The Dumping Syndrome

Many patients experience the Dumping Syndrome after weight loss surgery.

The post-gastric bypass diet is specially formulated for three purposes – to give you all the nutrients your healing body needs, to help you lose weight quickly, and to avoid the uncomfortable symptoms of the dumping syndrome.

Symptoms of Dumping Syndrome

If the wrong foods are eaten after gastric bypass, you may experience nausea, rapid heartbeat, diarrhea and a cold and clammy feeling. These symptoms can be particularly upsetting if they occur in public, so you must stick to the diet even when you eat out.

The dumping syndrome is very uncomfortable, so few people have any trouble avoiding the wrong foods after the first encounter with the symptoms. In fact, the dumping syndrome may be one of the reasons why gastric bypass patients are able to lose weight in the first year so much faster than patients who have undergone a surgery using the LAP-BAND® system, which does not seem to cause this particular complication. The dumping syndrome causes behavior-modification in much the same way Antabuse helps alcoholics kick their drinking habit.

Preventing symptoms of the Dumping Syndrome in the first weeks after surgery

During the first few weeks after surgery, while you are still on your liquid diet, you must avoid any yogurt that has been sweetened with sugar or which contains fruit chunks. The sugar would cause nausea or cramping, and in the first few weeks after surgery the fruit chunks could block the opening from the stomach into your intestinal tract.

You will be sipping water, tea, low calorie (non-carbonated) beverages or skim milk throughout the day. High-calorie drinks that have been sweetened with sugar will bring on the uncomfortable symptoms of dumping syndrome, (and they certainly won’t help you lose weight).

Living with your new diet and lifestyle

Dumping syndrome symptoms are usually less noticeable about a year after your surgery, but may never go away entirely. You should expect to make a lifelong change to your diet.

Foods with high sugar content, red meats, foods high in fat, and liquids drunk with your meal will cause the symptoms.

Since protein is needed for you to heal properly after your surgery, you may be asked to take liquid protein supplements in place of one of your meals each day. Some protein supplements contain sugar, and these must be avoided because of the dumping syndrome. Your obesity center will give you a list of brands that you can safely drink.

To avoid constipation, you must consume enough liquids throughout the day, but not within 30 minutes of a meal. Your nutritional advisor will give you a list of drinks to choose from. You will be asked to avoid carbonated soft drinks, which cause bloating, alcohol and sweetened fruit drinks.

You will need to follow the gastric bypass diet carefully in order to get all the nutrients your body needs, even while eating very small quantities of food. This is not an easy task, especially when so many foods will bring on the nausea and diarrhea or the dumping syndrome. To give yourself the very best chance of success after your surgery, you will want to follow the dietary recommendations carefully.

In fact, most centers will advise you to continue with nutritional and behavioral counseling indefinitely, because it helps you make these drastic changes to your lifestyle. Studies have shown that post-gastric bypass patients who receive ongoing support are the ones most likely to have a successful long-term outcome, even long after they have learned to control their diet enough to avoid the uncomfortable symptoms of dumping syndrome.