The Good, the Fat and the Hungry - The joys of gastric bypass dumping syndrome

Welcome to the Good, the Fat and the Hungry. I'm Karla and I have been -- or am -- all those things. Here, I will share with you my lifelong struggle with my weight and I hope you'll follow along on with my determined attempt to lose nearly 40 pounds. I promise to tell you every win and setback along the way every Tuesday and Friday.

There aren't any. Just plain misery is associated with those words that can make any gastric bypass patient shudder. Nearly three years out and I thought dumping was a thing of the past. Until Tuesday night.

Most gastric bypass patients are aware of or have heard the horror stories of dumping. It occurs in patients who suffer malabsorption of sugar. Lap band patients typically do not have this problem since the entire stomach remains in tact and works fully. For those of us who underwent some type of stomach separation, the new smaller stomach does not produce enough acid to break down most sugars. When sugar is ingested it causes a violent reaction consisting of cold chills, profuse sweating, diarrhea and vomiting. In addition to these symptoms that typically occur simultaneously, there are violent stomach cramps.

Early on, the stories of dumping were enough to create a severe aversion to sugar in me. Over time, that wore off and I began to get more daring in crossing the sugar line. My surgeon's guidelines were to avoid anything that listed sugar in its many different names as one of the first four ingredients. Initially, I hailed this as gospel and would avoid any and everything that failed the first four test. My first dance with sugar was in the form of a cookie. I nibbled a little and waited for dumping to ensue. It did not so being the adventurer that I am, I nibbled some more. A bit more nibbling and my first cookie was history. Eventually I began to recognize my limits with sweets and would stay within it to avoid dumping. Until Tuesday night.

Even now I have no idea what I ate that caused it but suddenly, I was in full blown dumping mode with all symptoms full speed ahead. This episode of which I have only suffered two prior was the worst imaginable. In addition to the violent heaving, I am recovering from abdominoplasty which means that my abdomen and any extra movement of it is exceptionally painful. Needless to say that I will make sure I stay on the right side of the sugar line because no matter how long ago my surgery was, dumping syndrome makes it feel like yesterday. Dumping syndrome does resolve over time for some but not me. Any episode of dumping is one too many.

SURGERY UPDATE: I had one of three drains removed and expect the other two to be removed on Tuesday or Thursday of next week depending on output. My stitches were removed from my navel and my surgeon is pleased. The drain removal was excruciating and even though she offered to remove another one, I feared I would pass out if I had to sit through the pain of another one. Next week I'll take pain meds first. More to come...