Smoking After Heart Surgery

[NC-Cutie]

Can any ex smokers tell me how they handle not smoking after surgery. I stopped smoking a week before my surgery, which is now 6 weeks, but I want a cig bad. Of course, I'm afraid to smoke.

Help Me
Nessie

 

[SJJ]

Nessie,
Now that's a fear that you don't want to overcome! There are no ifs, ands or buts around this one-your smoking days are over! Are you exercising every day? This will help with anxiety, depression and the desire to light up. The best way to break any habit is to replace it with another more desireable habit. This could be as simple as drinking water (if you've been cleared to do so by your doctor) whenever you have the desire to smoke, doing some deep breathing exercises, etc. Don't backslide on this one Nessie, you've come too far and take it from someone who struggled with this sometime back, NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE JUST ONE!
If you and your doctor think meds would be appropriate to help deal with some of your anxieties and depression, Welbutrin is an antidepressant which is also effective in minimizing the urge to smoke. I don't know if it's compatible with Coumadin, I just mention it as a possibility. Good luck, Sue

 

[ccrawford]

Nessie - I'm an ex smoker: one year as of 1/3/04. If you have gone this long without a cigarette, you have the worst part way behind you. What you need is some education and some additional motivation to help you insure you stay away from those things. As for the education, use your Google search engine and do a search for "smoking cessation".; You will find many sites about cessation. Devote some serious time to reading them. Quitting is not a casual thing, it is a serious project so devote some serious time to it. One of the things the sites will tell you is to build a two sided list: one side is your list of all the bad things that will occur if you do not quit (for starters, how bout another surgery /) One the flip side of the list write down all the good things that will occur if you do quit. Another exercise is to list every possible occurance of when you think you might want to smoke. Doing this will prepare you mentally for those urges when they do hit, and you will be ready to handle them. Big drinks of water or deep breathing can help you get by an urge. Hope this helps.

 

[Harpoon]

There's no "evil grin" in the smilies list..... =(


I've got a few friends that have succeeded in breaking their cigarette habits.


One stopped cold turkey for a few weeks then took up the gum, I can't remember what the other ones did.


I suggested a little "task" for them while they were trying to quit for help during the cravings.


Sit down with a pen and some note paper and write, "Every time I take a puff, I'm covering the insides of my lungs with black tar."

Or some other dramatic statement regarding what a cigarette actually does to your body.


I'm not saying this helped 'em at all mind you, but it didn't hurt and it DOES serve as a nice reminder of why you're quitting in the first place.


I have to say I'd like to see cigarettes, chewing and pipe tobacco, and cigars banned fro mthe face of the earth, but that will never happen.


There really isn't any point in smoking that crap. The ONLY reason it calms your nerves is because you're addicted to the damn things and your nerves get frazzled when they haven't had a nicotine fix.


I'll stop there, my smoking rants get out of control pretty quick....


One thing though, just to illustrate how STUPID some people can be.

When I left the Cleveland Clinic after my surgery last year, after being there for over two months fighting for my very survival, I saw a woman on the curb outside the Children's Hospital entrance smoking a cigarette.

A few weeks earlier, her daughter, barely 3 years old, received a brand new heart. She "lived" across the hall from where I spent the second half of my stay in Cleveland.

That little girl was going to return home (probably did returm home by now) to a house with at least one smoking parent.

Pardon my french but, what the #$^@?


Yeah, smoking is just one little pet peeve of mine. Gawd help you if I catch you smoking after having heart surgery.

 

[Harpoon]

Oh yeah, they're supposed to write that line 100 times, or until the craving stops, whichever happens first... =)

 

[Georgia]

To get over the carvings, I pictured my poor little recovering heart having to work overtime battling the nicotine and CO2; working harder and harder . . . you get the picture.

 

[Nancy]

Joe never smoked a day in his life. If he had, he would be dead right now.

You never know what is in your medical future and how complicated it might become. When Joe had rheumatic fever as a teenager, he couldn't possibly have dreamed up all the medical problems which were lurking in his future many decades later.

Some day, you may need the full service of your lungs. Your heart depends on them for oxygen. If your lungs cannot deliver--you're a nurse, you know what would happen.

 

[NC-Cutie]

I know Nancy, and you are right I know what will happen. I have smoked for 25 years stopping for 3 years and started back about 3 years ago. I stopped cold turkey before and I know that I don't have to have one now. I'm doing good I just have those urges often to light up.

 

[Nancy]

I hate to say this, but those urges never go away. You have to be strong. I quit over 25 years ago, and I still occasionally dream about smoking. What DO they put in those things anyway.

Foruntantly in my conscious mind, I have no urges to smoke.

 

[Birky]

smoking

smoking

I quit when I had my surgery a year ago. I live with a smoker so it was more difficult. My husband does not smoke around me when we are home. He goes outside. I was in the hospital 16 days out of 21 and did not even have the urge to smoke. Every time I looked down and saw my incision, that was enough for me. When I started getting really antsy and feeling better, I went on Zoloft for anxiety etc. I has helped tremendously. Somedays I still get the urge but less and less. I can't stand the smell in the house or in my clothes when I get home from somewhere there is smoking. I made up my mind that if I got through this, I would not go back since it is so addictive and hard to quit. I have used the gum previously but found I was getting addicted to it plus it was pulling out my fillings. Quite expensive too. Also did the patches, and they worked for a while. It is not easy but if you have gotten this far, keep on trying. I will not even pick up an ashtray or a cigarette itself because I know that I might go back. Really don't want to do anymore damage. Good Luck.

