prove outcomes. But millions of people worldwide undergo ops with weed in their system every year without major effect.

Wound necrosis isn't going to occur as a result of you having smoked 3 joints a day for years unless there's a preexisting problem with your vasculature (that can include diabetes). Weed can affect blood thinning medication post-op, so ask before you resume smoking after the op.

All the best with your op.

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hallgeo777@reddit

This is really good advice. As a weed smoker myself I have often wondered what the effect would be.

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Limpy-Seagull@reddit

My background is surgery and anaesthetics. In layman's terms, there are a couple of issues with smoking in general and an additional specifically for weed and other recreational drugs. Smoking in general can delay healing and makes infections and wound complications more likely. Smoking is also one of the risk factors for PONV (post-operative nausea and vomiting), which is deeply unpleasant and can strain and hurt your wounds as you're vomiting. Weed smokers also require far more induction agent to induce anaesthesia and struggle with pain management post operatively because the weed gives them a tolerance to pain relief medication, making it less effective. So, in a nutshell, weed smokers suffer more pain and discomfort and have an increased risk of complications.

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earthlingnumber22@reddit

I was a heavy 🍃 smoker when I had my reduction. It is difficult, but it’s so so worth it to just stop. It will suck, but overall you’ll be so glad you did it. I bought some nicotine free vapes so I would have something to inhale which was kinda helpful, but there’s no easy way around it. You will really want to smoke but you have to acknowledge that feeling and persevere. Try not to smoke for as long as possible while recovering as well, it really slows the healing process. You will thank yourself in 6 months <3

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Slight-Brush@reddit

Taper and stop.

If you don’t stop (and tell them) they may refuse to operate.

If you don’t stop (and don’t tell them), the interaction with the anaesthetic will increase your risk of dying on the table.

Assuming that you are shelling out a lot of cash for this, either quit, or cancel the op.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6650211/

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oxfordfox20@reddit

This is it. No judgement for carrying on smoking (though if you want to quit it will change your life to do so), but really don’t lie to surgeons. They’re fucking about with you in serious ways and need to know the ways you’re fucking about with yourself.

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tewnsbytheled@reddit

Ask on the UKtrees subreddit you'll never get a good answer here, you could just phone and ask them tho, don't risk it. You'll feel better after a t break anyway!

Sorry I can't advise I've never been in the position

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MackCLE@reddit

Would gummies be a safer alternative or maybe cbd without the thc? I’d discuss this with the anesthesiologist to see if they have any suggestions. I’ve heard of supplements that may help but best to discuss with your md.

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shelleypiper@reddit

As many weeks or months ahead of surgery as possible, you need to stop smoking. You can have terrible things happen to you if you don't.

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HumanDevelopment6507@reddit

OK, let me do you a favour and explain what happened when I didn't stop smoking before surgery and didn't tell the anaesthetist - they gave me the 'correct' amount of anaesthetic for someone who didn't have a central nervous system that was used to high amounts of THC and CBD, and so I woke up in the middle of my operation and then had to deal with the consequences of that - about 18 months of PTSD and extreme anxiety.

Quit until your op. If you don't, tell the anaesthetist.

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SorryGarbage1551@reddit

Quit smoking and get yourself a good affordable vape for after like an XQ2 or xmax. Vapes are so efficient I went from smoking an oz a month to vaping a quarter and my lungs thanked me for it.

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Oghamstoner@reddit

Put aside the money you save by not smoking and put it towards a treat.

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TokyoJazzPanda@reddit

I've been baked either side of a general anaesthetic. In the early hours (12:00 - 02:00 ish) before afternoon day-case surgery. The other time, in the evening after morning surgery.

I wouldn't recommend either. Doesn't mix particularly well. Smoking after coming round from surgery l/anaesthetic was considerably worse.

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Thank you for this, I really wanted to hear personal experiences I’m not saying I won’t quit, but at this moment in time it’s hard that I even have to consider it lol

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TokyoJazzPanda@reddit

I'm not the best with anaesthetic anyway, I'm chill af usually but very irritable and uncomfortable after coming around (tend to try and pull tubes/cannula out immediately - and forewarn the staff of this). I've stopped smoking a few days before, and that was noticeably more agreeable than within 24hrs.

I would recommend hard avoiding smoking anything afterwards, at all. I'd had a shoulder reconstruction, and they used a kind of nerve block, so I had little range of movement and was incredibly restless/uncomfortable. Thought I'd nip out for one (of many) that I had pre-rolled. Massive mistake. Almost collapsed, and I felt horrifically hot/stifled (didn't help having my arm strapped to my body). Genuinely, one of the worst experiences with weed I have had in my life, and I have consumed my fair share.

Good luck with the quitting, and good luck with the surgery mate!

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BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit

Whatever you do, whether you stop or not, be honest with the doctors about it. The anaesthetist needs to know.

And if you are really struggling to stop for a short period, maybe think about of that is a problem longer-term.

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

It’s the only thing that makes me happy lol 🥹 definitely a problem. Thank you for the advice I appreciate it

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Slight-Brush@reddit

To add after your edit: if they say you need to be clean for 2 weeks before surgery, you need to do that, so start tapering well before. 2 a day, down to 1 a day, then every other day etc

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Thank you appreciate this, think this is going to be the only way for me

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snapper1971@reddit

I have no more than three a day - it's to modify chronic pain and works well.

In April I needed emergency surgery for a really bad gastrointestinal bleed - I required CPR and a full transfusion. I was first given the anaesthetic questionnaire and because my teenage child was in the cubicle at the time, I lied. As soon as he left I admitted the lie, explained why, and she was pleased with my honesty and thanked me. I'd had my last joint less than twenty-four hours before falling critically ill.

I was fine with the hoard of meds they pumped into me, both to knock me out and wake me up afterwards.

Be honest with the anaesthetist and talk it through with them. My anecdote shouldn't be taken as "you'll be fine" but more about being honest with the person who will be keeping you under and alive.

Good luck with your surgery and wishing you a speedy recovery.

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Ok-Emergency5680@reddit (OP)

Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate the advice and the well wishes x

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Anxious_squirrelz@reddit

I had emergency surgery a few years ago and admitted I smoked. Doctors will give advice based on what you're going in for and I'd say follow their advice rather than reddit. I was told not to smoke between that consultantation and the surgery (about a week), they also made me do some additional tests to ensure I was fit enough for surgery.

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