- DON’T BE SICK (not 100% by any stretch right now, but optimistic about my prognosis)
- Jen and I need to pick up our new glasses. Progressive and transitions? That’s crazy!
- Drive to Vermont
- Hear my step daughter sing with the VSO! Wicked!!
- Continue to not be nauseous or vomit. Very important. Also, no stomach pains. Pretty please.
Tag: dumping syndrome
Yesterday was the Worst Day
Yesterday was weird from the get go, stomach wise. I felt a little off, but not too bad.
Then I had lunch. I was off enough that I should have avoided lunch, or at least the normal lunch that I ended up having. I took my last bite, according to my food tracking spreadsheet, at 1:54pm. 10 minutes later it started. The “off” stomach turned into real stomach pain. I tried to ride it out, but by a little before 4:00pm I had left work sick.
The drive home was a nightmare. The stomach pain kept getting worse. I had to pull over once for a surprise foamies, then again for a foamie false alarm, then again to actually puke into a cup. It was a little paper coffee cup and my aim was spot on. I was impressed with myself.
When I finally got home I ran to the bathroom, puked again, cleaned up the mess, and went to bed. I’d sleep for 20-30 minutes then have to move to a new position. Always on my side curled up in a ball. If I straightened out the stomach pain was too much.
Fast forward to this morning. So far I’ve had a few ounces of water, the first anything I’ve had since 1:54 yesterday. It is 9:21am now and I am feeling okay. A little like a wrung out dishrag, but okay. I have a ton of errands to run this morning and I’ve already given way too much information so I am going to wrap this post up now. I might have more thoughts on this mess later. We’ll see.
The moral of the story is this: When I see my doctor in two weeks for my two year check in she is going to ask me if I have had any Dumping Syndrome. This time I think I have to answer yes. Shit.
Oh yeah, and today is the actual two year surgery anniversary so I am glad I got that crap out of the way yesterday so I can celebrate today. Yippee, babie! Happy Surgery-aversary to me!
Chopped
My wife and I are eating dinner in front of the TV, watching an episode of Chopped because every now and then we binge watch the holy hell out of cooking shows.
One of the contestants had a bad experience trying to make ice cream in the dessert round. That was a moment of inspiration for me. Boom, like a cooking show lightning bolt.
Remember how I recently declared to the universe that I will (try to) grow peanuts in the back yard this year? Well I have another challenge for myself. This one will be easier, I think, and won’t be ruined completely by squirrels and chipmunks.
I am going to make homemade sugar free ice cream.
You heard it here first. Well, Jen heard it first because I told her I was going to do it before I started Googling. I found a few recipes. I will likely try this one first.
I’ll let you know when (if) I try it, and how it comes out.
Research
I did some Googlin’ about dumping syndrome and I am not sure I had it. Apparently there are two types of dumping syndrome, early and late. I didn’t have early. That happens 10-30 minutes after eating so that’s out. Late happens 1-3 hours later so the timeline matches up. I’m not sure about the symptoms though.
Heart palpitations (Maybe?)
Sweating (Yes)
Hunger (No… unless the pain was from my stomach being empty, but it didn’t seem that way)
Confusion (No… at least I don’t think so)
Fatigue (Hard to say as I was dead tired to begin with)
Aggression (Definitely not)
Tremors (Yes, twice to be specific)
Fainting (No)
Another area of this particular article lists these as well, but they might be just for early, I’m not sure:
abdominal cramping (Is that another way to say stomach pain? If it is, then oh yes)
fast heartbeat (I don’t remember)
lightheadedness (No)
diarrhea (No… I almost wish there had been. I think it would have helped)
On an unrelated note, I am nearing the end of my first of three days in the office this week and it’s fricken freezing in here, Mr Bigglesworth.
Did I Experience Dumping Syndrome?
This post is more of just a reminder to me to do some research when I get a chance… someday. I’m in the office today and the next two days and the schedule is jam packed with stuff. I don’t know when I’ll get a minute to myself. Well… another minute besides the one minute I’m spending on this.
When I first looked into gastric bypass I was warned of dumping syndrome. Think of it as a huge penalty for eating things your new stomach can’t handle. I am one day shy of 51 weeks since the surgery and I think I may have experienced it for the first time last night.
I ate a snack before bed then went to sleep. Three hours later I woke up to pee because I am old. When I got out of bed my stomach immediately starting hurting a lot. I mean, a lot. Like on a scale from 1-10 the pain was probably a 7-8. I tried to lie back down but it got worse. I tried to sit up straight but it also got worse. I tried to walk around but it got even worse. I couldn’t get any relief from it at all. It was brutal and it lasted for 2.5 hours without a break. I ended up in a fetal position on the living room floor begging my stomach to stop hurting me. It started at 2:30am and finally started to let up at 5:00am.
I don’t know if it was dumping syndrome (which is basically just your digestive system rejecting sugar) but I was told dumping felt like dying and that’s as good a description of how I felt last night as any. It was awful.
I need to poll the various support groups and find out what the individual symptoms are like. I need to know if that’s what I experienced last night or not. I also need it to never, ever happen again. I already threw out the snacks I had before bed last night. Never again, kids. Never again.
Feeling Sick Again
I took the morning off today because we were at one point considering staying over in Burlington last night. We didn’t, but I kept the time off request in place in case something came up. Turns out it did.
I woke up feeling about the same sort of gas pain that I had when I woke up on Thursday. In that instance it got steadily worse as the day went on and I wasn’t able to feel better until I slept it off over night. Today started the same but quickly got much worse. Gas pain like never before coupled with some nausea. It was awful. I haven’t had anything to eat or drink yet today because the pain feels like my stomach telling me in no uncertain terms to not even try. I extended my time off request to the full day so I can just curl up in a ball on the couch and hope it passes.
The questions I have are as follows:
- Is it the same bug Harry had last weekend and Jen had yesterday?
- Is it possible for me to have had that bug, then been fine for three days, then have it again?
- Did I eat something yesterday that set this off? Also, did I eat the same thing on Wednesday night that would have set it off on Thursday?
- I have a theory. I tried some Atkins brand protein potato chips. They don’t have any sugar in them so they should be okay, but I think I had a small bag on Wednesday and I know I had a couple of small bags at various times yesterday. If it was something I ate, I bet it was those chips. That sucks because they are really, really good.
- Is it dumping syndrome?
- I really don’t think so. Dumping is when your stomach gets too much sugar and literally rejects it in both directions (TMI?). I haven’t experienced that specifically, but could this be related somehow?
I haven’t had any liquids since about 10:30 last night when I had a sugar free popsicle. I am feeling crazy dehydration right now. I might have to force myself to drink something soon but I want to give the pain a little time to see if it lessens at all.
This sucks.
Inside the Red Head's Head 