 

[catwoman]

Nessie:

I've never smoked, so I don't know how addicting nicotine can be. Only one in my family who never smoked.
I admire people who quit and are able to stay away from cigarettes.
Good luck with staying smoke-free.

 

[Kevin M]

I quit twice. The first time for about 7 years, then again about 4-5 years ago. This time I know I am totally done with it. I did notice a difference this time. Last time I quit, I found that I still craved it even after several years. This time was different. I don't know what changed, but after about 6 months, it was almost totally gone. This time, I know I will never smoke again because I've turned into one of those ex-smokers that smokers hate.

You are doing great! Six weeks is a very hard accomplishment. Non smokers do not understand that even though you've just had heart surgery, there is a huge psychological thing that we need to get over.

Try your best to keep it up. Those first six weeks are the worst. It would be a shame if you reversed back into smoking again - not only because of all the emotional parts, but your heart needs you to stay off it.

It takes many months for our bodies to heal after surgery. It takes many years for our bodies to heal from years of cigarettes. If you go back now, you will set yourself back. Even if you do not notice a physical difference (which I'm sure you will), you are loading up your system when it's already down and fighting.

Please try hard to keep yourself fighting this. You have done great so far.

When I quit, I went to gum and ended up pretty much addicted to that for a year or two. I made a point of changing my "smoking" companion habits. I drank coffee at a different time of day to get rid of that coffee/smoke thing. I drank and continue to drink a lot more water. It's the oral fixation for some of us. A buddy of mine chews cinnamon sticks - that's a little extreme for me, but his breath has certainly improved!

Good luck and stay strong!
Kev

 

[The Bionic Duo]

If you can stay away from smoking do so, it is really the best thing you can do for yourself.

My son works with a guy who had a valve replacement done ten years ago, but he refuses to stop smoking and he has a lot of problems, most of which I think can be directly traced to his smoking.

Bob has been very thankful that he quit smoking over 20 years ago. Funny thing is, he quit when I was pregnant with our oldest and then started up again when I had our second son--it wasn't until he had some surgery and the first cig he lit up afterword turn him real green that he decided to quit then and there. He hasn't smoked since.

Keep up the good work--it will be worth it in the long run.

Joan

 

[tobagotwo]

There is no magic bullet for quitting smoking. The cessation groups, the patch, the gum, the cute little programs - none of them work, if you don't find yourself a good reason to quit. That is different for everyone. When you accept your reason, any of them (or cold turkey) works just fine.

For me, it was my son. He lost his mother, and said he didn't want to lose me, too. Others do it for their future, or for their spouse. Or just because they get tired of skulking around in the "smoking area" at work, which carries such a stigma with it. Or because they don't want to smell like a human ash tray when they talk to people. Believe me, people do notice it.

By the way - forget the patch, the gum, and the lozenges, as they contain nicotine, which constricts your arteries. Besides, you're past the actual physical addiction now. They won't really help anymore.

You need to stay quit, or you won't heal properly. What is it you want to see in the next five years? Who do you want to spend that time with? Who do you want to see graduate, get married, have a child? Look beyond yourself for the reason, and make it more important to you than being a slave to a cigarette. You just got out from having your valve and its issues own you - do you really want to give that freedom away so quickly?

I went cold turkey, a few months before I found out about my valve. The only "trick" I can think of that helped was to divert your attention when you start to feel a craving, just like you would do with a two-year-old that wants a toy in the store. Find something to do, get busy. The craving will dissipate after a couple of minutes. Don't toy with it in your mind, don't question whether you can do it, just do something else until it passes.

I wish you the best of luck with it.

 

[dwfreck]

NC-cutie,

These comments are likely to be completely unhelpfull:

SJJ suggested you find a more desirable habit to substitute for smoking. I can think of something to substitute for smoking, but after your comments in your "Sex After Surgery" thread, I hesitate to suggest it...

Of course, some folks have the urge to smoke after sex, so if they use my suggested substitute they'd be stuck in a vicious cycle...

On a more directly smoking-related topic, I've never smoked, so I have no idea how to quit, but I can offer a mildly cautionary tale:

My current boss used to smoke "like a chimney." Back in the days when folks could smoke in offices and meeting rooms, I saw my boss light his next cig off of the one he was just finishing... He doesn't smoke now: he's got severe emphezema, and recently started carrying a portable oxygen pack (since it's liquid oxygen, we call it his "rocket pack"). It seems we've been in an unspoken "race" to the operating table: me for a valve replacement, him for a double lung transplant. We're both relatively young: I'm 39 and I think he's under fifty, but it's hard to tell. Since I'm going to be in surgery first, he's asked me to let him know what I think of my surgeon and all the related staff...

 

[catwoman]

Dale:

Biggest deterrent to smoking: Seeing friends die from lung cancer and COPD or your father struggle with pulmonary fibrosis.

 

[Birky]

smoking

smoking

I ordered a copy of my reports from the hospital when I had the replacement and on my diagnosis was COPD. That was really a surprise to me. Don't really know much about it and will do some research. I asked the Cardio's office what that was and they told me that since I was a smoker for a long time, this must have showed up on my chest xray. This is another reason for me not to go back. I don't like the extra 10 lbs. but I am going to work on getting this off. This is such a little tradeoff.