Newbie questions

Good morning!  I am currently 10 days post op from my Lap Band and so far, so good.  I have a few questions I wanted to ask my fellow bandsters.   People refer to dry food getting stuck, what is consider a "dry" food?  Will I ever be able to swallow pills or do they always have to be liquid or crushed?  What is papaya enzyme for and where can you get it? What symptoms do you show when your band slips?
Thanks! Mary

I'll do my best to answer these from my point of view.

Dry food means exactly what it is. It's like that turkey meat that's been over cooked. It's too dry and will cause trouble. Chicken can get that way, steak too. There are a few items that are known to cause trouble when they aren't moist enough, but that's why God invented gravy!!! LOL

Dry things aren't the only thing to get stuck. Once you've had a few fills, things start becoming more and more of a challenge. you just have to slow down and chew really well. Just cause something gets stuck doesn't mean it will automatically come up either. Sometimes with a little stretching, walking or sipping hot tea, you can get it to go down.

You should be able to swallow pills once you have been given the green light from your MD. I'd steer clear of the monster huge horse pills if you can, but I take Tylenol, sinus meds etc and my thyroid without issue. When I was first banded though, everything was liquid just because they don't want you to give your stomach anything to chew on yet.  It needs all this time to heal.

papaya enzymes are thought to help aid in digestion. Some people think that eating a few when they've gotten stuck on a something, chewing some of those will help. I personally don't think this is true. When you get stuck on something, the last thing you want to do is add more of anything. It's going  start backing up in your throat and they you'll inevitably throw up. you can get papaya enzyme at GNC, Riteaid, Walgreens, Walmart...

A slips symptoms are different from person to person but generally is discomfort and or pain, unable to keep food down, difficulty swallowing even liquids and nausea.

So you didn't ask about PB's vs Vomiting. Do you have that one figured out yet?

AS Tiff says in general!

Just a different perspective on pills. Some of us can never swallow pills. I am not, and never have been, too tight to eat normally. Until about 6 months or so post-op, with excellent but not tight restriction, I could swallow small pills and large ones cut up. Then one day, I couldn't. My tiny bp pill stuck. And ever since then, i cannot take even the tiniest pill. i am not alone in this.

Take great care - many of us work on the better safe than sorry principle - JeanM ended up in ER after a pill!

Kate