I can't believe I haven't thought of this sooner. This may even be a stupid question, but I really do not know the answer. I take Protonix for acid reflux and Celebrex for stage 3 Osteoarthritis in my knees. I am guessing that once I get banded and drop a significant amount of weight I may not have to take either of these drugs any longer. But, what the heck do I do until then? Can you take pills w/the band? The Protonix is quite small, but the Celebrex is about the size of a Tylenol tablet.

Fortunately I did not have to take any oral meds after surgery. However; my doctor said that some meds can be crushed and taken with yogurt or applesauce. I have taken Midol this way, with no ill effects. But check with your doctor and pharmacist.

It should go down just fine. I've only had a problem once, and that was a gigantic horsepill sized enteric coated fish oil gel. It went down OK, but my stoma hurt for a little bit afterwards. Haven't taken those since.

Otherwise I haven't had any trouble swallowing pills. Drink a little extra Water to wash it down. And if you do run into trouble you may need to ask for something that can be crushed or comes in smaller pills or liquid form.

A tylenol sized pill will go down with no problem. At first, right after you are banded and still swollen you may have to crush or break up the pill and take it in pieces. You'll just have to experiment.

But once you are healed, pills do go down fine with a bit extra Water to wash it through.

My surgeon says anything the size of an m&m or smaller will go down fine. You do need to ask about the celebrex though, I was told no NSAIDS and I believe that falls into that catagory. I have severe Osteoarthritis in my left knee and have discovered that hyalgan injections have been a life saver, I also did synvisc injections but had a bad reaction to them. I am completly off all meds for pain and swelling and losing weight is also helping. Hope this helps~Mandy

Thanks to all for the replies. Hey Mandy, I have had Hylgen in both of my knees twice. The first series of three worked wonders, but the second series was not as successful. Never thought about the NSAIDS.Hopefully I won't need any of the meds a few months after I get banded.

When I did synvisc it was 3 injections, but the hyalgen was 5. I did synvisc 2 times and finished my 2nd round of hyalgen the week after my surgery. I found a pain management group that do the injections under sedation and they use a dye injection to make sure it gets 100% into the joint. It has really helped. I have also tried pain patches, they make one that is called lidoderm and it is non narcotic. I used them for 6 weeks while I waited to have the hyalgen approved and they really helped with the pain. Maybe there is an alternative to the celebrex? ~Mandy

Yuck! Blech! Ack!

I'm supposed to take 600 mgs of Calcium Citrate 2x's a day. I is important for obsorbing nutrients (or something like that). No matter how much I pulverize these big honkin' HORSE pills I cannot swallow the powder...or at least I haven't found anything to hide it in well enough. Is there any kind of calcitrate chewables that you've found to take.

On the line with medicine and supplements...are any familiar with the glyconutrients company called Mannatech? Any luck with these supplements. They sound fantastic so I'm willing to be a guinea pig....but I'd love to hear other bandsters that have tried it.

Anyone, Anyone?

Jon

I know ladysplenda uses mannatech and loves it, she has reccomended it to several people here. Maybe contact her? ~Mandy

Yuck! Blech! Ack!

I'm supposed to take 600 mgs of calcium citrate 2x's a day. I is important for obsorbing nutrients (or something like that). No matter how much I pulverize these big honkin' HORSE pills I cannot swallow the powder...or at least I haven't found anything to hide it in well enough. Is there any kind of calcitrate chewables that you've found to take.

On the line with medicine and supplements...are any familiar with the glyconutrients company called Mannatech? Any luck with these supplements. They sound fantastic so I'm willing to be a guinea pig....but I'd love to hear other bandsters that have tried it.

Anyone, Anyone?

Jon

There are Citracal Chewables that aren't bad!

There are lots of chewable calcium products out there these days, including Viactiv. The nutritionist at my doctors' practice says any calcium is better than no calcium, so they're not picky about the specific type. Go with what you can and will take, in other words.

I was at GNC today and they have chewable calcium pills. There are some soft chewy ones that are like a piece of chocolate. They have chewable pills as well.

I have found that most chewable calcium is calcium carbonate. Calcium citrate is absorbed more easily and is recomended by my nutrionist for RNY patients because they mal-absorb. Band patients can take either one because we don't mal-absorb. We also need less calcium for that same reason. The nutritionish said 1100 for band and 1500 for RNY.

I bought the GNC chewable in cherry flavor - very good!

Hope this helps,

Jon,

I am a rep for Mannatech. Obviously I am biased. But I you like contact me, & I can let you talk with some of my customers(not associates) that have used the products. My Mannatech site.