dumping

I keep seeing everyone post about dumping. What is dumping exactly? I had RNY on 3/23/15 and I do not think I have experienced any "dumping" myself. Am i just lucky to not have experience with this problem? Sorry if I sound a little dumb, but just kinda curious. 

 Dumping is a direct response to undigested sugar pouring into your intestines because you do not have a pyloric valve after RNY.  The sugar creates a rush of fluids that flow from the intestines to the sugar to try to digest it.  This sudden flow of fluid causes symptoms like racing heart (it feels like a heart attack...yes...that bad), dizziness, intestinal cramping, nausea, diarrhea.   It is so bad that you think a trip to the ER is in order.  It starts 20 to 30 minutes after you eat the sugar and usually lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  You would KNOW if you dumped because you would be seriously thinking that you're dying!

Not every stomach issue is dumping.  Drinking too fast or eating too fast will cause discomfort and sometimes you get the "foamies", but it is NOT DUMPING.  Eating or drinking too fast causes food to backup into the esophagus, giving you an uncomfortable feeling in the chest. The saliva glands start to pump in order to dislodge the block, causing "foamies" and usually vomiting.  The discomfort will make you sweaty and flushed, just like when you vomited any other time in your life.

You can not dump on sugar-free food, but you can have an intolerance for the sugar alcohols in them.  Any sugar alcohol that ends in "itol" on the label can cause gastrointestinal distress.  Food intolerances are common after surgery.

Lactose intolerance can cause gastrointestinal distress also (nausea, gas, and diarrhea)

You can not dump from proteins like meat, eggs, or cheese.  You might have an intolerance from the fat...again... NOT DUMPING.

rocky513:  Very well said! 

So you basically get dumping from eating foods with high sugar? what happens when you get dumping syndrome?

I've had a couple of  dumping episodes - not from "sweets" in the traditional sense but from waiting too long to eat or the wrong combination of foods (such as cereal with milk which I will NEVER eat again!)

Here are the symptoms I experienced:

Flushed

Cold sweat

Belly pain - like an old fashioned stomach ache

Feeling like I was going to have a BM - but didn't

Waves of nausea but never threw up

Lightheaded - like I was going to faint

Once the worse passed - I slept for a couple of hours

And in general - yes, I found myself curled up on the bathroom floor. 

Thanks everyone!!!

Rocky said I all😃 better than I could have. 

I don't dump often. Granola Cereal with milk will get me every time.  Ice cream also got me.  For me I think it is the carb heavy plus liquid combination that causes it.

 I am in maintenance btw. I Know these are Occasional foods but for me never again. 

I have a question, is it ever possible not to dump?  I eat sweets on and off, had my surgery a year ago and have not dumped, I wish I would...then I probably would never want anything extra sweet again!

Yes, it is possible, especially if you stay away from sugary foods, but unlikely... usually it is just a matter of how much sugar it takes to make someone dump.  Many of us can eat a fairly high amount of sugar with no ill effect, but there IS a point where too much sugar WILL cause dumping.  Some people just never reach that point because it means too many calories...

Lora