heroin use and surgery

[BlueSaffron]

I was on methadone for a few years, I detoxed off about a month and a half ago, and for the last three weeks or so I've been using heroin, about 1 1/2 grams a day of varying quality.

I have surgery tomorrow - it's dental surgery but it's being done under general anesthesia at a hospital because I can't tolerate the locals anesthesia.

So my question is this. Should I just go in kind of sick? If I do enough to just get well, will it be a problem with the anesthesia? I was thinking of telling the anesthesiologist that I'd taken a couple vicodins the night before or something. Has anyone with a habit ever had to go through surgery before?

 

[blime84]

i had my wisdom teeth pulled and had the same concern with a 1-1.5g a day habit. I spoke to a doctor and he warned me that this could possibly have fatal effects to go under general anesthesia while under the influence of opiates. if you are going to risk it I suggest you go in not high at all, even a little sick. At that point, your body, as it is used to opiates won't be at as much risk for shutting down, the problem is, at any level, opiates depress your breathing and make it dangerous. Also if experiencing withdrawals when going under, the anestesia dose may not work as well. As a result, I went through general anestesia for this, horrible process getting pliers and scalpel taken to my jaw while awake and hearing the bones crunch. If its a serious surgery, speak with the doctor in charge, be truthful, you should have confidentiality in the USA, though some doctors may report your habit to the insurance company despite this.

 

[BlueSaffron]

Thanks. I'm going to tell the anesthesiologist tomorrow. I tried to talk to my doctor today and she was a total fucking bitch.

Yeah, the nightmare scenario of not being under enough is NOT what I want to go through - I've been afraid of that even before I started taking drugs.