Does Marijuana Affect Anesthesia?

• While marijuana compounds don’t appear to interact with anesthesia formulas directly, some effects of cannabis may not be compatible with your anesthesiologist’s goals during surgery.
• However, cannabis could help support your recovery. Its powerful effects on pain, appetite, and sleep might be a good match for your post-op needs.
• Communicating with all of your healthcare providers about your medical cannabis treatment is paramount—your providers need to know about all of your medications before surgery (even all-natural ones).

During your cannabis treatment, you may still encounter the need for traditional Western medical interventions—surgeries, for instance. Whether you’re headed in for a routine colonoscopy or scheduling a more intensive operation, you might be wondering, will cannabis affect my anesthesia requirements?

While we don’t really know how cannabis compounds physically interact with anesthesia formulas, we do know that people who use cannabis regularly may need more anesthesia during surgeries. So, healthcare providers (both cannabis clinicians and conventional providers) generally recommend abstaining from cannabis for a few days before an operation.

What else should you know before heading into surgery as a medical cannabis patient? Below, we’ll explore what we know about cannabis and anesthesia, how cannabis might positively impact your recovery, and how to communicate with your healthcare providers ahead of your procedure.

Cannabis and Anesthesia: What We Know

Let’s start with what we know about cannabis and anesthesia: what anesthesiologists recommend, the specific precautions to take with edible products, and what to talk about with your providers before your procedure.

Anesthesiologists Recommend Abstaining from Cannabis Before Surgery

In general, anesthesiologists recommend abstaining from cannabis use (even for medical applications) for at least a few days before your procedure. Why?

Cannabis can impact your:

• Likelihood of developing nausea
• Pain levels
• Drowsiness or alertness
• Dose of anesthesia

All of these are critical considerations before and during surgery:

• Nausea – Research suggests that people who use cannabis regularly empty their stomach contents more slowly than people who don’t use cannabis. During surgery, having an empty stomach is paramount—if you vomit during the procedure, you could inhale stomach contents. This could lead to respiratory challenges that could put you at risk of further complications.
• Pain levels – During and immediately after your procedure, your provider may administer pain relief medications (like IV opioids) to numb your body and prevent severe pain after surgery. If you use cannabis before surgery, you might have a higher pain tolerance—cannabis does offer profound pain relief, after all. These changes to your pain levels could complicate your pain medication dosing.
• Drowsiness or alertness – Depending on your chosen strain, cannabis may make you feel more alert and focused or more drowsy and relaxed. However, one of the aims of anesthesia is to put patients to sleep. If you take a stimulating cannabis dose before your procedure, you’ll need more anesthesia than expected to doze off.

As you can see, cannabis has the potential to alter multiple systems in your body—a good thing, in the right context. While its healing potential has helped countless patients find relief, it can also complicate matters for your anesthesiologist.

What to Know About Edibles

Edibles are especially important to avoid in the days leading up to surgery.

As we mentioned above, surgeons need to operate when your stomach is empty to prevent vomiting and aspiration that could restrict your breathing.

Since edibles are food products, they will make a normal journey through your digestive tract—meaning that you need to abstain from them before surgery (for whatever timeframe your surgeon recommends).

Communicating Openly with Your Providers

Since cannabis use can impact your digestion, pain tolerance, and ease of falling asleep, it’s critical to mention any recent or consistent cannabis use to your anesthesiologist.

To help your surgery team as much as possible, make sure to:

• Mention use during your pre-op appointment – You’ll likely have a pre-operation appointment with your surgery team to discuss unique aspects of your health and provide vital signs (like body weight) to your anesthesiologist. This is the time to mention that you’re using cannabis for medical purposes. Your providers will give you additional instructions for surgery prep with this in mind.
• Provide details – Be sure to give your surgery team as much information as you have about your cannabis treatment—your chosen strain (and whether it’s more stimulating or relaxing), your dose, and how often you use it. This will all help them precisely calculate your medication doses on surgery day.
• Follow their instructions – No matter what, follow your surgery team’s instructions to the letter—if they tell you to abstain for multiple days before your operation, trust that they know how their treatment strategies will interact with cannabis. Following your preparation instructions will protect you from surgical complications that could impact your recovery (or the success of your procedure).

