Has anyone had these problems as a post op?

I posted this on the main board and got folks responding that hadn't been to far out from the surgery.  I thought maybe you all might have some thoughts.  I am very frustrated.  For the last couple months, I have had a lot of symptoms that are just like what the manuals call dumping syndrome.  I get profuse sweating, light headed, cold and then explosive dirrarhea.  The problem is that this happens almost daily at the same time of the day (morning around 9am) and then sporadically other times of the day.  Also, it doesn't happen after eating.  In the morning, I have a protein bar each morning.  I don't get the feeling until 1-2 hours after.  The other times there seems to be no rhyme or reason in connection with what I am eating.  I have kept track of my foods, I even check blood sugar after I eat, but I haven't found any connections.   THe surgeon did all sorts of tests for the really bad things to make sure there was no problem.  They were all clear.  So, last week, I called back and said things were still bad.  I am a grad student and have to leave class a lot to go to the bathroom.  sigh....  The nurse called me back and said it was dumping syndrome and I should stop eating sugar.  I said...you mean lactose in milk?  She says...no don't eat candy.  I said, umm.....I haven't had candy for nine months.  What is she thinking?  I have lost 160 pounds.....80% of my excess body weight in only NINE MONTHS....certainly not by eating candy.  I was very offended....and even more frustrated.  My nutritionist doesn't really believe in 'delayed dumping' as true dumping happens right away when sugar is dumped quickly into the small intestine so I don't even get why they would say this after all this.   Has anyone else experienced this?  Could I have developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome now or lactose intolerance???  Could these things cause the profuse sweating type things not just the diarrhea?  I am just frustrated.  Thanks for any help! Rachael

Hi Racheal I had a few experiences around the 9 month mark.  I have dumped occasionally before but this time it was about an hour or so after eating.  I had gone out to dinner with my husband and ordered a meal in white sauce.  I never gave it a thought that it was high in fat.  I ended up with awful dirrarhea, the sweats and just feeling blah.    Food high in fat can also cause dumoing syndrome.  If you are not careful many protein bars are high in fat.  You may want to go see your PCP about IBS or being lactose intolerant.  Good luck and I hope things get better for you.

20 months out and been dumping since day 1........came out of the or dumping. I had it before the gbs anyway.........after they took out my gallblatter. I  got it. That was like 5 years ago. But I dump bad and fast now that I had the gbs. I can't eat sugar at all. I can't eat any fats at all. I just can't freaking eat............... Amy

Hi Rachael, Just wanted to let you know that whole fat dairy products make me dump.  I can have the low fat and do alright.  I dump on sugar also.  It could be the dairy and fats causing you to dump.  You would just have to check for any correlation between them and your episodes.  Hope you resolve soon.  

Rachael,  I am only 3 1/2 months post-op,  but your problems sound familiar,  I had the same thing 'before' my surgery,  finally a nurse practioner familiar with this because she had a family member with it, figured it out   Celiac disease, an intolerance to wheat and other grains, (different from being allergic to the grains, it is a genetic thing),  the only grain I can tolerate is corn & rice, even soy bothers me.  This will also make you lactose intolerant, and I don't think doctors are very familiar with this disease,  my own dr. said, "I didn't know about the disease, I had to look it up after you were diagnosed by the nurse practioner"  The only cure is leaving all grains except for corn & rice alone, and also lactose.  You can get lactaid tablets to take before milk products that helps,   but nothing for the grain intolerance.  A good book to learn about this is called, "The Celiac Bible",  well worth buying if you think it might be this problem.  Once I left all grains alone,  the diarrhea stopped.  But many things have wheat in them, like soy sauce, decaffinated coffee,  things you wouldn't think of, so getting the book is necessary.  This may not be what you have,  but worth a try to first leave the milk products alone, then if it doesn't stop leave the wheat products alone.  Hope this helped.  Jud W.

I will look into it and bring it up with the surgeon.  I figure the more things I come in with the more serious he knows that I want this taken care of. 

Hello,I had surgery December 5,2006.Ours must have been close. I have lost 60.5 pounds but still have 70 to go. I just now am getting some appetite back. I try to eat just at meals but can't eat much when I have more than one thing to eat. How is your weight loss going.I live in Michigan and will probably loose faster when I can get outside again,can't wait. Billie

Rachel it could in fact be what they refer to as "late dumping" or an episode of reactive hypoglycemia.    The bariatric community is seeing this happening more and more to post-ops.  It happens somewhere around 2 hours after a last feeding, whether it be a meal or snack and can sometimes to associated with too many carbs, hence a high amount of insulin is released in the body to counterattack the starch/sugar/etc. (offending substance) or when you haven't eatin in a while or in fact skip a meal and your sugar drops. It seems to affect post-ops close to 2 years old but also has affected those earlier post-op.  How do you combat it......each more often, perhaps 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per day high in protein, lower in carbs.   I actually had an episode of it today and had to eat peanut butter crackers to bring my sugar level up.  I can feel it when the episode begins and know I better grab something quick.  To balance out your sugar level and keep it at a more even keel when this happens it is best to grab a protein with a carb.  You should begin feeling better pretty quickly if you eat.   There was a lady on the Texas Message board that actually went into a sugar coma because of not eating and her sugar dropping.  Thank goodness someone was there with her, realized what was happening and put a spoon of sugar in her mouth to raise the level up quickly. Research reactive hypoglycemia and you'll see what the symptons are.  You can also Google gastic bypass surgery and low sugar and find info on it too. Good luck!

Thanks for your post.  I actually read a ton about this a couple weeks ago.  It's one of the things I hope to bring up with the surgeon.  It seems to make a lot of sense from what I read and it seems to be one of those things that is happening more and more often.  I got a blood sugar monitor like one of the articles recommended to keep track of the levels right before I eat and two hours after and right in the middle of one of these attacks.  So far, I haven't remembered to take the monitor in with me to the bathroom while having an episode, but I do have before and after numbers to show the doctor.  I hope it helps them some. I found a great article online today about dumping in general but about both early and late dumping after all sorts of gastric surgeries.   Really interesting stuff.  There are a couple of medicines that they use for folks who dump all the time so that they don't get more malnurishioned than they should.  Looks promising as well.  

It sounds like dumping even though the episodes are hitting later than usual.  I don't dump on sugar :-( but I dump on high carbs and/or high fat foods or meals.  I also developed lactoase intolerance about 4-6 months post-op.  Try eliminating / changing what you're eating to reduce or eliminate lactose / carbs / fats (one at a time, of course) and see if your condition improves. Good luck! Vickie J.