Is it possible to smoke before surgery? Smoking and drinking alcohol after anesthesia

It would probably be more correct to name this article “Smoking and the perioperative period,” since smoking not only complicates the course of anesthesia, but also makes the surgical intervention itself more problematic. In addition, there is another paradox here that needs to be mentioned. Smoking is a factor that leads people to undergo surgery, that is, smoking itself is a cause of surgery. Most patients who undergo chest surgery are smokers. The vast majority of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting or vascular surgery on the extremities are also smokers. Smoking is a factor that negatively affects the outcome of surgical intervention in vascular, cardiac and colorectal operations. During plastic surgery, smoking is one of the risk factors for rejection of the transplanted tissue. Smoking causes chronic inflammation of the airways, coughing, increased mucus production, and ultimately chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking, sooner or later, leads not only to damage to the respiratory system, but also to other systemic effects. A clear relationship has been proven between smoking and diseases such as cancer of the lung, stomach, bladder and larynx.

Many studies have proven that both active and passive smokers have many more complications of anesthesia (especially during induction and awakening) than non-smoking patients. It should be noted that passive smokers are also at risk and have an increased likelihood of adverse events during anesthesia.

On average in Europe, smokers make up approximately 20-25% of the population. Interestingly, 33-35% of surgical patients are smokers.

Several studies have compared the incidence of reintubation, laryngospasm, bronchospasm, aspiration, hypoventilation, and hypoxemia during anesthesia in smokers and nonsmokers. The probability of these complications occurring in smokers was 5.5%, in non-smoking patients - 3.25%. Smoking patients with concomitant obesity are at greater risk. The highest risk group, in terms of the risk of postoperative complications and the likelihood of admission to the intensive care unit, are patients who smoke more than 50 blocks of cigarettes per year.

Systemic effects of nicotine and carbon monoxide

The cardiovascular system

Tobacco smoke contains a huge amount of harmful toxic substances, but the greatest negative effect is caused by the nicotine and carbon monoxide it contains.

Nicotine causes excessive activation of the adrenal medulla, resulting in the release of large amounts of adrenaline into the blood. With chronic exposure to nicotine, this causes a restructuring of the autonomic nervous system and leads to the development of arterial hypertension. In addition, nicotine has a direct stimulating effect on the sympathetic nervous system, which results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, peripheral vascular resistance, myocardial contractility and, ultimately, an increase in myocardial oxygen demand. Nicotine also increases the content of intracellular calcium, which in the case of myocardial ischemia further enhances damage to cardiomyocytes. After smoking one cigarette, the concentration of nicotine in the blood plasma reaches 5-50 ng/ml. The half-life of nicotine is 30-60 minutes. Thus, in a smoking person, an improvement in the ratio of oxygen delivery/consumption by the myocardium can occur only if he gives up smoking for a period of at least 3-4 hours.

Nicotine has a pro-inflammatory effect, increases the likelihood of endothelial damage, and has a negative effect on blood lipid metabolism - all this contributes to the development and progression of atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries. Therefore, it is not surprising that smoking is one of the significant risk factors for coronary heart disease, arterial hypertension and peripheral vascular diseases.

The increased level of blood catecholamines observed in smokers causes a more pronounced sympathoadrenal response to tracheal intubation and surgical trauma. Increased myocardial oxygen demand and reduced oxygen delivery to the myocardium increases the likelihood of myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias and other cardiovascular complications during surgery and anesthesia.

Carbon monoxide, like nicotine, also has a negative effect on the smoker's body. First of all, carbon monoxide interacts with myoglobin and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase. Inactivation of cytochrome oxidase enzymes of the heart muscle leads to a decrease in oxygen utilization by cardiomyocytes, chronic hypoxia and, ultimately, a decrease in myocardial contractility. The half-life of carboxyhemoglobin is determined by the adequacy of pulmonary ventilation and, on average, at rest is about 4-6 hours (slightly longer in men than in women).

Respiratory system

Smoking has a negative effect on gas exchange in the lungs and on the oxygen transport function of the blood.

