Question:
heart attack or Dumping?..............Major DUMPING !

I did a really dumb thing today. I took several of my meds at one time and about 15-20 minutes I experenced back, chest, upper stomach pain. It even hurt to breath. Went and layed down, sat up , but couldn't get any relief. Sweating began to pour out of my body. Then was freezing and had to cover up. I have never experienced anything like this before. I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. I am fine now, except for some tenderness in upper stomach area.(left of incesion). Is this Dumping????? I will NEVER take all my meds at once EVER again. Lesson learned. Do you think I could have hurt my pouch?    — sandy W. (posted on August 21, 2002)

August 21, 2002
I don't know for sure. But I've found that if I take strong pain meds (example codiene) on an empty stomach I get SEVERE pain in my stomach, lower chest, all the way around my back... and it's hard even to talk because of the pain. So I'm assuming it's something to do with our pouch and the meds.
   — Danmark

August 22, 2002
DID YOU CALL YOUR DR???? IF NOT, WHY?
   — DeeDee B.

August 22, 2002
I am just like Daniel. I cannot take any codeine type pill since I had my first surgery 5 years ago. If I do, I get the same symptoms you and he described and if I continue to take them I develop persistent dry heaves (I cannot throw up anymore) that have lasted up to 8 hours. I thought I had developed an allergy to codeine but after Daniel's response I'm wondering if that's true or not. Hmmmm. The only way I can find to get any relief at all when this happens (which it doesn't anymore because I avoid codeine like the plague) was to sit in bed and double over with my head laying on the bed. It still hurt but not quite as bad. If this happens again, you might want to try that while you wait it out and then try to figure out what med may be causing this and get off of it.
   — Kellye C.

August 22, 2002
Hi Sandy, this doesn't sound like dumping. Dumping occurs when you eat too much sugar and sometimes fat. It sounds like you may have gotten your pills stuck by taking them all at once like that, esp. if they are big ones. I would call your dr.s office to ask them about the tenderness, but it sounds like everything passed thru eventually.
   — Ali M

August 22, 2002
I just answered a similar question later in the day so I will post my answer here too! This is so bizarre as I have rarely seen anything about this horrific problem that you described and I too encountered...I think we all need to be warned of possible reactions to codeine meds. I am also 14 months post-op and I had a similar reaction to an oral prescription cough medicine from my doc. I thought I was going to have to go to the emergency room! I didn't know what was wrong..heart attack, whatever? The next day upon speaking to 3 medical folks this was their responses: pharmacist felt it was the codeine in the med hitting my system too quick due to being an RNY, the WLS office said they had not heard of this kind of reaction, and the PCP said "Don't take it anymore" (ha!). I wonder also if now that I have become almost lactose intolerant and allergic to MSG if maybe I developed an allergy to something in the cold med. I had taken some tablets from Advil for cold/flu without any problems the previous week to this reaction. Good Luck!
   — Molly S.

August 27, 2002
That happens to me when I take too many pills or I eat something to fast....it gets stuck! And let me tell you the pain is excrutiating! The first time I thought I was having a heart attack! I also started sweating and feeling like I couldn't breath. Maybe those things got stuck and that's the reason for the symptoms.
   — emilyfink