When you’ve had a gastric bypass surgery there are special considerations you should know about that are related to your new stomach. These are dumping syndrome, dehydration, food intolerance, overeating and other medical conditions.
Dumping Syndrome occurs because a gastric bypass involves attaching your new smaller stomach to a section of the small intestine bypassing a large part of it. This keeps your body from absorbing as many calories. But this section of the intestine is unable to deal with larger amounts of sugars and carbohydrates. If you eat too much at once or over time you will experience dumping syndrome. The symptoms are feeling nauseous, diarrhea, sweating, and weakness. These symptoms are usually short lived but can knock the wind out of you so to speak. Its very unpleasant and many people learn quickly to stick to their new diet.
Because you won’t be eating as much food you won’t be taking in as much water as you used to, so it will become necessary after the surgery to make sure you are always drinking some water in order to get your six to eight cups daily. Otherwise you will begin to experience symptoms of dehydration.
Some people develop a food intolerance to certain items after their gastric bypass surgery. Since the stomach is being worked on its understandable that surgery could cause changes in its ability to handle certain foods. In particular people develop an intolerance to milk and high-fiber fiber foods which require time to digest.
You will experience problems with overeating, because initially your stomach will only be about the size of a whiskey glass. Over time it will stretch and you’ll be able to eat more but will still get full and experience discomfort very easily.
Lastly you can develop certain medical conditions as a result of your surgery. These are ulcers, popping or tearing a staple, gastritis, pain, or even leakage from your stomach into your stomach cavity.