Smoking increases the production and changes the consistency of mucus in the respiratory tract (mucus becomes more viscous and less elastic). The cytotoxins contained in tobacco smoke destroy the ciliated epithelium of the respiratory tract, which disrupts mucociliary clearance and the removal of mucus from the tracheobronchial tree. In addition, disruption of the structure of the ciliated epithelium leads to increased reactivity of the respiratory tract.

Smoking causes chronic inflammation, swelling, narrowing of the airways - that is, a whole group of processes leading to an increase in the volume of closure of the lungs. Chronic inflammation also causes increased production of proteolytic enzymes, which destroy the elastic structure of the lung tissue and lead to pulmonary emphysema.

It has been proven that smoking significantly increases the risk of pulmonary infection, so 25-30% of smokers suffer from chronic bronchitis.

When performing spirometry on a smoking patient, the most common diagnosis is a violation of the respiratory function of the obstructive type, a decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). It should be noted that normally, with age, non-smokers experience a gradual decrease in FEV1 - by about 20 ml per year, while in smokers, FEV1 decreases much more intensely - by about 60 ml per year.

In smoking patients, the level of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood can reach 15%. The amount of carbon monoxide in a smoker's blood greatly depends on the quality of tobacco and the frequency of smoking. Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin at the same site as oxygen, but hemoglobin's affinity for carbon monoxide is 250 times greater than its affinity for oxygen. As a result, there is little space left for hemoglobin to bind to oxygen, and the blood carries much less oxygen - the hemoglobin dissociation curve shifts to the left. Giving 100% oxygen significantly speeds up the process of removing carbon monoxide from the blood. Thus, when breathing 100% oxygen, the half-life of carbon monoxide is 40-80 minutes.

Thus, we see that smoking has a multifaceted effect on human breathing - it disrupts ventilation, gas exchange and the transport of oxygen to tissues.

With regard to anesthesiological features, the increased reactivity of the respiratory tract observed in smoking patients increases the risk of developing laryngo- and bronchospasm, in addition, smoking patients have a poor response to bronchodilator therapy. Premedication with anticholinemetic drugs, sedatives and bronchodilators reduces the risk of laryngobronchospasm.

Smoking patients have a 6 times greater risk of developing postoperative respiratory complications (primarily atelectasis and pneumonia). It is necessary to have increased vigilance in terms of timely diagnosis and treatment of possible respiratory complications in this category of patients.

Nervous system

Nicotine acts on several subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Impact on the first type leads to the activation of dopaminergic neurons responsible for the formation of feelings of pleasure. Long-term smoking causes certain changes in the central nervous system, leading to the formation of nicotine addiction. A person who smokes needs constant nicotine stimulation, since in case of a sudden interruption of smoking there is a very high probability of developing nicotine withdrawal syndrome (withdrawal syndrome).

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are also involved in pain modulation. It has been proven that long-term smokers who have developed tolerance to nicotine are more sensitive to pain. If these patients are given intranasal nicotine (in liquid form) in the recovery room, the need for analgesia will be much less.

Digestive system

Smoking does not affect the volume or acidity of gastric contents. Smoking is known to relax the gastroesophageal sphincter, but within a few minutes after smoking, the sphincter tone returns to normal. The claim that patients who smoke are at greater risk of aspiration is not supported by scientific research.

The immune system

There is evidence that people who smoke have impaired cellular immunity, which leads to an increased risk of developing infections and malignancies. It has also been proven that smokers have slightly reduced production of immunoglobulins and lower leukocyte activity.

Blood cells and the hemostasis system

Over time, people who smoke develop polycythemia and, as a result, thickening of the blood. In addition, it has been proven that fibrinogen concentration and platelet activity increase in smokers. These factors suggest that smokers are susceptible to a greater risk of arterial and venous thrombosis.

Smoking and withdrawal symptoms

The development of withdrawal syndrome is associated with a decrease or complete elimination of nicotine. Withdrawal symptoms may occur within a few hours after quitting smoking or last for several weeks. In addition to mental disorders (depression, agitation, insomnia), nicotine withdrawal syndrome also has disturbances in other systems - the gastrointestinal tract (increased appetite), the respiratory system (bronchorrhea), and the cardiovascular system.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting

Chronic smoking leads to desensitization of the central nervous system, resulting in a lower incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

Smoking and postoperative wound healing

It is known that smoking patients have a greater risk of complications associated with postoperative tissue healing and this is understandable. Smokers have a higher likelihood of systemic vascular damage (and therefore impaired oxygen delivery to tissues), a higher risk of wound infection (due to impaired immune system), and the existing hypercoagulation often leads to thrombosis in the microcirculation system, aggravating the already poor tissue oxygenation. In addition, nicotine is a potent inhibitor of fibroblast and macrophage proliferation.

