rough day

I posted this on the main board but didn't get many responses. I am hoping to get more from my Mass. friends. Sorry it's long but the past 2 days were pretty hellish for me. I'm happy to report that I'm doing much better today, both physically and mentally! Please bear with me, as I am less than 4 weeks out and feeling very overwhelmed. Last week I began to feel incredibly fatigued and lightheaded. The lightheaded/dizzy/vertigo feeling was there when I was sitting or lying down as well as standing up. My doc thought it was fluids so I worked extra hard to get the minimum 32 oz a day in. After a week of this the doc decided to admit me Thurs night to give me some fluids and observe me. I had a wretched night of no sleep which surprised me because I had a wonderful experience in the hospital after my surgery (but I guess the narcotics had a lot to do with that). By morning they still didn't know what the problem was, I still felt dizzy and I fell apart emotionally. My surgeon was wonderful and said that this too shall pass. For almost 4 weeks I have been eating very little, trying hard to sip and move and get back to a normal routine and suddenly it became too much. The doc did say she thought the dizziness was from my blood pressure med, Atenolol, which is a beta blocker. My heart rate was pretty slow - even when I was crying uncontrollably, so hopefully now that I have stopped taking it I'll feel better. I got home from the hospital and took at 2 hour nap and felt a bit better. The doc suggested I spend more time around people rather than isolating myself at home in my apt so I went to my parents for "dinner" last night. Mom cooked up a pan of tomato sauce which I put over some part-skim ricotta cheese and heated up. I had about 2 teaspoons of it and wasn't really interested in eating it, although I had done it several times earlier in the week and really enjoyed it. About 10 minutes later I started feeling awful. I had weird pains in my mid-back, I felt nauseous and shaky. I ended up vomiting 5 times over the course of 30 minutes, then finally had a BM that wasn't the big D but was very soft (sorry if TMI). In the middle of this I put a call into my doc. He called after I finished using the bathroom and I immediately began feeling better. He seems to think this was my first dumping episode but said if I got the cramping again to call him and I would need an x-ray of my intestines. Here are my questions: 1. I know you can eat something one day and then the next day it doesn't agree with you. But would you VIOLENTLY dump on something you had eaten before with no problem? There really wasn't much sugar in what I ate. 2. In your experience was this dumping? I have honestly never felt worse in my entire life. I have read about it, thought I knew everything there was to know about it but at the time I thought I had died and gone straight to hell. I was desperately searching on OH for dumping experiences so I could compare. 3. What is your dumping experience? I know people are different but it would help to have something to look at when/if this happens again. The back pain really threw me - I wasn't expecting that . Do you think I was more prone to dump due to my fragile emotional state? I would love to hear about others' experiences so I have something to compare myself to. Thank you! Kathleen

hi Kat: I'm so sorry for your experiences. I don't have anything to add to your story. i don't think ive had dumping syndrome as severe as you. actually i've been trying different "foods" and hoping (yes hoping) that they woulnd't agree with me, but they do agree with me. it's like we're never happy. i know you have the best docs and i will keep you in my prayers. please let us know how your doing.

Hi Kathleen, Sorry to hear about the rough times recently. As a pre-op I can't speak for any dumping experiences but what you describe does sound similar to the dumping descriptions that I have read. I'm glad that it sounds like you are feeling much better today. Hopefully now that they figured out the bp medication was causing an issue things will smooth out. Call me anytime you want to get out of the house or talk. I'm planning on going to the meeting Thurs and I hope you can make it. Take Care, Cher

Thanks Cher! If you want to go to a mall to walk any night this week please let me know! I am definitely going to try to get to Thursday's meeting! Kathleen

Hi Kathleen Sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well. I have dumped many times and each experience has been very different. I will dump if I don't chew my food well enough, eat to much or to quickly, foods high in fat or sugar. Most of my experinces have been sweating, vomiting and feeling light headed and just miserable. This feeling can last up to 24 hours for me. The worst experince had been when my husband and I went out for dinner and I ordered a meal with white sauce. I had white sauce at home without any problems. Well, it was probably the worst thing I could have ordered. I barely made it home before the runs and vommiting began. The awful feeing lasted almost 24 hours. I could hardly eat anything the following day. This experience also happened after being out of surgery for a year. As time goes on the dumping for me is less severe. I never had the back pain to go with it. Does your back still hurt? If it does it could also be signs of kidney stones which I have also had where I felt miserable with vommitng and the runs. With kidney stones it almost felt like I had the flu. I was told the dissiness has to do with having low blood pressure. I am usually dissy when I get up in the morning. It helps to sit for a couple of minutes before fully standing. I hope you feel better soon! Janet

Hope you are feeling much better. Typically dumping is in response to simple sugars, or fats. It doesnt sound like what you ate contained either, but sometimes people add sugar to tomato sauce to cut the acid. Usually people do not dump on natural sugar. You can also dump if you eat quickly, or if something is too hot or too cold. It sounds a bit like dumping, which is basically rapid movement through the intestines. I would suggest backing up a stage in the diet for a day or two then moving along, sometimes that helps. Some people do report back pain, near the shoulder, but that is often associated with gas, or in lap bands, a tight band. Just some thoughts

Hi Kathleen, Sorry that you are feeling like crap. You might try getting more water in. 32 oz. is not enough. I was told to have between 64-90 oz. a day. I can get around 60 and that is tough. I hope in time this will pass. I know we had our surgeries on the same day. So far so good for me. I am trying to get all the calorie and protein in and that has been tough. I am not hungry. I have to push myself to eat. I have had no dumping. So far so good. But, I am very careful. I am afraid of the dumping so I eat very slow and little bits and chew chew chew. If you feel like chatting give me a call. Clare

Thank you to all *****sponded. My mother made the tomato sauce and did put in a teaspoon of sugar but that was in an entire 1 lb can of tomatoes and I only had a few tablespoons of sauce mixed in with the cheese. She felt terribly guilty until the doc said it wasn't that. I'm still not sure what it was. Oh and the back pain apparently was my intestines going into spasms according to the doc. Apparently they are more in the back than the front.... who knew? The pain was in my mid-back. Thanks again, Kathleen

Kathleen, Your dumping episode sounds a lot like my first time dumping. I thought I was going to die and I got severe pains in my back too. Luckily, after the first 3 months I've only dumped rarely, but I have dumped on things that I was able to eat the day before. Some days the pouch is grouchier than others. And being low physically and emotionally can make the pouch more sensitive. I hope you're feeling better. Carolyn

Carolyn, Thank you so much for your reply. It makes me feel so much better to know that someone else has had the same kind of experience. I'm feeling a lot better but nervous about diet advancement this Thursday. Since I got sick I've eaten little except Carn. Instant Breakfast, applesauce and pudding. I'm so glad I'm not back to work yet as this whole eating/drinking thing is a full time job! Thanks again! Kathleen