What happens when you dump?

Hi All, I'm just wondering what kind of symptoms you have when you dump. I think I dumped once - here's my story: I had been sick with a sinus infection, the Dr gave me Levoquin, I picked it up on the way home and took my first dose. I woke up around 2am and was hungry and thirsty (didn't have much of a dinner). Old habits being what they are, I grabbed a granola bar instead of protein and poured myself some iced tea. As I sat there I got the cold sweats and thought to myself, 'I feel horrible, I'd better go back to bed'. I got and I couldn't turn off the light switch. I kept trying but my hand moved further and further away from it until...everything went black and down I went. I think this was my first official dumping episode. I always thought dumping referred to diarrhea and vomiting? From what I've read, it refers to eating a carbohydrate and your body's pancreas dumping insulin into the blood stream to counteract it. I think I basically had a low blood sugar episode. I believe that taking the antibiotic without food contributed to this condition as well. Thank goodness I've lost over 100 lbs, because I came down hard on my knee on the ceramic tile. I lay on the floor for about 10 min because the cold tiles felt good on my face. Then I crawled into the living room to help get myself back on my feet. I got back into bed and tried to wake my husband to tell him, he sleepwalks so you never know if he really comprehends what you tell him. He told me to just go back to sleep and I would be ok. I did have him get up and get me an ice pack because my knee was hurting big time. Has anyone had an experience like this? I'm too afraid to eat any kind of real sugar for fear of what will OR WON'T happen. Sue McD

Sue, Oh dear! I hope you are okay! Here is a sort of dictionary description of dumping: "Rapid gastric emptying, or dumping syndrome, happens when the lower end of the small intestine (jejunum) fills too quickly with undigested food from the stomach. "Early" dumping begins during or right after a meal. Symptoms of early dumping include nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, dizziness, and fatigue. "Late" dumping happens 1 to 3 hours after eating. Symptoms of late dumping include hypoglycemia, weakness, sweating, and dizziness. Many people have both types." Some folks have reactive hypoglycemia after this surgery which probably sounds like the description of "late" dumping. To me, reactive hypoglycemia means that the body overproduces insulin in response to food (usually carby stuff) causing blood sugar to plummet after the meal/snack. Good ways to avoid reactive hypoglycemia is to obviously avoid a big serving of carbs at one time but above and beyond that make sure that your meals/snacks include protein and fat along with the carbs. Protein and fat digest a bit differently and will delay the rise in blood sugar so that less insulin should be given off. Also if you are having any blood sugar issues at all...it is really important that you eat regularly throughout the day. I would be sure to have something every 3-4 hours maximum. I was diabetic on insulin pre-WLS and had to deal with low blood sugar if any meal got delayed. Low blood sugar is very scarey. I never got it to the extreme that you did luckily. For me dumping has occurred only a few times in a somewhat strange way. I didn't recognize it as dumping but my surgeon told me it most likely was. Basically my whole abdomen hurts and it is literally sore to the touch externally. It is almost as if I can feel every curve that my intestines takes - it aches. The few times it happened I just curled up in a fetal position to sleep it off. I had this happen from sugar alcohols (early post-op), some low-carb high-protein cereal (splenda sweetened - go figure - but again early on), Outback Salmon with Reumaloude (sp?) sauce (twice - I was a knucklehead and ate the leftovers..) and a liquid B complex that was sweetened with apple juice concentrate. Doh! For others, dumping is like the symptoms listed in the dictionary version. Anyway, take good care of yourself! Be careful out there! Hugs, Kathy

Thanks Kathy for your response. I think I must have dumped once before too, from your descriptions. I had a chopped salad from Portillos that I used to just love, ate some if it and got sharp pains in my stomach and had to leave work! I never thought of that as dumping. I do try to eat something every 4 hrs...I get hungry every 4 hrs! I've been at a real standstill with my weight loss. I've been the same for about a month. Unfortunately, I took measurements only 2 weeks ago to help track progress...sure wish I would have taken measurements from the start! Take care and will chat with you again. Sue McD