Smoking affects bone metabolism, and there is a clear link between osteoporosis, poor fracture healing and smoking.

Several randomized studies have shown that after knee, hip, colorectal or plastic surgery, the risk of surgical complications, including difficult-to-treat wound infections, is 8-10 times higher in smokers than in non-smokers.

The effect of smoking on the metabolism of drugs used in anesthesia

There are about 4,800 chemicals released in tobacco smoke. The most studied of these are nicotine and carbon monoxide.

Smoking patients have an increased metabolism of inhalational anesthetics. Although this does not increase the patient's intraoperative need for inhalational anesthetics, it does result in higher concentrations of toxic metabolic products of inhalational anesthetics. There are publications that talk about the development of liver or kidney failure in smoking patients after the use of inhalational anesthetics. However, it remains quite difficult to prove to what extent smoking is responsible for the development of these complications.

Smoking affects liver enzymes, which leads to accelerated metabolism of certain drugs. Chronic smokers require large doses of opioids (especially pethidine and morphine). It has also been proven that smoking patients require large doses of steroid muscle relaxants.

Preoperative examination and preparation of smoking patients for anesthesia

In general, the scope of preoperative examinations of a smoking patient differs little from existing standards and includes anamnesis, physical and instrumental examinations. The choice of premedication method and the issue of quitting smoking before a planned operation has some peculiarities.

When collecting anamnesis, it is important to find out how long and how many cigarettes a day the patient smokes. During the physical examination, it is necessary to pay attention to signs of chronic hypoxia. In patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis, it is important to perform a chest x-ray (to identify signs of chronic infection, emphysema, cor pulmonale), as well as spirometry with bronchodilators (to determine the reversibility of obstruction).

Stop smoking before surgery

After smoking a cigarette, the hemodynamic effects of tobacco smoke persist for approximately one hour. It has been proven that stopping smoking 12 hours before surgery increases the body's functional capabilities by 10-20%. It has been clearly proven that stopping smoking 12-24 hours before surgery leads to the removal of carbon monoxide from the body, which significantly improves the oxygen transport function of the blood. Stopping smoking for 12 to 48 hours improves myocardial oxygenation, inotropic function, and reduces the likelihood of ischemia and arrhythmic events. Prolonged smoking cessation improves mucociliary clearance and reduces small airway reactivity. In order to reduce sputum production and cough, it is necessary to abstain from smoking for a period of several weeks. Airway reactivity completely decreases only after 10 days after stopping smoking. If you quit smoking a month before surgery, then, oddly enough, the risk of pulmonary postoperative complications increases. Stopping smoking 5-6 months before surgery reduces the risk of all postoperative complications associated with smoking.

Thus, stopping smoking a few days before surgery will most likely not give any positive effects, and may be complicated by the development of withdrawal symptoms. It is considered optimal to quit smoking several months before the proposed surgical intervention. When stopping smoking, to prevent withdrawal symptoms, it is recommended to use nicotine patches, which are a good alternative to the nicotine that comes with smoking.

Premedication

It is considered advisable to include inhaled bronchodilators, steroids, anticholinemics and sedatives in premedication for smoking patients.

Features of anesthesia in smoking patients

Regional anesthesia methods have undoubted advantages in smoking patients, as they reduce the likelihood of postoperative pulmonary complications, the risk of deep vein thrombosis, improve microcirculation and allow early mobilization of the patient. Paradoxically, smoking is a factor accelerating the postoperative mobilization of patients, since the need for smoking does not stimulate them to bed rest: feeling an irresistible craving, patients try to “jump out” of bed as soon as possible.

