How did you figure out if you had dumping syndrome?

[Arabesque 7,594]

The stuck feeling is usually associated with the foamies: just the first stage. For me I feel like something’s stuck, then get a hacking cough to try to bring it up, start producing a thicker saliva (how it got its name) which I spit up, then I regurgitate the last thing I ate. After there’s pretty instant relief whereas dumping lasts for ages & knocks you about. Sometimes I experience the full gamut of the foamies stages, other times I only get part way through the stages. Well that’s how it is for me. I don’t get them very often at all

The tightness across your chest (like you have to thump your chest to relieve it) is your restriction. It will kick in if you eat too fast, too much, eat too coarse or too dry food, etc. On a bad day I sometimes get the restriction & then a couple of stages of the foamies.

We have slightly different experiences of dumping & foamies attacks & for what might set it off (your triggers). I just discovered being dehydrated will set off the foamies for me.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Arabesque

[ShoppGirl 5,072]

I am 8 months out and I have tested it with sweets because if I’m gonna get it I want to be home when it happens. I have only tested it once but I ate half of a candy bar and it did nothing. I have not yet tested it with high fat because I don’t really cook anything like that. I figure before I ever get anything like that at a restaurant I will have to get it to go to make sure it doesn’t cause issues.

[SleeverSk 635]

The worst fatty food i have tried was kfc chicken tenders, didnt have an issue and i didnt have an issue with lollies either or chocolate 😲 or coke or bread 😲😲 which could in the long run be a bad thing. I can have a handful of chips but anymore than that it sit yucky but no foamies or anything. Some of us are lucky in that regard or unlucky as getting thev oamies certainly would be a huge deturant from eating those types of foods

[learn2cook 627]

On 12/09/2021 at 18:31, cheryl o said:

thats what i want to know. Today i had a cup of chicken Soup, and ate too fast, had chest pain, and threw it up. Im gonna be 6 weeks post op, had RNY and the most structure food ive eaten is just chicken Soup and 1egg. That pain in my chest, thats not dumping correct? Im still doing yogurt and Protein Drinks daily. im terrified of solid food and feel "safe " this way. Oh, and im loosing hair, started at 3 weeks post op

Sent from my SM-G973U using BariatricPal mobile app

Yeah, what you had sounds like restriction or not chewing enough. I had RNY and hiatal hernia repair. I’ve read on here it takes longer to heal and it was true for me. I do dump too, mostly from sugar, or sugar/fat combo and it feels worse that getting food stuck. Food stuck hurts badly and the first time took 6 hours to resolve. Dumping is like Ms. Sss said, like shaking cold and hot sweats and stuff coming out both ends. I got dizzy and heard ringing in my ears like my whole body went into shock. There was definite heart racing too. The tiredness afterward is like after having a baby. Christmas at the in-laws should be interesting.

Give yourself time to adjust to food. It took me four months to get off ground meat. Now I can eat steak. You will get there.

[DaisyAndSunshine 303]

On 12/10/2021 at 9:38 PM, Arabesque said:

The tightness across your chest (like you have to thump your chest to relieve it) is your restriction. It will kick in if you eat too fast, too much, eat too coarse or too dry food, etc. On a bad day I sometimes get the restriction & then a couple of stages of the foamies.

The tightness across the chest, I have got that 3x, and that's with breads/crackers. I tried little piece of pizza, same tightness and hurt. Happened with English muffin and even thin whole wheat crackers. Seems like any grainy carbs don't work for me. Either that or I am not taking enough time chewing the food.

So I may just avoid those for now and may be try again 3 months post-op.

Since there was New Year's get together, I tried a little piece of chocolate (lindor small stick, about 75 gram) while I was by myself in case I had to eat something at the gathering. And also was curious if I would dump, which I didn't actually. Though I ate the chocolate after having tofu. So not sure if that makes a difference. Either that or may be I don't specifically dump per se. Or may be with bigger quality I may. Who knows. I have also tried small pieces of fried snack, which haven't bothered me so far. Let's see how it goes.

