Dumping Syndrome

Dumping syndrome is a medical condition in which your stomach empties its contents into your small intestine more rapidly than it should. It’s also called rapid gastric emptying. When your stomach empties too quickly, your small intestine receives uncomfortably large amounts of poorly digested food. This can cause symptoms of nausea, bloating, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. It can also cause sudden blood sugar changes.

What happens in dumping syndrome?

Your stomach usually releases digestive contents into your small intestine in a gradual, controlled manner. 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. If any of these things are impaired, it can throw this coordination off.

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. When your small intestine receives this mass of under-digested food, it makes adjustments to try and accommodate it. It draws in extra fluid volume and releases extra hormones. These adjustments cause the symptoms that people experience shortly after eating.

Some people experience another set of symptoms a few hours later. This happens because of blood sugar changes. If your small intestine receives a concentrated serving of sugar content, it may set off alarms in your digestive system. Your small intestine may signal your pancreas to release extra insulin to regulate your blood sugar. This can cause your blood sugar to drop sharply (reactive hypoglycemia). This drop can cause faintness, shakiness and heart palpitations.

Who gets dumping syndrome?

Dumping syndrome most commonly happens as a complication of surgery on your stomach, or on your esophagus where it connects to your stomach. An estimated 20% to 50% of people who have had stomach surgery develop some symptoms of dumping syndrome. 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. Occasionally, it can also occur with certain gastrointestinal diseases.

Is dumping syndrome serious?

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. Most people have mild symptoms that ease over time. Dumping syndrome is not usually permanent.