By far, the worst “side effect” of gastric bypass surgery is the dumping. I knew what it was going into the surgery process (and it was, in part, why I was so adamantly against having gastric bypass up until I met with my surgeon and had an honest discussion about gastric bypass vs. adjustable band), and even though I don’t have the more severe and painful side effects of dumping that a lot of post-ops experience, what I experience is more than enough to make me miserable and 150% regretful about whatever it was that I ate or drank to induce the dumping.
But let me backtrack and explain what Dumping Syndrome is, for those of you that don’t know (and worse, those of you that assume I’m talking about bowel movements. I talk about a lot of shit online — no pun intended — but actual shit & the process of taking one is not a subject I usually tackle!). Dumping is the term used to describe what the body basically goes through when it’s hit with a sudden overload of sugar (and in some cases, starches or fats). In gastric bypass patients, the valve that controls when food leaves the stomach is no longer functional, and approximately three feet of the small intestine — the three feet that normally metabolize sugars — are completely bypassed. The sugary onslaught causes a range of symptoms, the most common being:
- stomach cramps
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- nausea
- headache
- fatigue
- faintness
- dizziness
- heart palpitations
- tachycardia (fast heartbeat)
- sudden drop in blood pressure
Fortunately I don’t experience cramping, vomiting or diarrhea, but I do experience EVERY OTHER THING ON THAT LIST. It’s a miserable experience, let me tell you. It comes on out of nowhere, usually lasts 15-60 minutes, and after it subsides I’m just exhausted and usually crawl off to sleep (if I can).
I have learned from experience that my personal limit for sugar intake in one sitting is about 20g. Any more than that and I’ll dump (as evidenced by the 24g worth of sugar in Panera Bread’s muffie that I dumped on. So I do my best to be careful, especially if I’m out, or if I’m home alone with the kids (note the fatigue, which in my case is more like extreme drowsiness, and the desire to crawl off to sleep afterwards).
Well, I royally screwed up on Monday evening. I was at Panera Bread, and had settled into working. I had a mango & strawberry smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie as my meal (healthy, I know). Because I was busy working, I wasn’t paying attention to how much of the damn smoothie I was consuming, along with the cookie I was eating. I ate the cookie and sucked down about half of the smoothie in a 15 minute period. The dumping… oh my GOD. I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was, except to say take the list of symptoms that I have (everything in the list minus cramps, vomiting and diarrhea) and multiply it times ten. It was so much worse than any dumping episode I’ve had so far. I was seriously out of it. I couldn’t focus, I could barely type, and to be honest there were several points where it felt like I was fighting just to stay conscious.
I made it home after just sitting there reeling in my misery for a good 45 minutes, and I went right to bed and stayed there for most of the night. Today I checked out Panera Bread’s nutrition menu and felt like smacking myself — between the half of the smoothie and the entire cookie I consumed 56g of sugar. That’s just about three times my limit! No wonder I felt like I was about to die… ugh.
So, lessons learned:
- Don’t eat and drink at the same time (the smoothie most likely washed the cookie into my system faster, which certainly didn’t help matters!)
- Don’t eat or drink a non-water beverage while working or doing anything that requires focus
- Don’t dump and drive (I had the AC & radio blasting to keep me “with it” enough to get home safely)
- Boycott Panera Bread’s smoothies!!!
I thought about having the surgery but I don’t think I could do it. You look amazing though (I follow your website & flickr.) Is dumping something that eventually goes away, or is it something you’ll have to deal with forever?
sorry to hear about the side effects, that really sucks! i hope it goes away soon or you are able to limit your sugar intake so you don’t have to experience them anymore!
Wow. Every time you mention dumping, I have a mental image of you having to vomit what you just ate up and I was thinking that has GOT to get old! This post really wiped that out. I’m glad you don’t suffer from EVERY symptom that dumping can provide, but I’m still sorry to hear that you experience it at all. Is there any way you’ll be able to outgrow (for lack of a better word) dumping? Is the best think you can do to control it is by watching your sugar intake?
@Mika:
Ditto to what Mika said^^. I too, had the same thoughts as Mika did that every time you mention dumping, I also had a mental image of you throwing up what you just ate. I’m glad you don’t have every symptom/side effect on that list. I hope the bad side effects will subside soon!
Jenn .. you are strong enough. You can do this.
Don’t let dumping stop you from what you wanted to accomplish.