Ofc, I wouldn't wanna take advantage of my non-dumping status (if that's the case). Will be making sure not to indulge in heavy sugar except for rare exceptions.

Edited January 2, 2022 by DaisyAndSunshine

[GradyCat 3,697]

I don't think I'd try to see if I could make myself "dump" 😀 I think if you had it, you'd know it. Plus it's not that common and kinda hard to happen, Just keep following the protocols set out by your surgeon and you'll avoid getting dumping syndrome

[Arabesque 7,594]

17 hours ago, DaisyAndSunshine said:

The tightness across the chest, I have got that 3x, and that's with breads/crackers. I tried little piece of pizza, same tightness and hurt. Happened with English muffin and even thin whole wheat crackers. Seems like any grainy carbs don't work for me. Either that or I am not taking enough time chewing the food.

So I may just avoid those for now and may be try again 3 months post-op.

Since there was New Year's get together, I tried a little piece of chocolate (lindor small stick, about 75 gram) while I was by myself in case I had to eat something at the gathering. And also was curious if I would dump, which I didn't actually. Though I ate the chocolate after having tofu. So not sure if that makes a difference. Either that or may be I don't specifically dump per se. Or may be with bigger quality I may. Who knows. I have also tried small pieces of fried snack, which haven't bothered me so far. Let's see how it goes.

Ofc, I wouldn't wanna take advantage of my non-dumping status (if that's the case). Will be making sure not to indulge in heavy sugar except for rare exceptions.

Not everyone dumps. Think it’s less than a third of bypass patients who do. So odds are you won’t dump or it may only happen with excessive sugars or fats when you can’t manage your intake.

Many of us are advised to avoid breads, crackers, etc. & only reintroduce them from maintenance. Even if they are allowed on your plan doesn’t mean you can tolerate these types of cabs yet. They can be too heavy & are too filling which is likely why your restriction kicked in.

[DaisyAndSunshine 303]

1 hour ago, Arabesque said:

Not everyone dumps. Think it’s less than a third of bypass patients who do. So odds are you won’t dump or it may only happen with excessive sugars or fats when you can’t manage your intake.

Many of us are advised to avoid breads, crackers, etc. & only reintroduce them from maintenance. Even if they are allowed on your plan doesn’t mean you can tolerate these types of cabs yet. They can be too heavy & are too filling which is likely why your restriction kicked in.

Yeh, I have been aware of 30% number thanks to this forum. So may be I fall in the other 70%. At least for now lol.

And my program does want us to include grains to get some of the nutrients naturally. They do include breads, crackers, rice, Pasta, quinoa etc etc. I have only tried breads and crackers for now. Others not yet. Though I did try semolina and I can eat that fine.

But like you said, when I ate the bread (1/8th of the bread), thin crackers (1 cracker) or even 2 small bites of pizza, they just seem heavy and loaded. Plus I don't really crave then per se. So I'll keep them at bay for now till few months down the road.

I'll stick to making yummy vegetable curries, fruits and Protein for now.

[Soon2bFit21 109]

I’ve only dumped twice- both times were on modest portions of higher quality ice creams oddly enough (I’ve never had an issue with sugar or fats outside of this). I’m VSG and symptoms were heart palpitations/rapid heart rate, nausea, bloating, shakiness, and lethargy. I had to go to bed and sleep it off both times, it’s almost as if I couldn’t stay awake.

I know many confuse the “foamies” with dumping, I’ve never experienced the same sides I get with the foamies as I did when I dumped.

[Lifestyle Changer 49]

I’m 2 months post op and I’ve had the tightness in my chest. Boy does that hurt. Usually I get it from either eating/drinking too fast or not chewing my food enough. It takes awhile for the tightness to dissipate.
I’ve had the dumps one time since surgery. I love bananas and always had them with my Breakfast before surgery. I decided to eat half of a banana for a snack. Shortly afterwards I thought I was having an anxiety attack. Then the sweats, bad cramps, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea. It turned out to be from the banana I ate. I found out that bananas are loaded with sugar.

