Question:
Experiencing intense cramping & diahrrea despite low-fat/sugar diet. What's up?

I'm 19 days out from my lap RNY gastric bypass. I've been tolerating foods with no problems (in fact, things have seemed a little too easy), and I'm now beginning to transition from an all-puree diet to a soft foods diet. Twice in the last week, I've been waylaid by intense cramping, gas and diahrrea. The first bout began on Tuesday with some nausea and pain on drinking. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, I was in agony, spending my time lying in bed in pain or in the bathroom. The intense pain - spasms every couple of minutes - and occasional chills lasted for about nine hours before subsiding. Afterward, on Thursday, my stomach/intestines were pretty "talkative" and clearly unhappy with me. Today, the cycle is beginning again, dashing my theory that the first experience was some kind of vicious stomach virus. Of course, I'd be sure this was dumping - albeit, an extremely long bout of dumping - if I'd eaten excessive fat or sugar before experiencing the problems. But I haven't. For instance, this is what I ate yesterday: * Two meatballs and a tablespoon low-sugar tomato sauce * 1/4 cup no-sugar-added chocolate ice cream, with a little protein powder topping * 1/2 can fat-free refried beans w/ @10 pieces of shredded cheddar and 1 teaspoon of low-fat sour cream * 2 tuna cakes made of 1/2 can of tuna (can made four cakes, all were cooked in 1 tablespoon of olive oil) I've tolerated all of these foods no-problem since the surgery. Moreover, I hadn't had any of these foods the day before my last experience with these problems, earlier in the week. (The last time my diet the day before was generally a scrambled egg, some ham salad and chicken salad as well as 8 ounces of milk). At any rate, can anyone shed some light on this problem? I obviously can't keep dealing with this twice a week (my job wouldn't look too kindly on two sick days every five days, for one)! :) I'm getting concerned about determining what's causing this - so I can avoid it completely. Thank you, Jen.    — Jennifer .. (posted on September 28, 2003)

September 28, 2003
You may be lactose intolerant since surgery. You mentioned three different types of dairy products in your diet ice cream, cheese, and milk and both days you got sick. I would skip the dairy products and see what happens or switch to lactose free milk and skip all the rest of the dairy products and see if that makes a difference. The only other thing it could be is an intestinal bug. I had that as a new post op and had to go on antibiotics to get me through it. If it doesn't go away within in a few days or after you give up dairy call your surgeon. Good luck to you. Wendi P.S. Be care of the SF ice cream too it is high in sugar alcohol which can cause diarrhea too!!!!!!!
   — lovemonterey

September 28, 2003
These symptoms are all things that I felt when I first started with my lactose intolerance days when I was 9. It still happened before surgery when I would have too much milk or cheese. Now that I am post-op I don't have much cheese at all. A little bit of cheese on my beans or some soup sometimes, but try to stick with the hard cheeses as a little goes a long way. 1/2 can beans? Maybe that is something too, I can eat beans but I only eat 1/8 as I don't want to add gas to anything else that might brew in there. I haven't dumped as of yet, knock on wood at almost 6 weeks out but from what I hear I don't think your episodes were dumping.
   — Michawn

September 28, 2003
You are very early PO and your body is going through tons of changes. Give it some time to settle down. I went from normal stools to diarrhea to constipation all within the first month. Now most of the time things are normal with an occassional tendency towards the constipation side but that's got more to do with how much fluid I have gotten in. It may also be lactose intolerance like the other posters said. The only time I have come close to dumping was on sugar free ice cream. Unfortunately I do not know if it was lactose, or what it was sweetened with or too much fat, but I didn't feel so good for a few hours.
   — zoedogcbr