What are the signs and symptoms of dumping syndrome?ĭumping syndrome has two phases, each with its own set of symptoms. Dumping syndrome is not usually permanent. Most people have mild symptoms that ease over time. Persistent, unmanaged diarrhea can cause dehydration, but these complications can usually be managed or prevented with self-care.

A severe case can cause rapid weight loss and nutritional deficiencies. Under normal circumstances, dumping syndrome is not dangerous or life-threatening. Occasionally, it can also occur with certain gastrointestinal diseases. It's most common in people who have had surgeries that remove or bypass large portions of the stomach, such as gastrectomy or gastric bypass surgery. An estimated 20% to 50% of people who have had stomach surgery develop some symptoms of dumping syndrome. Who gets dumping syndrome?ĭumping syndrome most commonly happens as a complication of surgery on your stomach, or on your esophagus where it connects to your stomach. This drop can cause faintness, shakiness and heart palpitations. This can cause your blood sugar to drop sharply (reactive hypoglycemia). Your small intestine may signal your pancreas to release extra insulin to regulate your blood sugar.

If your small intestine receives a concentrated serving of sugar content, it may set off alarms in your digestive system. This happens because of blood sugar changes. Some people experience another set of symptoms a few hours later. These adjustments cause the symptoms that people experience shortly after eating. It draws in extra fluid volume and releases extra hormones. When your small intestine receives this mass of under-digested food, it makes adjustments to try and accommodate it. Uncontrolled gastric emptying means that the valve at the bottom of your stomach, the pyloric valve, simply opens and dumps everything out, before your stomach has finished digesting. If any of these things are impaired, it can throw this coordination off. The way your stomach moves food along through the digestive process is sometimes called your “gastric motility.' Many things are involved in gastric motility: muscles, nerves and hormone signals coordinate together to tell your stomach how and when to empty. Your stomach usually releases digestive contents into your small intestine in a gradual, controlled manner. It can also cause sudden blood sugar changes. This can cause symptoms of nausea, bloating, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. When your stomach empties too quickly, your small intestine receives uncomfortably large amounts of poorly digested food. What is dumping syndrome?ĭumping syndrome is a medical condition in which your stomach empties its contents into your small intestine more rapidly than it should. Dumping syndrome causes your stomach to dump undigested food into your duodenum.

Adrenal dumping syndrome