Cocaine crack cocaine days before surgery... should she report it to her doctor/nurse?

A friend of mine (seriously) told me that she did crack yesterday, and she has surgery in a couple of days to remove a non-malignant lump in her breast. The nurse told her to abstain from advil or tylenol for seven days before the surgery, yet she did crack this week in a moment of weakness (she's in a tough spot).

She is worried if the cocaine will effect the surgery or anesthesia or pain-killers she might take/be prescribed, and is wondering if she should tell her doctor/nurse that she did crack. We live in the United States.

IS she safe taking anesthesia, or other drugs, for the surgery having done crack cocaine in the last week, or should she report to her doctor/nurse that she did crack cocaine? If she must report that she did crack cocaine to her doctor/nurse, will she be safe legally (will she be arrested)?

Please reply. Thanks!

it wont affect the surgery

i really don't think there's any need for her to bring it up. cocaine has a reasonably short half life and assuming she's only used the once in recent weeks and hasn't been hammering it down everynight smoking an 8ball, it should be flushed out of her completely by the time of the operation.

in theory it shouldn't affect anaesthesia or any other pre-op meds, though if she is sincerely concerned then she should mention it. she won't have any legal repercussions, though she may be treated like every other known junky.

^Yeah, if you say anything about using Coke you can say bye bye to proper pain treatment, before, maybe not during but definitely after surgery!

She shouldn't even bother telling them about it. It won't affect the surgery at all after a couple days of non use. And gibby 420 is right, if she does bring it up, they probably will think twice about giving her proper pain meds, thinking she'll only resort to abusing them. I found out sometimes it's best just to keep your drug history to yourself at hospitals, unless they're urine testing.

Yeah she's fine, it may even be out of her system completely by the time she has the surgery so there's no need for her to let anybody know that information.

bump, having surgery on friday, just railed a line. wondering if I should mention it to the doc. same rules apply? definitely won't be out of my system as I've been using for the last few days as well.

appx. 40 hrs til surgery.

^ like everyone has said.....she will be fine....

i went into ankle surgery in heroin WD.... i was popping OC just before surgery, and woke up getting IV hydromo and fent......

thanks kushman, just needed some peace of mind

Good news

There's a study : These results demonstrate that the non-toxic cocaine abusing patient can be administered general anaesthesia with no greater risk than comparable age and ASA matched drug-free patients.

At : http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/5/654.full

^does that take into account the prominence of levamisole in cocaine?

I'm not worried about the *cocaine* but if you've been using a lot of coke in a short amount of time, you have a high chance of being exposed to substantial amounts of levamisole (presently in 70-90% of coke in US).

Levamisole does interact with certain medications and the effect it has on white blood cells could certainly factor in here. Please be advised and look into this. Hopefully dokomo can comment further.

SkagKush said:

^ like everyone has said.....she will be fine....

i went into ankle surgery in heroin WD.... i was popping OC just before surgery, and woke up getting IV hydromo and fent......

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He was asking his own question.. not asking about the OPs question.

I would not just dismiss the fact that he has done cocaine in the past few days and is now going into surgery just because YOU had done Oxycodone before surgery. First off, what do opiates have to do with cocaine AT ALL? You get opiates during surgery, you don't get coke. You can't completely dismiss his question because you were 'popping OC' before surgery and were fine. Opiates do not have the same effects that cocaine has on the body.. I'm really not sure why you answered this question at all as what you said had nothing to do with his question.

Since Cocaine does effect heart rate and blood pressure.. it most definitely could have an effect on your surgery. If you feel uncomfortable going into surgery without telling your doctor.. then you should let him know. You will just cause yourself a shit ton more anxiety if you have other worries going through your mind. Don't expect to be treated fairly though, as the doc will label you a 'drug user' and you most likely will not be given a proper pain prescription.

Moral of the story: Don't do coke before surgery.. save it for a while after.

I'd have several concerns with cocaine in proximity to surgery--

The 'ideal' scenario - patient has taken cocaine for the first time 4 days before a surgical operation. Although the cocaine contained a large percentage of levamisole, the single exposure was not enough to result in significant white blood cell decreases, and immune function is unaffected. Likewise, the cardiopulmonary effects of cocaine have worn off long before the surgery preventing dangerous complications.

The 'worst-case scenario' - Patient is a chronic (frequent, or repeated) user of cocaine, and has used cocaine 24-48 hours prior to the surgical event. The patient's heart and blood vessels have been weakened over time. Cocaine results in increased platelet production, greatly increasing the risk of thrombosis (clot formation) and a consequent ischemic event. Patient's immune system is simultaneously highly compromised due to frequent doses of levamisole which reduces white blood cells, with resultant infections. Either of these problems, or both together, is enough to be fatal.

Most people's situation will fall in between one of these two scenarios. One thing I can say for certain is that, even if you're a one-time or infrequent user of cocaine, you NEED to wait at least 5-7 days between using cocaine and having surgery, just to be safe. Cocaine has many system-wide effects that last much longer than its relatively short half life, and general anesthesia is already risky enough.

If you're a long-term user, you NEED to discuss this with your doctor, because additional testing and monitoring should be done to determine whether you are immune compromised and the extent of your cardiovascular damage.

BaybeX said:

He was asking his own question.. not asking about the OPs question.

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yes i am aware, some confusion clearly occurred.......

Your only supposed to report drugs that you took 24 hours before. It's your friends choice, if she's a crackhead and cant safely have a surgery, then she shouldn't even be getting surgery.

And skagkush, taking oxycodone before a surgery isn't anything out of the ordinary sense they usually give you such drugs.

^ when i went into surgery in opiate WD i did not mention anything.....all i said was that i feel like maybe i have the flu.....even that comment slowed everything down....they almost didnt do the surgery because i was sick.....

^I was replying to the fact that you said you took a "OC" before surgery. All I was saying is they usually give you pain medicine before they put you under, and definently after. So that wouldn't be a big deal. Not to mention people getting surgery on there back ect are already dependent on pain meds.

^ sorry for the misunderstanding......they gave me the OC......just a 10mg i believe.....

when i woke and was getting iv drugs, there were amazed by how much i needed.....they gave me the maximum dose and it didnt do anything...thats when they started looking at me weird......