Doctor on TikTok Says Be Honest About Smoking Weed Before Anesthesia

In a TikTok video posted March 10, influencer and doctor Kunal Sood MD warned that people who need anesthesia and smoke weed should disclose that information because of real-life interactions that can occur. A higher dose of medication may be required in individuals who smoke regularly, and it is in the patient’s best interest to plan accordingly.

LAD Bible reports that a doctor is trying to shed light on an issue involving cannabis users that has a factual basis – not just the typical scaremongering you might hear from other sources.

“Did you know that if you use cannabis (marijuana) long-term, you need a higher dose of anesthetic to get the same effect,” his TikTok video reads. “Make sure you tell your anesthetist if you smoke or use cannabis.”

It’s a simple five-second video and the doctor just nods his head in agreement, but the video has been viewed over 10 million times at the time of writing. Sood is a dual board pain specialist and CMO of Avenir Nutrition. He uses comedy and facts to educate people about health issues.

Just talking to a doctor about cannabis use can make a big difference in deciding your medication dose. The doctor isn’t suggesting people to stop altogether, just be honest with their doctors.

In short, if you are a regular user of cannabis, you will likely need to be given a larger dose of anesthetic than anyone else in order to be and remain unconscious for your surgery. At worst, that could mean you don’t knock out completely. Waking up during surgery really does sound like one of the worst ever experiences a person could have.

It turns out that most experienced anesthesiologists say the same thing. Sometimes, because of these potential interactions, abstaining from cannabis for a certain number of days prior to surgery is recommended.

Harvard David Hepner, MD, MPH, published a similar appeal in 2020, saying he’s seeing more people needing varying amounts of anesthetics because they use cannabis.

“How you use marijuana (smoking, edibles, etc.), how often you use it, and how much all of this can affect how your body responds to anesthesia,” Hepner wrote. “Because marijuana and anesthesia both affect the central nervous system, people who use marijuana regularly may need different amounts of anesthetics. In order to know what medications to use and how much, your doctor needs to know in advance how much and how often you will use marijuana.”

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has a list of eight things to tell your doctor and anesthetist before surgery, and marijuana use is one of them.

Detailed and well-founded advice on the possible interactions between cannabis and anesthetics before, during and after surgery has recently been published.

The first guidelines on cannabis use and the timeline for surgeries were published Jan. 3 by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA Pain Medicine), which acknowledged that there is “no single document” that summarizes all of these concerns.

The guidelines are based on known data and recommendations from the Perioperative Use of Cannabis and Cannabinoids Guidelines Committee – a group composed of 13 anesthesiologists, chronic pain physicians, experts and patient advocates.

The committee answered nine questions and made 21 recommendations.

“While many of the perioperative risks and challenges associated with perioperative cannabis have been described in the literature, such as no single document that summarizes all of these concerns and provides evidence-based recommendations,” the document states.

You might want to hear what anesthesiologists say about cannabis.