When performing induction of anesthesia, it is necessary to remember that smoking patients have increased respiratory tract reactivity and a reduced oxygen reserve in the body, so these patients need good preoxygenation and deep induction, which involves the administration of a good dose of opioids. Sometimes, to reduce the reactivity of the respiratory tract, irrigation of the trachea and larynx with local anesthetics is used. When performing anesthesia, smoking patients should avoid the use of histamine-releasing medications, as they can provoke bronchospasm (mivacurium, atracurium). It is also undesirable to use anesthetics that have a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular system (ketamine, sevoflurane). To avoid an excessive cardiovascular response, vasopressors should be used in lower than usual doses.

We should not forget about the increased activity of liver enzymes in smoking patients. When administering anesthesia to smoking patients, large doses of opioids and steroid muscle relaxants are very often required.

Tracheal extubation in smoking patients should only be performed against a background of good analgesia, clear consciousness and normal muscle tone.

Features of the postoperative period

In the postoperative period, the use of nicotine patches should be continued, since the development of withdrawal syndrome leads to an increased need for analgesics. The pain relief provided must be very good. For thoracic and abdominal operations (on the upper floor of the abdominal cavity), the possibility of using epidural anesthesia should always be considered, and for orthopedic operations, prolonged conduction anesthesia.

To improve ventilation and coughing in the postoperative period, smoking patients need to begin physiotherapeutic treatment as early as possible. Consider the use of humidified oxygen, as well as regular inhaled bronchodilators and inhaled steroids. All this can significantly improve the drainage and ventilation function of the lungs of a smoking patient.

Smoking is a harmful and dangerous habit for the human body. It significantly reduces life expectancy and is a possible cause of the development of serious, often incurable diseases. In addition, the use of nicotine-containing products can have a detrimental effect on the body during anesthesia. What complications can await a patient with such a bad habit during this procedure and how can their risk be minimized?

Complications

A smoker's heart spends several times more oxygen. That is why people with this addiction may experience a rapid pulse, arrhythmia and frequent shortness of breath, as well as increased blood pressure. It would seem that in this case the smoker receives more oxygen, but this is not at all the case, since this useful substance is drowned out by carbon monoxide, which enters the lungs along with tobacco smoke. From this we can conclude that the heart of a person suffering from this harmful addiction experiences an acute lack of oxygen. This condition is considered especially dangerous during surgery using. In other words, the smoker in this case is at great risk of developing cardiovascular complications such as ischemia and bradycardia, often leading to cardiac arrest.

It is worth noting that along with tobacco smoke, harmful tars and other toxic substances enter the body, which have the unpleasant property of accumulating in it. It would seem that this has nothing to do with anesthesia, but it is not so. It is precisely this effect of smoking that often causes the smoker’s body to react inadequately and unpredictably to anesthesia medications. This is due to disruption of the body's enzyme systems.

During surgery using deep anesthesia, the trachea is intubated. For a person without bad habits, it is safe, but for a smoker it is directly related to the threat of spasm of the lumen of the larynx. This may lead to a sudden stop in breathing. During surgery, a smoker patient may also experience complications such as laryngo or bronchospasm.

The postoperative consequences of anesthesia in this case include the possible development of pneumonia, bronchitis, and heart failure. And after this procedure, people who smoke often experience the occurrence of suppuration and inflammatory processes.

How to minimize the risks of complications

Is it possible to smoke before anesthesia? It is possible to minimize the risk of complications after anesthesia in a smoker only if the person is awaiting a planned surgical intervention. To do this, he needs to completely abandon this addiction at least a month and a half before the test.

If surgery is performed for emergency medical reasons, the patient who smokes may need to administer large doses of narcotic and anesthetic substances, which means that recovery after this procedure may take longer than usual, but in any case, it all depends on the individual characteristics of each person’s body. us and the professionalism of the anesthesiologist. Take care of your health!

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Questions on the topic

Diana 01/20/2018 19:07

Hello, I'm a girl, I turned 18 a couple of days ago, I had nose surgery, 4 days left. Due to stress, I started smoking after a break for a month. Tell me, how can this affect general anesthesia? and can I smoke one cigarette in the morning before surgery? This is my first operation in my life, and this bad habit somehow saves me, I stop being nervous.

