How to Prevent Dumping Syndrome with Gastric Sleeve

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Dumping syndrome doesn’t sound pleasant, does it? Speaking from experience, it’s not, and you should try to avoid it at all costs. Dumping happens when you eat too many trigger foods – ones high in fat, sugar or refined carbohydrates. You feel bloated, sick, tired and may have a rapid heart rate. You can find relief from these symptoms in a few ways, but the main course of action you should take is to stick to the basic bariatric habits you learn during your pre-op education. Dumping with gastric sleeve can occur, but can also be prevented by avoiding trigger foods and staying focused on your bariatric lifestyle.

What Is Dumping Syndrome?

Dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve or certain other types of bariatric surgery is also called rapid gastric emptying. It happens when food moves too quickly from the stomach to the small intestines, according to Bariatric Surgery Source. It frequently happens after eating foods high in fat, refined carbohydrates or sugar. Remember that protein is king after bariatric surgery, and one of the reasons it’s so important for your body is that it is a dense food that takes longer to digest, thus making you fuller for longer. Foods that are trigger foods with dumping syndrome, like simple carbohydrates or sugar are liquid by the time they hit your stomach. They then slide too quickly through the stomach and dump into the small intestines.

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This rapid dumping of a trigger food causes a few responses in the body. One response is it signals the pancreas to release more insulin because a high amount of sugar just got dumped into the bloodstream. To balance the sugar, the pancreas releases more insulin, thus causing your blood sugar to get too low. Since glucose is your body’s main energy source, it often leaves you feeling tired, lethargic and faint. This response is often associated with hypoglycemia and happens a few hours after eating.

Another response your body has to food that moved too quickly through your stomach is that it didn’t have time to properly digest it. The small intestines recognize the food isn’t digested as it should be, so it rapidly draws water from your body into the intestines to help move the food along the digestive tract. This causes lower GI tract symptoms, like diarrhea. Either situation makes you feel generally unwell and includes a variety of other symptoms as well.

Symptoms of Early Dumping Syndrome

Because of the different responses to the trigger foods, dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve and other types of bariatric surgery are divided into two distinct classes. Early dumping syndrome occurs within 30 minutes of eating a meal that contains those trigger foods. Of note, sometimes you can eat a food one day and be fine. The next time you eat the food, it can cause dumping syndrome. Your new pouch after bariatric surgery will be finicky sometimes. Some of the symptoms of early dumping syndrome according to Bariatric Surgery Source are:

• Bloating
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Heart palpitations
• Nausea
• Rapid heart rate
• Sweating
• Vomiting

Sounds great, right? Well, the positive aspect of early dumping syndrome is just the very threat of it can help you say no to tempting treats. No one wants to be sick in their stomach, and just the very real possibility that it could happen is enough to make you think twice before eating a trigger food. And if you’ve experienced dumping syndrome before, it really will deter you from eating the foods that are not on a bariatric lifestyle.

RELATED CONTENT: Want to learn the 10 changes you need to make in your life to be successful with bariatric surgery? Get our free download here!

I can remember one time I had early dumping syndrome. I was craving an iced coffee, and I usually get one with sugar-free vanilla syrup, skim milk and Equal. Well this time, the restaurant must have made it with the regular sugary syrup. I was driving home from a trip that day and within about 15 minutes of starting to drink this coffee, I started feeling awful. I was sweating and got so hot, I started taking off my jacket and rolling up my sleeve. It was late October, and I rolled down my window. My heart was racing, and I almost had to pull over to vomit. There was no place to stop on the highway to get relief either. It was an awful experience, and you can bet I never ate there again.

Symptoms of Late Dumping Syndrome

Late dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve, on the other hand, can be extremely dangerous if it’s leading to hypoglycemia. You will usually get these symptoms one to three hours after eating a meal. If you start experiencing weird symptoms a few hours after you eat, it’s a good idea to keep a detailed food journal. This way, you’ll be able to see if certain foods are triggering these events. Every person is different after surgery, so you need to pay attention to how your body responds to different foods and drinks you’re consuming. Certain foods may trigger this late dumping syndrome, which can lead to some alarming symptoms. According to Bariatric Surgery Source, these symptoms include:

• Anxiety
• Dizziness
• Fatigue
• Mental changes
• Hunger (to balance the low-blood sugar)
• Weakness
• Diarrhea
• Fainting
• Heart palpitations
• Rapid heart rate
• Sweating

I’ve personally never experienced late dumping syndrome, at least not that I’ve noticed. When the symptoms happen so far away from eating, it can be hard to link the two, which is why I suggested the detailed food journal. However, I have seen many people in my bariatric support groups online who developed hypoglycemia due to the late dumping syndrome after bariatric surgery. It can sometimes lead to very dangerous and scary situations, like fainting on a bus or while working around the home alone. If you experience any sort of these symptoms, please contact your bariatric physician right away.

