Thursday, July 31, 2008

A dumping we will go, a dumping we will go


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This is almost too embarrassing to post but my thought is, if it prevents this from happening to someone else, then it is worth it.
So I have been very stressed lately. Some of you know more of it than others, in brief; I am changing jobs (hours I will be working, hospital that I will be working at, and going into the one area of nursing that I have no experience in what so ever)
in school (trying to meet the January deadline which means I will be trying to take 14 credit hours while working full time, caring for Lilith, and trying to fulfill all of the testing, interviews, etc for my possible career change), going through the process of changing my whole career which requires all sorts of hoop jumping and testing (see above), and trying to find a daycare that I trust enough to enroll Lilith in. I was an emotional eater before this surgery and as much as this surgery fixes your stomach, it does nothing to fix your head. I have been dealing with this since the surgery with mostly success but lately I have been having a hard time and have been really having to remind myself not to give in. (you aren't really hungry, you are just stressed, eating this won't make you feel any better, in fact it will make you feel worse, etc etc.) Well, yesterday I did something REALLY STUPID and very dangerous. I had a slice of a torte. Did I know that it was not the right thing to do, yes. Did that stop me, unfortunately, no it didn't. I am unfortunately one of those post ops that can get away with a little sugar and not dump, usually. I can push my limits up to the 15mgs and sometimes even beyond with no ill effects. This makes me sad as I don't miss the breads or fats at all but I am still tempted by sugar. If I dumped on it, I would avoid it. I will be avoiding any type of torte like anything from now on however. I shouldn't have let the dumb thing in the house in the first place, I knew that was stupid right from the start but I didn't stop myself. Lilith fortunately doesn't like most sweets (except chocolate) and I think this is because she really hasn't grown up with them, thanks to the surgery, but I stupidly justified the 1/12 slice of poison thinking I could share it with her. She wanted nothing to do with it. So guess who ate it the following morning for breakfast? um hum. on an empty stomach none the less. I told you the whole thing was very stupid. Well, all I can say is that I am VERY LUCKY. I had fed Lilith first and put the television on Sprout so she could watch Sesame street while I ate the torte. I justified it again because it was such a small slice, etc etc. It wasn't even a flavor I would normally have chosen for myself (lemon) but I ate it anyway. I started to feel strange with in 5 minutes of eating it. I got very very sleepy and thought, hey maybe I am just really tired. We had stayed up late the night before going to see "The Dark Knight" so the warning bells didn't go off like they should have. I shut the gate going into the dining room and kitchen area and got a body pillow and lay down next to Lilith thinking that I would just rest a little. That is the last thing I remember. I vaguely remember being in pain (cramping and a pounding headache)but it was almost like it was part of some weird dream. I woke up 3 hours later realizing that Lilith had pulled up my night gown and was saying, "Lilith boobie. Boobie Mama. Lilith hungry, Mama". I was laying there with my gown almost completely over my head. I might as well have been laying there with a syringe sticking out of my arm. Seriously that is how horrible I felt. I was dead to the world for 3 hours from what I realize now as a hyperglycemic reaction. Just like a diabetic that eats too much sugar and can go into a coma or a coma like state, that is what I had done to myself with my sugar ingestion. I am super fortunate that I have toddler proofed our home like I have. I am so grateful that nothing bad happened to Lilith in those three hours. I am super grateful that I actually woke up at all. I won't joke about our home being toddler jail anymore. I can't say what she would have gotten into if the kitchen, bathroom, our bedroom, etc had been accessible during that time. I sure wouldn't have been available to help her if she had hurt herself. Again, would it have been anymore dangerous if I had been ingesting any other potentially impairing type of drug or substance? I think not. I know some of you will want to argue with me that a slice of cake is a lot different than shooting up some heroin or getting drunk while trying to care for your child but after this surgery, is it really? We don't know how we will react to sugar. We could be in the bathroom for hours, or over the sink, or unconscious like I was, but the result is almost the same in all three scenarios, we are unavailable to watch or care for anyone but ourselves (in the last example we aren't even able to do that, I should have realized what was happening to me and been very concerned but I wasn't even thinking clearly enough to do that). If that doesn't sound dangerous, then I don't know what does. It also epitomises the behavior of an addict. I sat up disorientated and had to immediately go to the bathroom to dump. Lovely, I know but that is the ugly reality of it. Just like the heroin addict or alcoholic who
vomits on themselves after taking a hit or a drink, or soiling themselves, or worse.
In my eyes there is no difference. I was then unavailable to Lilith as I sat in the bathroom with her watching me from the bathroom gate (she pushed the bathroom door open and I was in no position to stop her) asking, "mama okay?" over and over again. I could tell she was scared and that only made it worse as I tried to reassure her while trying not to moan from the cramps. Yes, I warned you this was an embarrassing post but I want people to realize just how seriously you are effected by eating sugar after this surgery. After all of that and a quick shower, I finally lay down with Lilith and breastfeed her to sleep for her nap. I then cleaned up the toys she had strewn all over her room and the living room. That is how out of it I was, I didn't even hear her doing this. What if she had been older and had come home from school or come in from another room and found me passed out an unresponsive how traumatising would that have been to a young child? What a therapy inducing memory that would be? I am so ashamed that I let a stupid piece of cake jeopardize my daughters safety and my health.
I looked up the torte online and found out that 1 serving 1/12 of the thing (it was pre-sliced) had 31 grams of sugar. Talk about stupid, I would never have eaten it knowing that but ignorance is bliss or at least a 3 hour coma. Don't do this to yourself. Take the warning about not consuming too much sugar SERIOUSLY! It frightens me to think of all of the horrible things that could have happened to myself and to Lilith. My husband wasn't due home for 7 hours. I am so grateful that I woke up at all.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 slice (123g)
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Amount per Serving

