NEVER 2 LATE 4 YOUR 1ST DUMPING EPISODE!!!

 TRUE CONFESSION:
I'm 6 1/2 yrs post-op RNY & holding steady for about 5 years as a size 8 AND I'd never experienced the dreaded "dumping" syndrome.

Reading descriptions of the experience on my surgeon's message board put the fear of dumping into me big time! So I never played the cat-and-mouse game of seeing what I might be able to "get away with," in food & beverage choices.

Two nights ago, however, I was taken down by a full-blown dumping episode; AND, it wasn't from eating "forbidden" foods! It snuck up on me like an army of NINJA. 

What I realized as the episode began was that the fruit salad I'd made with fresh-but-over-ripe kiwi & bananas, had made portion control hard for me to gauge; that I'd probably eaten the equivalent of 1 kiwi+ 1 banana; and the level of fructose, possibly fermented!, was more than my intestinal tract could manage.

My heart was racing, my head was fizzy, I felt dizzy, I found myself panting, gas cramps followed, I staggered upstairs to where my husband was dead asleep, yelling his name in what sounded to my ears as slurred speech. If I'd been in public, I think most folks would've thought I was falling-down-drunk.

I tried lying down. Bad Idea.
I tried standing bent over our bed. Another Bad Idea.
Something told me my only hope was to walk it off, hanging onto Jim's arm. For 30 min. I walked around our upstairs until I was able to support myself with my sturdy walking stick.
Jim went downstairs & came up with a 32 oz. bottle of filtered water with sugar-free Propel lemon powder diluted 50%. I started drinking the water through a straw & walking.

I asked Jim to go  online to OBESITY HELP to see what they said to do for dumping & was told nothing was gonna get better til things got through my small intestines. So I figured the walking & water would force the issuel

It did & I fell into bed at midnight, propped up on my back - about 100 min. after it began. It wasn't over, but it was at a level where my fatigue could overpower everything else & I fell asleep.

So what have I learned?

I have to be as careful around fresh fruit salads as any salad bar or buffet banquet. Fructose is sugar. My intestinal tract did not deduct calories for fructose vs. high fructose corn syrup.

It has been an exhausting, frightening and educational experience. Sunday, I felt like a limp dishrag.  Jim & I took a walk through the Chattahoochee Nature Center to enjoy our first gloriously sunny day in weeks; but I was walking slowly and still feeling mentally fuzzy.  Today, I felt normal.

My hope is that by sharing it with you, I can prevent some other long-time post-op from going through the dreaded dumping syndrome!

Blessings,
Lauralyn

I'm so sorry Lauralyn.  I was afraid of dumping, so I opted out of the rny. I am glad you were home when you dumped and had your husband there to help you. 

The support group facilitator at my surgeon's office shared a story of a lady who dumped while she was in Lowes and had to call her friend to come from home to pick her up because she was sprawled out on the bathroom floor. Anything that will make you lay down on the bathroom floor in a home improvement store is no joke, so I can imagine you had a hard time.

Take care of yourself. I am glad things are back to normal today.

Dear LaShelle,
Thank you for your caring words.
How's your journey post-DS going>
I don't regret my choice of the lap RNY for a moment and chalk this incident up to furthering my education.
It is wonderful to go through my normal life now without cravings to be resisted or given into.
I chose the lap RNY precisely because it was a permanent rearrangement of my plumbing and I wanted to permanently break free of the cycle of either feeling deprived of food I craved or sabotaging my weight loss by giving in to temptation.

I live in a whole 'nother pradigm now in which the cravings are GONE and I eat healthily to live; not live to eat. I'd been enjoying a kiwi a day as my yoga instructor said the potassium would cut down on muscle cramps during the poses.

It was only when I added an overly ripe banana to the mix that I found myself gripped by the dumping syndrome...

Never too late to learn something new about how my body works best!!

How 'bout you? What's working?
Best,
Lauralyn

Lauralyn,  Thanks so much for sharing your story and all of your others for that matter.  You are always so helpful and supportive.   I am out alittle over a year and have experienced dumping only one time and have no desire to do that every again!   I do try to be care of what I put in my mouth but sometimes I just cant help but taste something in moderation of course.  Yes I k now I should never tempt it but I am guilty. 
My nut told me that fruit or any carb for that matter needed to be always consumed with some protein of some sort to prevent it from turning to sugar so fast in our system.  My question for you is do you think if you would have added cottage cheese or something of that sort,  would it  have affected your system differently?   Thoughts?  Im glad your better and again thanks for sharing! 
Hugs.
G

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that sometimes dumping is caused by fats also.  In 8 1/2 years I have only dumped 5 times and that was when I was out and didn't know how food was prepared.  I don't have a gall bladder so foods high in fat causes me to dump severely.  Butter especially makes me dump and for some reason it is worse when I eat it out.  I was eating at the Atlanta Seafood market one night and I had Sea Bass with mushrooms in brown butter (when I ate it I didn't realize it was brown butter).  I ate and then started feeling light headed and not so good.  I told my husband (I was married at the time) that I didn't feel well and needed to go to the restroom.  I got up and started walking and then turned and looked at him (he said I was white as a ghost) he rain over to me as I was passing out and he caught me before I hit the ground.  It was embarrassing, the restaurant called an ambulance.  When I got up I had to run to the Restroom for the dreaded "Explosive Diarrhea".  I  eat very healthy and my body just couldn't handle it!  Once I figured out that I couldn't have butter I always I tell the server that I am allergic to butter.  This way they do not put any butter on my food. 

I like you have never purposely eaten anything that is high in sugar and dumped.  I on the other thing think "Dumping" is a wonderful thing!  It keeps me straight!!!  I don;t like the feeling and it keeps me from eating things I know I shouldn't.  I won;t test it because I don't want to know that I can eat my trigger foods and God forbid not dump!  If I knew for sure I didn't dump I might eat a snickers bar every day.  My addiction was sugar/carbs. 

Sorry, you had to go through it.

Take care,

Ginger

2 Gingers in a row, so this comments for my NFRMC buddy! I still have my gallbladder; I do know that too much olive oil has produced that dash to the toilet but never the dumping syndrome you describe. Ah well.
XOXO

Great tip - never heard that one before.
No, in that specific instance I think it was portion control.
I've been having a kiwi every morning for the potassium and never ever had anything remotely like a dumping syndrome.
but when i cut up a bunch of kiwis & added a couple of overripe bananas and laddled them into a bowl, while sitting in front of the TV - I just ate tooooooo much.

All the best to you, newbie! You'll find bunches of stories on my blogs. How can I support you?

My response to your post got put under the other Ginger's post, Ginger! See below...