Fifteen Year Old RNY Post Op With Some Eye Openers For You!

I had my open RNY in 8/01.  I lost 170 pounds but never got to goal.  I kept most of it off except for twenty pounds until 2010.  Then the weight started coming back like a vengeance.  I'm still 75 pounds from my highest weight but that's not why I'm making this post.

Through the years after my surgery, when I would eat something that was too high in fats or sugars, the 'dumping syndrome' became something much worse.  Each time the dumping symptoms happened, it effected my heart.  I would have severe throbbing pain from my heart to both of my arms.  I knew somehow it couldn't be good for my heart down the road.

Well, now is 'down the road' and I have heart damage from those episodes.  I had an abnormal EKG yesterday and I will have to undergo more radioactive scans (PET scan) in order to see how much damage has been done.

I have gotten to the point that I can't stand for long periods of time without my heart hurting.  I have shortness of breath on a continual basis.  My circulation is bad to my hands and feet and I have tingling and muscle cramps daily.

And to add to my heart problems, I have to have my left hip replaced due to being 'bone on bone'.  I also have the same problem with my right shoulder due to the weight gain in my arms and the weight pulling on the rotator cuff.

I remember writing to people here back years ago and I asked if anyone else had heart problems from their dumping episodes but no one had back then.  I don't know if this is something due to maybe what my bariatric doc did personally or this is something that just doesn't show up very much on here. 

I'd like to hear from anyone here that has had this problem as well.  I know that long termers like me, don't post much anymore, but I'm hoping that maybe someone has had this problem and beat it somehow.  I'm a grandmother of four now and I know they need me to be healthy.  I'm now eating only veggies and meats but I'm thinking it may be too late.

Thanks for listening and I hope this helps someone who may have been going through this and didn't know what it was.  If you're having those symptoms, please visit a cardiologist in the early stage and don't let it go as long as I did. 

Thanks everyone and God bless your journey....

Robin

Hi Robin,

We are so sorry to hear all you are going through.  You came to the right place, we are here for you   I had a few episodes of dumping but don't remembering it affecting my heart like yours.  I am  sure if someone out there has, they will reply to you.  Keep us posted on how you are doing OK?  

I will be 14 years post op in Sept. Last spring I started the whole chest pain routine. It felt like an elephant on my chest. Primary referred me to Mayo cardiologist and I have every heart test possible. I was also weak and thought it was hypoglycemia. Turns out I wasn't drinking enough water. My heart, 'I never was really given an answer but the pain stopped?? I had my knees replaced because I was bone on bone but that was from years and years of obesity. I seldom dump because I am very careful of what I eat. I hope you feel better soon

I thought I was dumping and it was affecting my heart. I had chest pain and pain in my arms from eating almost anything.  My doctor put me on PPIs and muscle relaxers.  The shortness of breath got bad and the pain kept getting worse.

In March the doctor told me to go to the hospital and get testing done.  A stress test showed blockage and a heart catherization showed that my arteries are abnormally small and were very blocked.  I had open heart surgery on March 23 and all of the pain and shortness of breath is gone now.

My EKG and echograms were perfect.  So were my weight, cholesterol and triglycerides.  If you are having chest and arm pain, ask your cardiologist for a stress test.   If that shows nothing, you might still go catherization.  I am glad I had open heart surgery before I had damage from a heart attack or stroke.

Pain and shortness of breath is not normal.

Certain nutritional imbalances can actually cause heart problems.  

A big one is high calcium!  Calcium works to regulate the electrical impulses in the heart.  We take calcium supplements as bariatric patients but how often are the levels in our bodies checked?  How much of what we take is actually being absorbed and used by the body and how much is just circulating in our blood and stored in our tissues wreaking havoc?  High calcium (hypercalcemia) can cause kidney stones, confusion, dementia, coma, muscle and bone pain, kidney failure, heart arrhythmia (the heart beats irregularly) and a myriad of other symptoms.  Serum calcium test (blood test) is insufficient to assess the true calcium in our body tissues.  A saliva test can be done which may show a clearer picture.  

Potassium and sodium can also be problematic.  If you were having vomiting/diarrhea or were dehydrated, these could be out of whack also.  

Sorry you are going through this.  Surprisingly, there are a few of us long termers here - we tend to be a little more successful than our peers.

I do dump, but at this point, I don't believe I have any heart problems.  I'll certainly keep an eye on it, though!

Thank you for the warning. Something else to watch for, to motivate me not only to stay on a good diet but also to drink enough water and avoid alcohol....

 I know that when I get dehydrated, either from not drinking enough water, or dumping, or too much alcohol (too much for my body to handle) I get heart flutters.. Severly incresed HBR that can last from a few minutes to a few hours... 

I do need to limit those... That's again for the warning. 

Thank you so much  for your post, Robin, and good luck with addressing your issue.  I'm especially glad for your post because I've always been skeptical that dumping syndrome is completely benign as doctors claim.  

Dumping syndrome involves, after all, a massive release of insulin to compensate for all the sugar "dumping" into the bloodstream virtually all at once.  In technical terms, the osmolatity of the contents of the duodenum determine its propensity to result in dumping syndrome for us.  

If the osmolality is high enough and with enough carbs, the body goes into a sort of panic response to keep blood sugar under control, and this requires a huge release of insulin.  The insulin is a vasocontrictor, meaning the vessels narrow, which puts a strain on the heart.  Then with this massive release of insulin the blood sugar begins falling rapidly, and it overshoots the target level, resulting in dangerous hypoglycemia.  So the body again goes into a sort of panic mode, releasing tons of adrenaline to try to bring blood sugar back up to normal.  This adrenaline again puts a strain on the heart.  It is obviously a yo-yo of cardiovascular strain, yet doctors pooh-pooh it -- why?

I'm not diabetic, but my blood sugar after surgery would often rocket from normal to over 300 if I ate the wrong thing (then crash down to as low as the 30s, where it puts you at risk of seizure).  With time, I've become much more disciplined with my diet -- particularly with the quantity I eat even if I'm eating something I shouldn't.  It is much better to graze with little meals throughout the day than eat a few larger meals if you suffer from dumping syndrome.  And in addition to watching sugars, keep the food as dry as possible and don't drink with meals, as this increases the osmolality and chances of dumping syndrome.

Robin, maybe it is possible that you had a pre-existing heart issue that was in the background but was just brought to the fore by the years of dumping, such that it only became noticable during the dumping-associated cardiac stress.  But whatever the situation, don't beat yourself up.  You did the right thing by getting the surgery, which took a lot of guts, and you've managed as best you could since then.  Just focus on the present now, and try to treat your current condition.

In any case, I don't know that dumping syndrome eventually causes heart damage, but at the same time, I've come to the conclusion that it is probably not 100% benign either, and that those who have it should try their best to get it under control as much as possible.  

Thank you all so much for your replies!  The part about the insulin and the heart makes so much sense!  Why isn't this heart problem talked about more often I wonder?  Well at least I have an answer as to why all this has happened to me.

Thank you all again very much and God bless all of you!

Robin