Marina 02/19/2017 23:54

Hello, a year ago I had an unscheduled operation under general anesthesia, I smoked a few hours before the operation, everything went more or less normal except for the fact that I felt when they started cutting me, it was very painful and scary, I thought that I would feel everything until the end , but as the anesthesiologist later told me, they added anesthesia and I passed out again and everything went well, after anesthesia there were no problems. I started smoking a day after the operation. I didn’t even suspect that smokers could have such serious problems under general anesthesia, is that possible? Did the anesthesia work poorly because of smoking? The fact is that I am about to have an operation to remove the left lobe of the thyroid gland, I’m already scared by the very idea of ​​anesthesia, and even more so I don’t want to feel everything again, what if the doctors don’t understand this and I have to suffer from pain throughout the entire operation? I’m ready to quit smoking , I just read that you need to quit either 6 months or 7-10 days before the operation, and that if you quit a month or a day before the operation, the result can be exactly the opposite - the number of anesthesia complications will be large, I would like to know your opinion on about this, at the moment I smoke 3 cigarettes a day, the date of the operation is still unknown, I think there is still time to quit. Thanks in advance.

Anti-smoking propaganda has been going on for decades in every developed country in the world. Nicotine negatively affects the functioning of all organs and systems in the human body, provokes the development of chronic diseases of the respiratory system, and is also one of the most well-known carcinogens. However, millions of people cannot and most do not want to get rid of this bad habit. A good reason to quit smoking can be the desire to change your appearance, since before any surgical intervention doctors categorically prohibit smoking.

Why is smoking prohibited before plastic surgery?

The negative consequences of smoking are known to absolutely everyone, but there are situations that include any plastic surgery, where smoking before which means significantly increasing the risks to your own health.

The Medical College of Wisconsin conducted a large-scale experiment in which it was found that patients who smoked 24 hours before surgery performed under intravenous anesthesia were 20% more likely to have insufficient oxygen supply compared to those patients who did not use nicotine.

Moreover, surgeons warn that the combination of a stress factor with smoking before surgery can play a cruel joke on the patient. Depending on the type of surgery, smoking patients face different risks.

It is dangerous to smoke if surgery:

• mammoplasty: why you can’t smoke if you have breast surgery;
• the dangers of smoking before liposuction;
• Rhinoplasty: why you can’t smoke if you have nose surgery.

Mammoplasty: why you can’t smoke if you have breast surgery

Any surgical intervention on the mammary gland, be it breast augmentation, reduction or reconstructive surgery, belongs to the category of operations during which smoking is especially dangerous. The fact is that scientists have long proven that smoking significantly reduces the oxygen saturation of the blood, as a result of which the healing process slows down greatly. Mammoplasty involves making incisions in the skin, which should gradually heal in the postoperative period. The presence of wounds in combination with a lack of oxygen can in some cases lead to skin necrosis, and necrosis, in turn, will lead to displacement of the implants and the formation of rough scars. Therefore, patients need to stop smoking several weeks before surgery.

What are the dangers of smoking before liposuction?

A characteristic complication of liposuction associated with smoking is an increased risk of bleeding from surgical wounds. Most often, excess fat is removed from the stomach of patients. Smokers' lungs are in very poor condition. The body protects itself by attempting to remove nicotine tar from the lungs through a simple physiological process - coughing. During coughing, intra-abdominal pressure increases, the abdomen literally swells, and this can lead to the sutures placed during the operation coming apart and bleeding occurring.

Rhinoplasty: why you can’t smoke if you have nose surgery

It is important to take a careful history in patients who wish to undergo nasal surgery. Rhinoplasty is another operation during which smoking is strictly prohibited. As already mentioned, tissue healing processes are significantly impaired in smokers. And rhinoplasty is invariably associated with the jewelry work of surgeons and the need for good and rapid healing of wounds, which is primarily necessary to restore nasal breathing.

Every plastic surgeon is required to convey to his patients the importance of quitting smoking several weeks before the planned operation.

Poor wound healing, scarring and bleeding are just some of the dangerous complications that can occur. Until your patient quits smoking, he should not undergo surgery!

Thoracic surgeons agree: a large percentage of the patients on their operating tables are smokers. They are joined by operating cardiologists: bypass surgery, stenting, suturing and many other operations on the heart and its vessels are also the lot of smokers.

