DUMPING SYNDROME AND THE SIDE EFFECT

DESCRIPTION

Dumping syndrome is a condition that can develop after surgery to remove all or part of your stomach or after surgery to bypass your stomach to help you lose weight. 

Also called rapid gastric emptying, dumping syndrome occurs when food, especially sugar, moves from your stomach into your small bowel too quickly.

CAUSES

In dumping syndrome, food and gastric juices from your stomach move to your small intestine in an uncontrolled,
abnormally fast manner.
This is most often related to changes in your stomach associated with surgery. Dumping syndrome can occur after any stomach operation or removal of the esophagus (esophageal).
Gastric bypass surgery for weight loss is the most common cause today.

Signs and symptoms of dumping generally occur right after eating,

syndrome especially

after a meal rich in table sugar (sucrose) or fruit sugar (fructose).

Signs and

symptoms

might include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
•Abdominal cramps
• Diarrhea
• Flushing
• Dizziness, lightheadedness
• Rapid heart rate

PREVENTION

Here are some dietary strategies help maintain good nutrition and your symptoms.
Eat smaller meals.

that can minimize

Try eating five or six small meals a day rather than three larger ones.
•Avoid fluids with meals.
Drink liquids only between meals.
Avoid liquids for a half-hour before eating

and a half-hour after eating.

Change your diet.

Eat more protein — meat, poultry, creamy

peanut butter and fish

— and complex

carbohydrates — oatmeal and other wholeg rain foods high in fiber.

Limit high-sugar foods, such as candy, table sugar, syrup, sodas and juices.
• Chew well.
Chewing food thoroughly before you
swallow can aid digestion.
•Sit upright after eating.
Don’t lie down for 30 to 60 minutes after you eat.
• Increase fiber intake.
Beryllium, guar gum and pectin in food or supplements can delay the absorption of carbohydrates in the small intestine.
• Check with your doctor about drinking
alcohol.
•Consume adequate vitamins, iron and
calcium.
These can sometimes become depleted
following stomach surgery.
TREATMENT

Early dumping syndrome is likely to resolve on its own within three months.
In the meantime, there’s a good chance that diet changes will ease your symptoms. If not, your doctor may recommend
medications or surgery.

Medications

For people with severe signs and
symptoms unrelieved by dietary changes, doctors prescribe nucleotide (Sandostatin) in rare cases.
This anti-diarrhea I drug, taken by injection under your skin (subcutaneously), can slow  emptying of food into the intestine. Possible side effects include nausea, vomiting and stomach upset.
Talk with your doctor about the proper way to self-administer the drug.
Surgery
Doctors use a number of surgical
procedures to treat difficult cases of dumping syndrome that are resistant to more conservative approaches.
Most of these operations are
reconstructive techniques,
reconstructing the pylorus,
intended to reverse gastric bypass surgery.