What is dumping syndrome?
Dumping Syndrome is caused typically by eating foods with high sugar or carbohydrate content on an empty stomach. These substances produce a high osmotic load. Your body handles this by diluting the food particles with water, which reduces blood volume and causes a shock-like state. Sugar may also induce shock due to the altered physiology of your intestinal tract. The result is an unpleasant feeling causing you to break out into a sweat, turn pale white, feel butterflies in your stomach and a pounding pulse. This may be followed by cramps and diarrhea. This state can last thirty to sixty minutes and it is quite uncomfortable- most have to lie down until it goes away. It can be avoided by not eating the foods which cause it, especially on an empty stomach. A small amount of sweets, such as fruit, is well tolerated at the end of a meal. Dumping Syndrome does not occur in patients that have the Lap Band procedure because their intestines are not altered.
Eating sugars or other foods containing many small particles when you have an empty stomach can cause dumping syndrome in patients who have had a gastric bypass where the stomach pylorus is removed. Your body handles these small particles by diluting them with water, which reduces blood volume and causes a shock-like state. Sugar may also induce insulin shock due to the altered physiology of your intestinal tract. The result is a very unpleasant feeling: you break out in a cold clammy sweat, turn pale, feel “butterflies” in your stomach, and have a pounding pulse. Cramps and diarrhea may follow. This state can last for 30-60 minutes and can be quite uncomfortable – you may have to lie down until it goes away. This syndrome can be avoided by not eating the foods that cause it, especially on an empty stomach. A small amount of sweets, such as fruit, can sometimes be well tolerated at the end of a meal.
Eating sugars or other foods containing many small particles when you have an empty stomach can cause dumping syndrome in patients who have had a gastric bypass or BPD where the stomach pylorus is removed. Your body handles these small particles by diluting them with water, which reduces blood volume and causes a shock-like state. Sugar may also induce insulin shock due to the altered physiology of your intestinal tract. The result is a very unpleasant feeling: you break out in a cold clammy sweat, turn pale, feel “butterflies” in your stomach, and have a pounding pulse. Cramps and diarrhea may follow. This state can last for 30-60 minutes and can be quite uncomfortable — you may have to lie down until it goes away. This syndrome can be avoided by not eating the foods that cause it, especially on an empty stomach. A small amount of sweets, such as fruit, can sometimes be well tolerated at the end of a meal.
When you eat pure or refined sugars (high caloric foods), these immediately enter the small bowel causing fluid to rush into the intestine as part of digestion. This action is associated with flushing, sweating, rapid heart beats, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. The degree of dumping depends on the amount and type of food. It usually subsides in 30 minutes. Try to learn what food causes these symptoms such that they are avoided in the future.
A. This term refers to the emptying of concentrated food directly into the small intestine. Gastric bypass surgery empties food from the small stomach pouch directly into the small intestine without first being diluted with fluids in the rest of the stomach. Therefore, whatever you eat empties directly into the small intestine. Sweets and fatty foods irritate the small intestine and causes discomfort. Eating and drinking fluids simultaneously will also cause this dumping syndrome. This is why we recommend waiting half an hour between eating and drinking.
