Dumping Syndrome.

It occurs when I eat something that for one reason or another, does not agree with my new stomach and intestines. I don’t know that this is occuring until about 15-30 minutes after a meal.

The rapid “dumping” of food triggers the pancreas to release excessive amounts of insulin into the bloodstream.

This is what I experience when I dump: shortly after eating a food I can’t tolerate I begin to feel a bit disoriented, maybe dizzy and then an overall sense of confusion or panic takes over my mind and body. My heart starts to palpitate and I feel as if it is going to jump out of my chest.

This is a mild state of delirium. Then I begin sweating. During this state of sweaty panic I feel like I’m out of my mind! Once during an extremely dramatic dumping episode I literally thought I was dying, the state of distress was that severe.

Sometimes this is occompanied by being violently ill.

I know the event is starting to pass when the sense of panic is replaced by exhaustion and cold chills instead of sweating.

The mild delirium associated with dumping is the result of an interruption of nerve impulses affecting cerebral metabolism. This mild delirium is characterized by a reduced ability to maintain attention to surroundings or disorganized thinking. The daily routine can become confusing. In extreme cases a person who is dumping may experience rambling, irrelevant or incoherent speech.

Through trial and error I can predict most things that make me dump and I avoid them contemptuously. it is still early days yet so some things I just don’t know about.

There is no way to stop this once it starts, but lying down helps. So you may see me with my head on my desk after lunch sometimes, as this is as close as I can get to laying on my right side.

If you want to read more about Dumping Syndrome, the Mayo clinic has an article at http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00715.html