What is Dumping Syndrome
Dumping syndrome, aka rapid gastric emptying, happens if the small intestine fills too fast with undigested food from the stomach. This dumping can happen in two stages, early and late.
Early stage dumping:
- nausea, diarrhea, bloating, shortness of breath.
Late stage dumping:
- Happens an hour after eating up to about three hours after eating.
- Symptoms include: sweating, weakness and dizziness.
This side effect is not seen in DS patients because that surgery does not remove the pyloric valve and so it’s present to regulate the emptying of the stomach to the small intestine.
Treatment of dumping syndrome
Consists diet, high in protein, and low in carbohydrates and concentrated sugars. Small frequent meals (6 or more per day), with limited liquids during meals are generally recommended. People with severe rapid gastric emptying may need to take prescribed medicine to slow their digestion.Tips to avoid dumping syndrome
- Limit liquids during meals to about 4 ounces or, better yet, wait 1/2 hour to one hour after meals before drinking.
- Limit or avoid sweets and sugars.
- Limit or avoid simple carbohydrates.
- Eat slowly and chew your food well.
- Stay away from acidic foods. Tomatoes and citrus fruits are hard for some people to digest.
- Lying down after a meal may allow food to enter the intestines more slowly and reduce dumping syndrome.
- Often, milk products can cause bloating, abdominal pain and diarrhea. When these symptoms are present low lactose milk products (such as Lactaid) may be tried .
Stages and symptoms
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