What Are Some Things That Surprised You After Surgery?

[Beks18 4]

I’ve done a lot of bypass research and found out so much that I didn’t have a clue about prior to research. Things like the foamies, the Constipation, medication absorption, etc. I’m curious to hear about things that surprised you after surgery that your clinical team didn’t tell you and that you might not have come across in your own research beforehand. I want to be as prepared as possible for what’s to come. Give me the good, bad, ugly… all of it.

[SpartanMaker 915]

I think the first thing that comes to mind is just how varied dumping syndrome can be. When the bariatric teams talk about it, they tend to tell you all the symptoms and that it tends to happen pretty quickly after eating.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple or straightforward. Some people may only have one or two symptoms. Others multiple symptoms. For some people it happens really quickly, and for others it can take hours before it begins. Time to recover is also really varied. For some it's over with in 30 minutes or less. Others can be in agony for many, many hours.

As an example, I'm over 2 years out and for the longest time I just assumed I was one of the lucky (or cursed depending of your perspective), people that didn't really have to worry about dumping. I can eat almost anything and not have "typical" dumping syndrome. What I do have is what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, meaning I was having low blood glucose issues ~3 hours of so after eating.

After talking to my bariatric surgeon in my last checkup, she pointed out that what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, is likely just a different form of dumping. Once I started being more careful about not eating a bunch of added sugar without sufficient Protein as a buffer, the symptoms mostly went away.

[toodlerue 453]

Everyone is different! I’m 5years out. My dumping is more like a hot flash with a very upset stomach. I have to lay down until it passes. I never had the foamies but I am nauseous A LOT! Sometimes I can eat a piece of cake with a ton of frosting & it doesn’t bother me. Other times I can’t. I only eat 3.5 oz of food at a time. I never know what my body is going to do. I am also constipated all of the time.
My daughter is 4 y out. She slowly eats 5 meals a day. She has very loose, stinky bowl movements. She can’t eat a lot of sugar & drinks diet Dr Pepper but she would really like to drink regular sodas. I don’t like the taste of diet beverages so I drink an electrolyte replacement beverage.
Bariatric surgery is kinda like pregnancy & your own kids. You don’t know what you are gonna get.
I would like to know if there is a correlation between how much or a percentage of weight you loose & your symptoms afterwards.
Best of luck to you!

[Beks18 4]

2 minutes ago, toodlerue said:

Everyone is different! I’m 5years out. My dumping is more like a hot flash with a very upset stomach. I have to lay down until it passes. I never had the foamies but I am nauseous A LOT! Sometimes I can eat a piece of cake with a ton of frosting & it doesn’t bother me. Other times I can’t. I only eat 3.5 oz of food at a time. I never know what my body is going to do. I am also constipated all of the time.
My daughter is 4 y out. She slowly eats 5 meals a day. She has very loose, stinky bowl movements. She can’t eat a lot of sugar & drinks diet Dr Pepper but she would really like to drink regular sodas. I don’t like the taste of diet beverages so I drink an electrolyte replacement beverage.
Bariatric surgery is kinda like pregnancy & your own kids. You don’t know what you are gonna get.
I would like to know if there is a correlation between how much or a percentage of weight you loose & your symptoms afterwards.
Best of luck to you!

Do you have regrets because of the nausea and Constipation, or would you still choose the surgery if you could go back and do it all over again? I’ve heard that it can be drastically different from person to person and it so interesting to hear all the different perspectives!

[Beks18 4]

2 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

I think the first thing that comes to mind is just how varied dumping syndrome can be. When the bariatric teams talk about it, they tend to tell you all the symptoms and that it tends to happen pretty quickly after eating.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple or straightforward. Some people may only have one or two symptoms. Others multiple symptoms. For some people it happens really quickly, and for others it can take hours before it begins. Time to recover is also really varied. For some it's over with in 30 minutes or less. Others can be in agony for many, many hours.

As an example, I'm over 2 years out and for the longest time I just assumed I was one of the lucky (or cursed depending of your perspective), people that didn't really have to worry about dumping. I can eat almost anything and not have "typical" dumping syndrome. What I do have is what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, meaning I was having low blood glucose issues ~3 hours of so after eating.

After talking to my bariatric surgeon in my last checkup, she pointed out that what I was calling reactive hypoglycemia, is likely just a different form of dumping. Once I started being more careful about not eating a bunch of added sugar without sufficient Protein as a buffer, the symptoms mostly went away.

Interesting! What kind of symptoms go along with your type of dumping episodes? If it feels like reactive hypoglycemia then I’m imagining it makes you pretty tired, weak, sluggish. Have you dealt with the terrible Constipation that a lot of others talk about?

[SpartanMaker 915]

23 minutes ago, Beks18 said:

Interesting! What kind of symptoms go along with your type of dumping episodes? If it feels like reactive hypoglycemia then I’m imagining it makes you pretty tired, weak, sluggish. Have you dealt with the terrible Constipation that a lot of others talk about?

My hypoglycemia symptoms are mostly dizziness & shakiness. It passes quickly if I eat something to get my blood sugar back up. I don't have a problem with Constipation at this point. I did early on, but now that I can eat more, I eat pretty well, with lots of veggies, fruit & whole grains (fiber). I also take Probiotics and Fiber supplements to stay regular.