No operation is complete without anesthesia. And not a single anesthesia for a smoker is without complications. There are many reasons for this. Shall we talk about them?

Nervous system. Brain

Smoking forms an addiction to the process; nicotine affects receptors, and through them neurons. Apparently, it is the interference of nicotine in neural connections that leads to the fact that in smokers:

• the reaction to preoperative premedication (drug preparation) is weakly expressed, and this complicates the course of the preoperative period and the early stage of induction of anesthesia;
• the pain sensitivity threshold is higher, which worsens the course of the postoperative period;
• The period of pre-anesthesia preparation and the anesthesia itself (mostly intubation) is more difficult.

Another effect of nicotine on VSN is the activation of adrenaline production, which leads to bright or smoothed signs of a panic attack, and over time causes disturbances in the physiology of the central nervous system and vascular tone, leading to the formation of arterial hypertension

But the cells of the vomiting center “trained” by smoking facilitate the course of the postoperative period by reacting weaker or not at all to the vomiting-stimulating effect of anesthesia drugs.

The cardiovascular system

It is difficult to separate the effects of nicotine on the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system, they are so interrelated.

One of the typical manifestations of nicotine stimulation is a pathological increase in cardiac muscle activity due to the effect of nicotine on the conduction system of the heart. This effect consists of increasing the contractile activity of the heart, vascular tone, and blood pressure. The myocardium in such situations consumes more oxygen, and this is precisely the problem - due to insufficient respiratory function.

Nicotine is a tissue poison, and one of its toxic properties is that it disrupts the ratio of calcium and sodium in cells, leading to hyperexcitability of cardiomyocytes (heart cells) with the subsequent occurrence of arrhythmia and ischemic foci.

Respiratory system

Here again, it is very difficult to separate respiratory problems in smokers from the pathology of the cardiovascular system.

Smoking leads to chronic tissue hypoxia, and during surgical interventions it is one of the priority risk factors for such disorders as: deterioration of pulmonary ventilation, widespread reaction to surgical trauma, the appearance of atrial fibrillation and other types of arrhythmias, the development of increased bleeding, disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome, sympatho-adrenal crisis. A smoker's lungs have a narrowed lumen, which makes intubation difficult and leads to the development of broncho- and laryngospasm.

Viscous thick mucus in combination with chronic congestion causes intraoperative and early postoperative complications, especially against the background of intubation anesthesia: respiratory arrest, mechanical blockage of the lumen of the lungs, pneumonia, atelectasis, emphysema. It is during this period that it is important that mucus is easily removed from the lungs using suction or naturally. For this purpose, after extensive surgical interventions, active and passive breathing exercises are prescribed, which are effective in non-smokers or those who have quit smoking. Smokers have to additionally prescribe medications to thin and stimulate the outflow of mucus.

For an anesthesiologist, indicating that a patient smokes is an extra headache. This means that you will have to adjust the dose of oxygen, analgesics, and muscle relaxants. It threatens complications in the early postoperative period, for example, early removal of the endotracheal tube can lead to respiratory arrest due to obstruction by thick mucus. It is difficult to keep such patients in bed - in order to get their hands on the coveted cigarette, they are ready to commit serious violations of the regime. And finally, postoperative wounds in smokers heal much worse compared to non-smokers, and the risk of unsuccessful surgery increases by 4-10 times, depending on the intervention.

For general or local anesthesia, anesthetic drugs are used. All medications have a number of side effects. To reduce the risk of complications, it is important to adhere to the rules recommended by the anesthesiologist.

Nicotine and alcohol are incompatible with anesthetics. They can affect the course of anesthesia in different ways. In some cases, the anesthetic medicine will have a weak effect on the body, but may enhance the effect of anesthesia.

After surgery, some patients do not know whether it is possible to smoke (ordinary cigarettes or electronic cigarettes, hookah), drink alcohol (beer, wine, etc.)? And how soon can I use it?

You should talk to your doctor about your lifestyle after surgery.

Alcoholic drinks after surgery

Medicines are eliminated from the body after a certain time. During the first day - the main part of the medicine, and over the next days or weeks the residual concentration of the anesthetic substance. The elimination period depends on the type of anesthetic and dosage, as well as the condition of the body. Therefore, drinking alcohol within a short period of time after anesthesia or local anesthesia is not recommended.

