The public attitude toward marijuana has shifted dramatically over the last decade, and even though it is still illegal in most countries around the world, it is no longer an underground drug for hippies. The benefits and harms of marijuana use have been extensively debated in media as well as within the scientific community, and as of now, it seems that responsible consumption of this substance can produce some real positive effects. People start to change their attitude towards weed, and as the studies go on, more and more countries and states legalize and decriminalize weed, making it more accessible for people.
Weed has already become an integral part of our culture, and it is fair to say that this substance influences the world and its population in a considerable way. As some articles on AskGrowers show, cannabis has already proven to be of huge use in medicine, which is exactly why both medical professionals and smokers wonder whether you can smoke weed after surgery and what effects it might produce. Today, we are going to find out whether marijuana and surgery pair well, so stick around.
No Weed Before Surgery
This is essential, so please, pay attention! Marijuana does not pair well with certain types of anesthetics. Anesthetic drugs are really potent, which is why it is essential that the doctors inject with just the right amount of drugs before the surgery. Marijuana, however, can influence your sensitivity to certain types of anesthetics, which makes it nearly impossible for the doctors to give you the right amount of drug.
Marijuana and anesthetic drugs do not pair well, so you should never smoke weed before the surgery. Just an example, a patient might become less sensitive to such drugs as Propofol smoking weed before surgery, which would require the doctors to inject the patient with a bigger dose of Propofol. This can make rehabilitation much more challenging and even life-threatening, so you should not smoke weed beforehand.
Doctors would also recommend the patients to abstain from smoking weed or tobacco in weeks prior to the surgery. The problem here is that smoking cannabis and tobacco produces adverse effects upon the respiratory system of the user, which can result in complications during and after the surgery since the patients would be on ventilation.
The respiratory system of the heavy smokers is weakened by the constant inhalation of smoke, which is why smokers are having a much harder time recovering from the surgeries and require much more time on ventilation than non-smokers. The same goes for frequent cannabis smokers. That is exactly why the doctors recommend that the patients stay clear of tobacco or weed smoking for a couple of weeks before the procedure takes place.
Do Not Smoke – Vape or Take Edibles
Just like in tobacco, there are carbon monoxide particles in cannabis smoke, and these particles decrease the capacity of your hemoglobin cells to transport the oxygen through your blood vessels. This, of course, is not good in any case, but it might be extremely dangerous for the patients who’ve just endured surgery.
Smoking weed after surgery, by this we mean the very process of consuming cannabinoids via smoking, is not the best idea because obstructing the flow of oxygen through the body can produce several adverse effects upon the patient.
Lack of oxygen in the tissues can prologue recovery and worsen the scarring. Additionally, if you smoke after the surgery and cough, you can inflict some serious damage to your body due to internal bleeding.
This, however, does not mean you cannot consume weed at all. The best way is to consume weed via vaping or by consuming edibles. Of course, the trick with the edibles might not work after certain types of surgeries, but vaping is more or less appropriate for most patients.
Of course, you need to consult with your doctors before you consume cannabis in any form of post-surgery. The main thing you need to remember is that smoking is not the best idea because it can produce severe complications and health issues, which is undesirable in any case.
No Tobacco
Smoking tobacco after the surgery of any type is extremely harmful, not even mentioning the harms of tobacco consumption in general. The problem with tobacco is that it contains nicotine, which is a potent vasoconstrictor.
This means that nicotine decreases the blood flow to all of your tissues, which is why you might have a hard time healing and might also have a greater chance of getting scars. That is why, apart from not smoking weed, you should also avoid mixing it with tobacco or smoking tobacco on its own.
Choose the Right Weed
As said before, coughing too hard bight cause internal bleeding and hematomas right after the surgery, which is also the case for laughing too hard. That is why you’ve got to consider which type of weed to smoke.
Try to avoid Sativa and Sativa-dominant hybrid strains of weed as they produce elevating effect, often causing sudden bursts of laughter, which is undesirable, considering the patients would have seams and scars to heal. These bursts of laughter might be more dangerous than most patients would expect, which is exactly why you might want to consider different strains of weed. Additionally, Saiva-dominant strains are not the best painkillers.
Considering all of this, you might want to stick to Indica and Indica-dominant weed strains of cannabis. These strains are known for much softer, relaxing, and calming effects that are just perfect for patients that need to recover after the surgery.
This type of marijuana allows the patients to relax, just kick back and chill without any redundant worries. More so, Indica weeds are known for their great painkilling qualities, and that is exactly why the patients are recommended to stick to these strains of marijuana rather than Sativa that can produce some unpredictable effects upon the post-surgery patients.
Wrap Up
Smoking weed or consuming cannabis in any other way is becoming more and more widely accepted with every following year, and it is a good thing to see society becoming more tolerant toward it. Though the properties, benefits, and harms of weed are still up to debates, and we lack research on it, we can already tell that cannabis is extremely useful in medicine. But, as much as with most things in life, there is a flipside to it, and people cannot just smoke weed every day and under any circumstances just because it feels good.
Our society needs to be smart about this substance and take only the best of it. For instance, as we’ve already established, mixing marijuana and anesthesia is not the brightest of ideas, which is why doctors and patients need to use it wisely. If used properly, marijuana can produce a positive impact on the process of recovery.