[pintsizedmallrat 475]

5 hours ago, Lifestyle Changer said:

I’m 2 months post op and I’ve had the tightness in my chest. Boy does that hurt. Usually I get it from either eating/drinking too fast or not chewing my food enough. It takes awhile for the tightness to dissipate.
I’ve had the dumps one time since surgery. I love bananas and always had them with my Breakfast before surgery. I decided to eat half of a banana for a snack. Shortly afterwards I thought I was having an anxiety attack. Then the sweats, bad cramps, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea. It turned out to be from the banana I ate. I found out that bananas are loaded with sugar.

The single incident of dumping syndrome I've had was banana baby food about 3 weeks after my surgery--and I didn't know that's what it was at the time because I have a sleeve and I thought dumping only happened to bypass patients...but I fainted in the bathroom after having made a mad dash due to "urgency". My SO called an ambulance and I ended up in the ER, and it was there after they consulted with my surgeon's office that they told me it was likely dumping syndrome. That was the first time I had sugar after my procedure and I've since been able to eat limited amounts of other fruits (I'm 3 1/2 months post-op now), but I had to proceed with caution when introducing them.

[Lifestyle Changer 49]

4 hours ago, pintsizedmallrat said:

The single incident of dumping syndrome I've had was banana baby food about 3 weeks after my surgery--and I didn't know that's what it was at the time because I have a sleeve and I thought dumping only happened to bypass patients...but I fainted in the bathroom after having made a mad dash due to "urgency". My SO called an ambulance and I ended up in the ER, and it was there after they consulted with my surgeon's office that they told me it was likely dumping syndrome. That was the first time I had sugar after my procedure and I've since been able to eat limited amounts of other fruits (I'm 3 1/2 months post-op now), but I had to proceed with caution when introducing them.

I’ve done a lot of research before my surgery. Also before and after bariatric surgery we are required to attend a number of classes with the nutritionists. Then the nutritionists explains in detail of how our surgeries are a tool to eating healthy foods in smaller amounts. She also makes sure that everyone in the class understands the symptoms are for “dumping”. My nutritionist explained to me that dumping isn’t just from eating cakes or other bakery foods, it can also be caused from certain fruits that are high sugar such as bananas.

[incredibleshrinkingnurse 21]

It’s really strange but I’m 6.5 years out from VSG and I get all those dumping symptoms sometimes 3-4 hours after eating. It doesn’t seem to matter what I ate, although I’ve noticed Peanut Butter seems to do it frequently. I’ve been eating low carb/semi-keto for months so I’m not sure why it’s happening. I’m going in for a ph and manometry screen soon, hopefully that will give some answers!

[biggirlbucketlist 2]

Man oh man, I did it my mistake and boy am I traumatized. 3 weeks post-op and we went on a road trip to Sedona. I thought I was so clever going to Whole Foods and looking for Soup to eat while we were away since it was easy and I was still in the pureed stage. I came across Bone Broth soup with 15 grams of Protein I was like SCORE! I thought this was the ultimate solution to Protein Shake burn out because I love savory things.

So there I was, in a beautiful little AirBnb overlooking a peaceful creek, sipping slowly on my bone broth soup thinking I was *peak* health goals, when I felt it... the cramps. the nausea. the poops. Oh LORD, the dizziness, the shakes, the heart pounding, the 'holy **** am I dying?' feeling. It lasted for about an hour, and while I was wondering what the hell was happening to my body, I googled dumping syndrome. Little old me thought that I could avoid dumping by avoiding sugar. I don't know why the heck it never occurred to me that bone broth soup is FULL of fat. Fat caused the dumping, since my little mug of soup had over 15 g of fat.

SO, lesson learned. Pass it on friends. Dumping is the devil!