My friend's wife suffered a back injury 5+ years ago.

[no_hypocrisy]

She had surgery, which exacerbated her condition.

She suffers from unbearable pain and is dependent upon a cane and a wheelchair.

Because of the restrictions to access to opioids, she now is addicted to unregulated and illegal street meds that her adult son buys for her. She can't endure without them.

Here's the thing: She wants to undergo yet another surgery for her back. It's experimental and not guaranteed to ease her pain or allow her to walk again.

Here's my question: She's on illegal opioids but most likely won't tell the surgeon about it. Is it safe for her to even go under anesthesia with her system awash with opioids? Or would routine pre-op blood tests reveal the opioid use?

[elleng]

1. Routine pre-operative blood tests may not reliably detect opioid use:.

Test type: Routine drug screening panels often only detect natural opioids like heroin, morphine, and codeine. Synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids like tramadol, methadone, and fentanyl may require a more targeted test.
Test accuracy: Opioid test results can be affected by how fast your body uses opioids, other medicines you take, and the different ways labs do the tests. Positive results may not be accurate (false positives).

AI Overview

Opioid misuse and dependence screening practices prior to surgery.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8668076/

[snpsmom]

2. She needs to self report

otherwise, the anesthesia may not be sufficient. I recently had back surgery and had not been given pain meds beforehand. Thus, I was drinking heavily to deal with the pain. I sell-reported because I was concerned that the anesthetist should have adequate information about my tolerance. Your friend's wife should do the same.

[Skittles]

3. she MUST COME CLEAN WITH THE SURGEON

it is absolutely NOT SAFE otherwise

I am betting this is not an uncommon scenario and they will know how to proceed.