Dumping syndrome occurs when food, especially sugar, moves too quickly from the stomach to the duodenum—the first part of the small intestine—in the upper gastrointestinal tract. This condition is also called rapid gastric emptying.
When food moves too quickly from your stomach to your duodenum, your digestive tract releases more hormones than normal. Fluid also moves from your blood stream into your small intestine. Experts think that the excess hormones and movement of fluid into your small intestine cause the symptoms of early dumping syndrome.
Most cases of dumping syndrome are successfully treated with dietary adjustments. Specifically, meals should be divided so that smaller portions of food are consumed with greater frequency, and liquids should not be consumed until 30 minutes after each meal.
Under normal circumstances, dumping syndrome is not dangerous or life-threatening. A severe case can cause rapid weight loss and nutritional deficiencies. Persistent, unmanaged diarrhea can cause dehydration, but these complications can usually be managed or prevented with self-care.
Dumping Syndrome: Causes of the Late Phase
The symptoms of this late phase may happen due to a rapid rise and fall in blood sugar levels. The cause of this rapid swing in blood sugar may be worse when eating sweets or other simple carbohydrates.
Eat more protein, including meat, poultry, creamy peanut butter and fish, and complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal and other whole-grain foods high in fiber. Limit high-sugar foods, such as candy, table sugar, syrup, sodas and juices. The natural sugar in dairy products (lactose) might worsen your symptoms.
Following your dietitian's nutritional plan and staying away from high fat and high sugar foods is a must. Patients should also avoid drinking any kind of liquid with a meal. Rather drink water and other liquids 45 minutes before or after a meal.
Dumping syndrome may result in either weight loss or weight gain. In severe cases, dumping syndrome is associated with a substantial reduction in quality of life and significant weight loss as a result of avoidance of food intake 15.
Oral glucose tolerance test
For the test, you'll drink a solution that contains glucose, a form of sugar. A health care professional will take blood samples and check your blood pressure and heart rate before you drink the glucose solution and then every 30 minutes for up to 3 hours.
Doctors may prescribe acarbose (Prandase, Precose) link to help reduce the symptoms of late dumping syndrome. Side effects of acarbose may include bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence.
Dumping Syndrome can last for a short time or a long time, depending on the person. Some people may only experience symptoms for a few hours, while others may experience symptoms for days or weeks. In some cases, Dumping Syndrome may be permanent.
Patients younger than age 35 years or with a BMI <25 kg/m2 are more likely to be symptomatic than are older or more obese patients. It is believed that the osmotic gradient draws fluid into the intestine, and this may release one or more vasoactive hormones, such as serotonin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide.
High fat foods can also cause dumping syndrome in some people. Early dumping symptoms occur when concentrated sugared foods (such as hard candy, most cakes and cookies, soda, juice, table sugar) pass too quickly from the stomach into the intestine.
You are more likely to have dumping syndrome if you eat a meal heavy in starches or sugars. The sugars can be either fructose or table sugar (sucrose).
Gastroparesis and dumping syndrome are frequent disorders, particularly in diabetic and postsurgical patients. Since symptoms are non-specific, these two entities have to be distinguished from several differential diagnoses and require objective measures that document delayed or accelerated gastric emptying.
The most likely cause of needing to poop right after eating is the gastrocolic reflex. This reflex is a normal involuntary reaction to food entering the stomach. It does not mean food is passing straight through the body. In fact, it can take 1–2 days before food finishes its journey through a person's digestive tract.
Changing how you eat
Your doctor may recommend eating six small meals a day, instead of three larger meals.
Patients who are experiencing early dumping should be placed in the low Fowler's position for 20 to 30 minutes after a meal to help delay gastric emptying and minimize symptoms.
Dietary changes should help reduce or eliminate dumping, and medications can help relieve uncomfortable symptoms. What medications are used to treat dumping syndrome? What over-the-counter medicines help dumping syndrome? Imodium (loperamide) is commonly recommended to treat dumping syndrome-induced diarrhea.
Postprandial diarrhea is diarrhea that occurs after eating. It can happen unexpectedly and cause discomfort or pain until a bowel movement occurs. Possible causes include an infection, antibiotic use, and gastrointestinal conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Basic Guidelines to Avoid Dumping Syndrome
Eat small, more frequent meals. Try to eat 6-8 small meals or snacks throughout the day instead of 3 large meals. Eat more slowly and chew your food thoroughly. Eat a source of protein at each meal.
How common is dumping syndrome? About 1 in 10 people who have stomach surgery develop dumping syndrome. Dumping syndrome is more common after some types of surgery than others. For example, dumping syndrome is more common after gastric bypass bariatric surgery than after other types of bariatric surgery.