Hey! I'm having ffs in a few weeks and my doctor said I had to quit smoking marijuana two weeks before my surgery when I go off of hormones. Is this necessary? Has anyone had ffs with Dr. Cardenas and not stopped smoking? I have a pretty demanding job and the marijuana really helps with the stress.
Smoking increases the risks of complications. If you're really worried about it I'd ask about edibles.
Aren’t most smoking complications due to nicotine reducing healing time? I wasn’t aware smoking weed also increased complications.
Don't take marijuana from 6 weeks before surgery. Don't smoke marijuana for 2-3 weeks after general anesthetic. Don't smoke nicotine until you're completely healed (or ever). https://old.reddit.com/r/Transgender_Surgeries/comments/ax96vd/weed_and_srs_recovery_mtf/ehsay0m/
Same thing my surgeon told me.
Smoking is generally advised against because there is a slight increase to your risks of complications associated with it.
There's less info on edibles, but the general agreement is no matter how you consume marijuana, definitely dont use weed in the days right before surgery bc it can fuck with your anaesthetics which you definitely don't want to happen.
If you use it for stress management tho you can always ask your doctor if there is any flexibility with that timeline. It's better to be honest and find out when it really might fuck you up to smoke than to try and guess when it might.
This is old but since I see a lot of false info. Anyone reading: If you need THC as medicine, edibles or even vaping are better than combustion smoking. Bottom line, the risk with any type of smoking is the change in blood oxygen levels. You need good levels for healing, which is why it's better to not combustion smoke for a time after surgery. Tell your anesthesiologist to adjust meds accordingly when they come in before surgery and you should be fine (and say it in a way that wont be admittance, it if it's not a legal state).
I’ll be there in two weeks. He was quite firm with me on stopping HRT and no drugs as well.
fwiw, when I did FFS recently I tapered down over two weeks to 1/2 dose which seemed to be a reasonable compromise (i.e. I normally take 0.8ml of EC, so two weeks before take 0.6, week of surgery take 0.4), then afterwards I came back up to 0.8 with no problems
Yes, Dr. Deschamps-Braly asked me to do this as well, though they explicitly said that switching to edibles was fine. I think it's the "smoking" part more than the content of the smoke. I would probably cease all marijuana 48hrs before surgery though, just to be safe
Doesn't marijuana interfere with some anaesthetics? I would take your doctor's advice
There's some information here
https://www.reddit.com/r/TransSurgeriesWiki/wiki/index#wiki_smoking_and_recreational_drugs
I'm surprised it's only 2 weeks. I'd stop before/after longer than that.
As someone else mentioned here - it will interfere with anaesthesia. I've read horror stories about waking up in the surgery or being semi-awake due to marijuana usage. You should probably stop before the surgery. At the very least check with your doctor before hand, and if you don't stop...tell the anaesthesiologist - or potentially have issues.
I was smoking upwards of 300mg a day up until the night before my surgery. (With surgeon and anesthesiologist permission) it can cause your blood pressure to be higher so if your vitals aren't normally perfect while you're ingesting marijuana (heart rate, bp, 02 levels) i would not suggest smoking.
I would suggest, as with any other drugs of choice, the following:
-If the surgeon and docs say do not be on it for surgery, then they mean it.
If there are issues with their instruction please consult the surgeon/doctor so that they can address your concerns.
Marijuana can interfere with the anesthesia. Increased chance of you waking up during the surgery.
I think you should be fine. They're probably just saying this to be on the careful side. I was drinking and taking benzos up until my srs
Probably would be worse for your mental and possibly physical health to have to detox prior to surgery depending how often and how long you've been smoking
But if you could abstain defs the best option! Just know it's not easy as some ppl make out
all 19 comments