QUESTION: Dumping because of Sugar

I know all of us are different so that is why I'm requesting help from everyone on the boards. Some folks "dump" when they eat stuff with sugar in it, others don't. My question is .. How many grams of sugar can you tolerate before you go too far and you "dump"? Reason I'm asking .. I just finished a glass of milk or two 16 oz. I decided I wanted to check the label because I'm at work so it's not the same milk I have at home. Well .. this milk has 12g of sugar/cup so that would make it 24g of sugar I just finished drinking. Before this the most I had tried in any given drink was 11g and I didn't have any negative effects. So .. now I'm worried. Do you think maybe I'll be one of the lucky/unlucky post-ops that sugar won't be a problem? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Jen

hi jen, before i had surgery i was going to a nutritionist for almost a year. and she basically told me that yes, milk products (i.e. milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese etc.) have sugar (lactose) but it is a different kind of sugar than "sweet sugar" like C& H. and that basically when i was counting my grams of sugar if it is a dairy product i could subract about 8 grams of sugar per serving ....but that is NOT to include icecream or milk shake or other sweet sugary dairy stuff. hope that helps. and per surgeons orders it has been suggested to me to keep the sugar intake less than 15-20 grams of sugar per serving size. that being said, i have only dumped once...MY FAULT!!! my neice's birthday cake looked SOOOOOO GOOD! and i thought if i just have a tiny piece...well even a tiny piece was TOOOOOOO MUCH and i ended with the "grey cold sweats" and into the bathroom for an explosive diarreah session (too much information sorry!!) hopefully you should be o.k. with just milk. good luck! brandy

I've always heard refined sugar caused dumping (although I seem to dump from Splenda, go figure

Hey Jen, Just my two cents. You might just be a little Lactose intollerent at this time. Because I find I cannot tolorate the milk but I can tolorate a protien bar, yorgurt, cheese and other cottege cheese protucts. So just try to ellimate the milk totally and see if this is the problem. Hope this helps. Blessings, Bonnie

Hi Jen! I have only had one dumping episode and it didn't have to do with sugar at all! I ate some mashed beans too quickly!! Anyway, here is the skinny about sugar as I know it: The surgeon told me to keep to about 14-16 grams per serving. I asked because I wanted to eat a yogurt but everything has alot of sugar in it. I read something where someone said only have about 5 grams per serving...needless to say, I was confused. Some people dump from lactase (milk sugar) just like some dump from anything else. The best thing would be to see what happens. You will know right away (within 30 minutes -1 hour) if you will have a problem. If you don't consider yourself lucky and don't drink that much milk in the future!! The other person who posted about being lactose intolerant may be right also.......you might be. Just be careful!!

My nutritionist said to stay below 8 grams of sugar, I've been terrified to go over that, though I do tolerate splenda just fine and have done a little baking with it since my surgery.

Hi Jen- It's so funny- I did the same thing. I've been drinking protein shakes with 1 1/2 scoops of powder (30g protein) and 12 oz. of milk. I was SHOCKED when I looked on the fat free milk label to find it had 12g of sugar in 8 oz! I had no idea! But it hasn't given me any problems at all. Of course, you were not talking about lactose intolerance or anything, you didn't get sick you were just wondering if you might. I have dumped on 3 things: Instant mashed potatoes- (still don't know why!) a No sugar added mini ice cream sandwich a Power Crunch protein bar. It seems to me that sugar might not bother me either, but the "fake" sugar "alcohols" like malitol do. Here is some info I found that might help sort out the very complex world of sugar for you. (and me too!) Simple sugars, like glucose and fructose, are absorbed directly through the gastrointestinal tract. More complex sugars, like lactose and sucrose, are broken down in the gastrointestinal tract and then absorbed. Absorbed sugars are either stored in the liver or may be used directly as energy. Carbohydrate that is not either used immediately or used soon after it is absorbed or stored in the liver is converted to fat for future use.