Late Gastric Dumping Syndrome

[RichMack 35]

Why we should not drink alcohol, and or eat sugars. Last night I had a cocktail. This particular drink itself was very high in sugar and I knew I should not have been drinking it. To add to this I cheated a little and enjoyed 3 starburst candies, which I washed down with my super sugary alcoholic libation causing is to dump directly into my small intestine. Shortly there after I had some pretty strong heart palpitations which subsided after a few minutes. I attributed this to dehydration, so in incorporated some Water into my drinking while still working on my cocktail. fast forward about 1.5 hours later I stood up from my bed quickly and got tunnel vision horribly almost going down as my legs kept buckling under me. Looked like a really bad new age dance move i suppose. I made it back to bed thinking dehydration still. Fast forward 30 more minutes. I arose to use the restroom, steadied myself in case i got light headed again. All seemed good. I made my way into the restroom, and woke up a moment later on the bathroom floor repeatedly bouncing my face off the bathroom tiles.

It seems, unbeknownst to me that I caused myself to go hypoglycemic with all that sugar moving too rapidly into my small intestine. My body produced an abundance of insulin to deal with the sugars this caused the earlier erratic heart beat, and later all that insulin dropped my blood sugar too low causing me to faint for the first time in my life. Here I sit now with a likely broken nose, a nice knot on my forehead, and bruises on my hip knee and elbow. None of this compares to the damage it did to my wife to hear me crash to the ground and come running in to find me flopping around on the floor like i was seizing. In conclusion, all of this was perfectly avoidable. I did it to myself and have the marks to remind me of it. I will not be drinking any more alcohol at all, and evidently I wont be able to enjoy the occasional cheat treat. I am not writing this to scare anyone. From what I've read, only a small percentage of people ever suffer dumping syndrome, and of those only 25% experience the late dumping syndrome. I guess I fall into that small percentage. Also I wanted to point out that not all dumping syndrome involve cramps, diarrhea and the such. Especially for those of us that were diabetic pre-op. You can have this type of dumping syndrome and like myself not have the tell tell signs most people associate dumping syndrome with.

Edited August 6, 2018 by RichMack

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

Wow, how scary. Glad you're all right except for your war wounds. Thank you for sharing.

[James Marusek 5,244]

Sorry to hear about your scary episode. It is a little bit common for some individuals to experience a type of hypoglycemia called "reactive hypoglycemia". It seems a little soon because you are less than 5 months post-op. But in your case the alcohol may have played a part. I remember the first time I had a little wine post-op, it almost threw me for a loop.

Here is a couple links to the condition.

https://www.ridgeviewmedical.org/services/bariatric-weight-loss/enewsletter-articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-postgastric-bypass/

https://www.stjoes.ca/patients-visitors/patient-education/f-j/PD 7972 Reactive Hypoglycemia after Bariatric Surgery.pdf