This may be a silly question but how do you know if food is stuck? And is there a way to help it down? Just want to prepare for the day if i ever get stuck

Oh believe me, you'll know if you're stuck lol. You can feel it. Sometimes it's minor, like some slight pressure in your chest or a lump in your throat. Other times it's even painful and you feel like you want to whack your chest to help the food through (though that doesn't work). You could slime or PB, too. Or both.

Sometimes a little sip of a hot liquid can help, but that can backfire, being as often when you're stuck drinking makes it worse. Some people take Papaya Enzyme. I find walking around helps.

It's a big learning experience. Best wishes.

oh, you will know................ Even though I have just had some mini, slowly going down, feels like stuck episodes, you will feel the food stuck in the middle of your breastbone. It either comes up or goes down. Hurts more going down. I have had mini stucks where a sip of water pushes it thru. The more experienced will have to talk about full on stucks.

When I'm stuk, it's a pressure in my chest, I start sweating and salivating. They only way I've found to relieve it is to put my finger down my throat and vomit it up (I say vomit, but it's really only food, no stomach acid). But I don't recommend that often. My band slipped last year from frequent vomiting.

Since my slip, I've learned to eat much slower and not get stuck in the first place. I very rarely vomit anymore. Took me 3 yrs and a slipped band to learn! Wow! I must be a slow learner!

Oh, and I can't drink anything when stuck - otherwise it's like a volcano erupting! My nurse calls it the "cork effect" where if food is stuck in ur esophagus and you add liquid, it has no where to go but back up. And its not pretty - especially in a public place!

Good luck!

Marci

Did you have to have surgery to fix your slip?

I'm having a stuck episode now. It has been going on for a couple of hours now. Generally, my experience has been severe salivating (I can fill a Dixie cup!), copius burping, and chest pain/reflux feeling. Usually a sip or two of water helps, bit if not, papaya enzyme does the trick. I stocked up on those right after surgery! During two of my five episodes, I have suddenly felt nauseous then retched without throwing up. Then the episode was over. Once it was so bad I ha sweat pouring off my head.

Oh man being stuck sounds horrible.... Um what exactly is this papaya enzyme? Never heard