Beer contains an average of 5% alcohol, but is also a product that causes fermentation, which complicates the healing of postoperative wounds. Even low-alcohol drinks have a stronger effect on the body after anesthesia, since low concentrations of alcohol adversely affect the weakened body during rehabilitation. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink beer while the body is recovering after surgery.

Under the influence of alcohol, blood has low coagulability. This causes bleeding that is difficult to stop. In some cases, bleeding is fatal.

During the postoperative period, alcohol is strictly prohibited!

After surgery, the attending physician most often prescribes antibiotics to the patient. Alcohol should not be drunk during antibiotic therapy for a certain group of drugs, as it can cause a disulfiram-like reaction.

Such patients exhibit symptoms such as:

• severe headache
• spasms of the upper and lower extremities,
• tachycardia,
• feelings of heat in the chest, face and neck,
• nausea,
• heavy and intermittent breathing.

You should ask your doctor about when you can drink alcohol after surgery. After all, everyone’s recovery time is different.

The concentration of alcohol in the blood when drinking beer and wine depends on the amount drunk. But it is worth remembering that even a small dose of alcohol can increase the risk of complications after anesthesia (local, general) or increase the recovery time for an operated patient.

Non-standard smoking methods and their impact

Is it possible to smoke in the postoperative period? What type of smoking (regular or electronic cigarette, hookah) is safe? Surgical patients face these questions and naturally want answers to them.

Many people believe that smoking hookah is a safe alternative to regular cigarettes. But there are some nuances here that are hidden from smokers. Yes, hookah tobacco contains a minimal amount of nicotine - 0.5%, and there is no tar, unlike a standard cigarette, but the carbon monoxide released when smoking causes enormous harm to the body.

Carbon monoxide from hookah smoking is not the only harmful substance; there are others that accumulate in the body. For example, increased concentrations of arsenic, lead, chromium, carboxyhemoglobin, nicotine. Unlike regular cigarettes, a person can smoke a hookah for quite a long time (up to several hours). Therefore, the amount of harmful substances entering the human body when smoking hookah tobacco is much greater.

Scientists have proven that if you smoke a hookah for an hour, the harm to the body will be the same as from smoking a hundred standard cigarettes.

Another common alternative to standard smoking is electronic cigarettes. People generally think that when they start smoking electronic cigarettes, they cause minimal harm to the body. Therefore, there is a false opinion that standard cigarettes can be replaced with this type after anesthesia or anesthesia.

Electronic cigarettes use a special smoking liquid that contains nicotine. Everyone already knows that it negatively affects internal organs and the nervous and cardiovascular systems, and also causes addiction and dependence.

Electronic cigarettes cause nicotine addiction

It is known and proven that regular cigarettes adversely affect the course of anesthesia and the recovery of the body after surgery. Contribute to the development of pneumonia, bronchitis and complications from the cardiovascular system. When you can start smoking in the postoperative period, you need to ask your doctor.

Smoking after surgery:

• Before our eyes. During the recovery period, you should stop smoking cigarettes. When smoking, the pressure in the eyes changes dramatically, and tobacco smoke can enter the eyes, which adversely affects the healing process. Experienced smokers need to minimize the number of cigarettes they smoke.
• For appendicitis removal. Smoking is prohibited in the first three days after surgery.
• In the oral cavity. Smoking is not recommended during the first two postoperative days.
• On the heart. It is necessary to stop smoking not only during the recovery period, but also to quit this harmful habit altogether.
• And other surgical interventions.

The postoperative period for recovery of the body is different for everyone, depending on the complexity and how long the surgical intervention lasted. Therefore, the period of quitting smoking varies, and in some cases it is necessary to completely forget about cigarettes forever.

No matter what type of smoking (hookah or electronic cigarettes) is chosen to replace conventional cigarettes after medicinal sleep or local anesthesia, this will not help reduce the risk of complications. On the contrary, it promotes the manifestation of chronic diseases and long healing of postoperative wounds. Therefore, it is necessary to give up bad habits during the rehabilitation period.