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my Dad(aged 81)is recovering from surgery, and I would welcome any advice re coping with dumping syndrome.Has anyone got suggestions as to what to do/eat during an attack?He has not experienced dumping after every meal,but today and yesterday he had episodes.
Does spreading the meal over a longer time help?
Any advice on whether water before a meal helps?

I had my stomach removed on August 7, 2007, plus spleen and one lymphnode. I had chemotherapy, cisplaten and 5 FU for five months. I am now six/seven weeks post chemo. I am 70 years of age, come December. I play golf two days a week and practice most days. Sounds great ... but I must add, not particularly comfortably. Dumping syndrome: This, to the initiated, is a near-death experience. I have speculated the causes till I'm exhausted. There does not seem to be an answer. Maybe, yes, I think definitely, that lying down after a light, well chewed meal helps to digest your intake. When I dump, as I did only two nights ago, I lie down, before I fall down, and let time pass. Then I speculate the cause. For me there seems no consistent pattern. I've just had a gastroscopy and saw my insides go past me on a computer screen. What a miracle. They said the wound was not inflamed and everything looked very tidy. In fact, I think, I made the English doctor's day. He said: "oh, look what's he's (the surgeon) done here and, oh, that looks good and the liver bile will go downwards and not upwards." Now, I guess, I will see someone in the surgeon's team to get on top of what, at this point, seems to be an iron deficiency. If anyone out there happens to have discovered anything that could help the dumping syndrome then I would be eternally grateful.

At last a www site expressing the experience of others with gastrectomy and a discussion thread too! In November 2006 (nearly 2 years ago) I had 80% of my stomach removed because of a carcinoid tumor in very early stage (11mm) which at first pathology was thought to be an adeno carcinoma. So far I have not met anyone or seen any reports or experiences of others.
During my period of recovery I kept a diary of food and times I ate. It truly did take a whole year till my stomach felt comfortable again most of the time and I could eat a normal portion at one sitting (ie a sandwich -2 pieces of bread - with filing or 2 weetbix and half a banana with milk).

I didn’t suffer a lot from dumping syndrome. Once warned and informed about it I decided the best way to manage it would be similar to a diabetic preventing very low blood sugar levels (BSL). The principles are to eat complex carbohydrates and have frequent regular intake of highly nutritious foods in small quantities. I always carried with me almonds or dates or thin crisp rye biscuits or an apple and still do keep at least one of these in my handbag just in case I am out or away from immediate access to food for too long. Three hours may be too long and unlike those with a whole stomach, you can’t put it off for an hour or so, you really do need to eat NOW. I made a vigil of drinking at least 200 - 400 mls of water 1 hour before eating (espescially first thing in the morning). It seemed to prepare my little 20% stomach and stretch it up a little bit. It took quite some time before I could tolerate the 400 mls and that is slowly over 30 mins or so. Some days I still only get through 300 mls. After that, I’d make sure I ate something again within 2 – 3 hours even if it was just 5 almonds and 2 dates. Just nibble slowly to keep the blood sugars even. I’d feel almost panicky about having food and water with me at all times. Then 30 – 60 mins after that make sure to drink again 200 - 400 mls (slowly over 30 mins I can’t guzzle now. It is a bit of a vigil to ensure drinks are an hour or at least 30 mins after food and before food. I don't drink at all with my food.

I have suffered a lot from the stomach pain as a result of eating too much or too fast (espescialy in the early days). Too much can be as little as 1 teaspoon too much. One has to be in tune with that feeling of enough and obey the stop sign no matter how hungry you feel or how appetizing the food looks or how greedily everyone around you is gobbling into lots of food. To ease the pain, I lay down with a hot water bottle pressed against my stomach for an hour or so. Mostly am OK in an hour. Once or twice it lasted up to two hours. A few times I have taken paracetamol to help and a couple of times I needed something stronger like panadeine forte.

It has been most heartening for me to read of another person’s experience. Many aspects have been similar for me even down to eating fresh pears. Fresh pears are so soothing and just right for my small stomach. At first I could only manage a quarter of a pear and so it would take me 2 hours to eat a whole pear. Now I can eat a whole pear or a whole mango in one sitting and some times one other thing as well like a couple of dry biscuits or a small hand full of nuts. I take a teaspoon of macadamia nut paste with the pear and it is delicious and highly nutritious.

So, my advice to prevent dumping syndrome is
drink water 1 hr before meals on at least 4 occasions over the day
keep small amounts of nutritious food with you at all times.
Eat something nutricious at least every 3 – 4 hours while awake
Eat slowly and chew well to enjoy
keep a glass of water by your bed at night and sip whenever awake in the nite.
If this is not working I’d say get checked by your Medical practitioner for conditions such as diabetes that cause low blood sugar.
All the best.
Any one else out there who has lived long enough to tell?

I'm still here RuthCa, frontiersman, the author of "Living with..."

I had my op. in August, 1996, and I'm posting this on 21/01/2010...!

Hope you are still around too, and finding yourself a lot more comfortable these days.

Best of luck Ruth.

Ron

Thank you all so much for your comments and information. This week my Mother at 65 years of age had a full gastrectomy (we were only expecting partial). Your comments have calmed alot of nerves and will be amazingly useful and informative for her and us.

I will recommend that she regularly checks out this discussion forum and join up too!

Thank you all again

Thank you for your article. I am awaiting a gastrectomy for early stomach cancer and have been looking for information on what to expect. I found your account very helpful.