Medical Marijuana and Surgery Recovery

Once your surgery is complete, you may want to return to your cannabis treatment course as soon as possible—and this is likely a good idea. While you should talk to your provider and follow their instructions, medical cannabis could help with multiple areas of surgery recovery.

Pain Relief Considerations

Cannabis can offer relief from pain, whether you ingest it, smoke it, or apply topical formulas. You might even opt to use cannabis for pain management instead of opioids.

This route might be best for patients who:

• Are already using cannabis for chronic pain (and, thus, understand the doses and strains they need to reduce pain effectively)
• Have recovered from past opioid dependence or decreased their dependence risk during recovery

Remember to talk to your providers about any plans to use cannabis for pain management after your surgery. We’ll offer some tips for starting that conversation in a later section.

Maintaining a Healthy Diet

After your surgery, you might struggle with:

• Nausea
• Low energy
• Aches and pains
• Trouble sleeping or increased drowsiness

All of these have the potential to impact a key element of your recovery: proper nutrition. Whether you’re too nauseous to eat or you’re too tired to make wholesome meals, you could put your recovery at risk if you’re not eating well after surgery.

Cannabis, luckily, can stimulate appetite—a phenomenon called “the munchies.”

You can actually use the munchies to your advantage. By stimulating your appetite, you might motivate yourself to eat more, eat a wider variety of foods, or eat the foods recommended by your surgical team.

Sleep and Recovery

As we noted above, surgery recovery can impact your sleep; you might find that you’re too tired to maintain your normal hours or that you’re too wired to sleep.

Sleep is crucial recovery time for our bodies. While we sleep, our bodies use the downtime to bolster our immune systems, digest food, repair muscles, and more. However, if you’re sleeping too much, you might miss out on other critical elements of your recovery plan: eating and exercise, for instance.

Medical cannabis can help on this front, too.

Depending on your specific sleep challenges after surgery (if you encounter them), you might need either:

• A stimulating strain – A strain that increases alertness, promotes focus, and increases your energy level could help you stay awake throughout the day, maintain a proper meal schedule, and fit in your post-surgery exercises.
• A soothing strain – A more relaxing strain will help you wind down before bed, fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep through the night, and get more restful, restorative sleep.

Communicating with Your Providers About Cannabis

In addition to the communication tips we mentioned above, what else should you talk to your providers about before and after your procedure?

• Opioids – Some patients use cannabis instead of opioids for pain relief. If you have concerns about opioid use during and after your surgery, talk to your anesthesiologist. They may provide specific dosing or timing tips for managing post-op pain with cannabis if you choose this route instead of taking traditional painkillers.
• Timing – Be sure to get specific instructions from your providers about abstinence: how long before and after your surgery you’ll need to hold off on using cannabis. This will look different for every patient. Talk to your team about your needs and your specific medical uses for cannabis to come up with a plan that appropriately balances risks and benefits.

By having an open, honest conversation with your healthcare providers, you can set yourself up for success before, during, and after your procedure.

Explore Medical Cannabis Options with TeleLeaf

Every patient requires a unique care approach—whether they’re preparing for anesthesia or simply looking to manage everyday symptoms.

When you’re looking for a cannabis-informed healthcare provider who can help you curate a care plan (and apply for a medical card), turn to TeleLeaf. We’re passionate about connecting patients with the all-natural, plant-based care they need and licensed clinicians who get it.

Schedule an appointment with our providers to learn more about medical cannabis treatment.

Sources:

UC Health. Having Surgery? Use Marijuana? Be Sure to Let Your Doctor Know.
https://www.uchealth.org/today/marijuana-and-anesthesia-why-tell-your-doctor-about-your-use/

Harvard Health Publishing. Coming Clean: Your Anesthesiologist Needs to Know About Marijuana Use Before Surgery.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/

American Society of Anesthesiologists. Cannabis and Surgery.
https://www.asahq.org/madeforthismoment/preparing-for-surgery/risks/cannabis-surgery-made-moment/

Cedars Sinai. Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome.
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/c/cannabinoid-hyperemesis-syndrome.html

National Library of Medicine. Medicinal Cannabis for Treatment of Chronic Pain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574562/

GoodRx. Why Does Weed Make You Hungry?
https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/cannabis/why-does-weed-make-you-hungry

Sleep Foundation. What Happens When You Sleep.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/what-happens-when-you-sleep