RELATED CONTENT: Want to learn the 10 changes you need to make in your life to be successful with bariatric surgery? Get our free download here!

Dumping Syndrome Treatment

If you experience dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve, there are several options you have to treat it. I also want to add in here that dumping syndrome isn’t exclusive to gastric sleeve, it can also happen in gastric bypass and duodenal switch patients. Any person who surgically alters the size and shape of their digestive tract is at risk. People at lower risk are those who had the gastric band or gastric balloon procedures. If you are at risk and have dumping syndrome symptoms, there are a few tricks you can do:

• Drink warm lemon water. I’m not sure about the science behind this trick, but it worked for me in the past. I have friends who swear by it and even freeze lemons specifically for this purpose. I’m guessing something with the acid in the lemon neutralizes some of the discomforts and eases symptoms.
• Lie down. I know conventionally you aren’t supposed to lie down after eating, but lying down after surgery will help slow down digestion, helping the food move slower from the stomach to small intestines. However, if you have acid reflux, laying down within three hours of eating may worsen your symptoms.
• Ride it out. I know it’s not pleasant, but sometimes you just have to let it pass. Recline if you can, sip some water to remain hydrated, and take care of yourself.

RELATED CONTENT: Want to learn the 10 changes you need to make in your life to be successful with bariatric surgery? Get our free download here!

Preventing Dumping Syndrome with Gastric Sleeve

As I mentioned earlier, our bodies are a little finicky after bariatric surgery. When it comes to dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve, it can sometimes be unpredictable about how your body will respond to food. Sometimes you can eat something and be fine, and the next time, you’ll be in agony. The same is true the opposite way. You might have an aversion to something when you first try it post-op, but a few months later may be tolerated well. It’s important to keep trying new healthy foods and avoid the foods that don’t fit in a bariatric lifestyle. Some other tips to prevent dumping syndrome include:

• Avoid trigger foods, like those high in fat, refined carbohydrates or sugar.
• Don’t drink when you eat, as doing so can push the food too quickly from the stomach to the small intestines.
• Avoid foods that are too hot or too cold, as this can cause similar reactions
• Eat five to six small meals a day instead of three bigger meals
• Take your bariatric vitamins regularly
• Eat plenty of protein, complex carbohydrates like vegetables and fiber

Bariatric Lifestyle Changes

The thing that strikes me the most about dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve is that if you stick to the bariatric habits you learn during your pre-op education, you can mostly avoid the risk of dumping syndrome. One of my missions here is to help you make the permanent lifestyle changes necessary to lose weight with bariatric surgery. One way I do that is by providing you with a Bariatric Beginner’s Guide, which is a free download you can get that outlines the steps you need to take to be successful with bariatric surgery. If you are considering bariatric surgery, you need to get this guide.

If you are ready to take things a step further and want to implement the changes into your life, you should check out my Bariatric Beginner’s Workbook. It takes those steps I mention in the Bariatric Beginner’s Guide and goes into detail on why they’re important and how to implement them. There are progress charts, habit trackers and motivation throughout. You can go here to purchase your digital copy today! Just imagine if you could finally take the necessary steps to lose weight for good. What if you could chase after your kids and play with them instead of sitting on the sidelines? It’s possible. Check out my Bariatric Beginner’s Workbook today to learn how.

Banish Dumping Syndrome

Those habits that you establish as a pre-op bariatric patient are vital for your weight loss success after surgery, but also to avoid dumping syndrome. After bariatric surgery, there may come a time when you’re tempted to eat a big slice of triple chocolate cake, but you’ll remember this post and be too scared to try it. Dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve in unpleasant, to put it mildly. You feel awful, and you swear to yourself you’ll never do it again. The racing heart, anxiety, sweating, diarrhea and stomach pains just aren’t worth it. Dumping syndrome with gastric sleeve can be prevented by avoiding the trigger foods and sticking with a bariatric lifestyle.

If this article gave you some great ideas to incorporate into your life, just imagine what other amazing strategies I have for you! Share this post on social media by clicking one of the sharing buttons, and don’t forget to join my email list! You’ll be the first to get updates, access to my new products and lots of tips, inspiration and motivation to help in your bariatric surgery journey. Just for joining, I’ll send you a free Bariatric Beginner’s Guide to get you started, as well as some other pretty awesome goodies to keep you motivated. Join today!

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