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Calories 420 Calories from Fat 230


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% Daily Value *
Total Fat 25g 38%
Saturated Fat 11g 55%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 80mg 27%
Sodium 280mg 12%
Total Carbohydrate 47g 16%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Sugars 31g
Protein 5g 10%

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Vitamin A 8%
Vitamin C 20%
Calcium 2%
Iron 2%

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Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 53.6% Carbs 44.8%
Protein 4.8%

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I so understand what you are saying. I am like an alcholic/drug addict- I am addicted to sugar. And like onbe, when I return to it to get my "fix" it fixes me with the whole gambit of illness. Is it worth it- NO! Thank you for your honesty in posting. I know it will help others, as well.
((((hugs))))
Ellen

Debbie said...

dumping really sucks - i posted about my dump too

Melting Mama said...

I hate to laugh, but it's so real.

Anonymous said...

Wow that is scary!!! I had surgery on the 30th of June and I look at all suger and fat grams. My friends tell me to don't go crazy over it but I feel it is very serious business. Thank you for sharing. This is a real eye opener for me.
Gwen

alittlebitofscrap said...

OMG! I'm so sorry that happened to you. and thank you for posting that. I haven't had surgery yet, but have made up my mind NO Sugar :) Actually I've been off the sugar for a while now and doing pretty good.

Anonymous said...

I am soooo glad you wrote this article! I'm sorry you had such a reaction, but your experience has put a name to what has been happening to me for years. The doctors told me I had epilepsy, then narcolepsy then somatic something or other combined with sleep apnea;I disagreed with them mainly b/c I didn't have sharp violent strikes in the head or convulsions, nausea or any of the other types of usual seizure activity. They only saw me post episodic incidents and they never put together what was happening and I never put together what was happening. OMG, you are such a life saver.

Let me explain. While I was pregnant with my first chld, they kept testing and re-testing me for diabetes...Nothing appeared. She was 10lbs at birth and 2 weeks past her due date. When my daughter was about 2 months old, my husband and I went to the grocery store. I stayed outside to smoke, while he went inside. The next memory was of me in an ambulance, enroute to a hospital! This phenomenon kept happening while I sought treatment after treatment to no avail, with each doctor wanting to keep me for up to a week for observation. I got disgusted and stopped looking for an answer. I was passing out on the interstate, at the grocery store, at the mall, at the bank, just black outs everywhere I went, even in my garden...my husband had taken to just trying to drag me inside. The doctors banned me from driving, even though no definitive diagnosis was made.

Finally, while having an EEG for headaches, I had one of these "spells" while on the table talking to the nurse. She recorded the abnormal brain activity and sent it to a doctor who announced that I had "seizure activity in the right hemispheric area of the brain" whatever that meant. In the interim I had been diagnosed as a full blown insulin dependant diabetic!

In the years since the first episode,(daughter is now 12) I've learned to not eat or drink anything if I have somewhere to go until I get home, as it may cause a seizure thing/spell. Even upping my CPAP number to 11 failed to decreased these things!

Now it all makes sense! I was having hyper-glycemic incidents! I could pass out for 5 minutes or 5 hours. I would be groggy and listless, and have no memory of what was happening while these things were occurring! Of course if I was out for 3, 4, 5 hours when my sugar levels were checked they were ok, or slightly elevated beyond my "normal" b/c I had just been unconcious for 3, 4, 5 hours and not eating anything the hyperglycemia had passed or run its course!OMG! OMG! This makes such sense now. My HGB A1C stayed around 14 and levels averaged out at 3-500 a day. I would wake up with sugars at 260 or so. My endo doc just upped the insulin each visit. I was tired and a sugar addict to say the least. Post RNY, I'm still a sugar addict, but my blood sugar averages 100-140 each day. I still take some insulin so I'm probably not having sugar rushes which balances out. I don't dump and believe me, I've had battles about a milkshake much like yours with this torte! I know I shouldn't, but I want it and nothing happens to me in the dumping department, so the milkshake wins out, sadly enough! But I've had only one incident since my RNY in February and thought nothing of it until you made the co-relation. Thank you so much! From the bottom of my heart, this all adds up!

Anonymous said...


whooohoooo!
Protein 4.8%

Anonymous said...

Wow! As someone who has not had the surgery yet, I'm glad you posted this. It's an eye-opener. It's good to know all of the dangers that can occur. I'm glad you are okay!!

Debbie Grooms said...

Thank you so much for sharing this post with us.  As bad as it was, some of our lessons we tend to learn the hard way.About 6 weeks after my WLS  I had my first bad experience.  Actually it scared me so much it has been my worst because it help me get on my toes.  We were out at a resturant in Myrtle Beach with about 30 other WLS friends and I was being so careful about what I was eating.  After dinner we were leaving to all go out dancing and I started to feel funny, like I was drunk or something.  I didn't have cramping or anything, but I felt dizzy, I started to shake all over and in seconds I thought I was freezing (outside at the beach), I was loosing controll of my legs fast.  We made it to the room  and with my husbands help, I stripped and climbed into bed.  He stacked cover after cover on top of me because I just couldn't get warm.  Withing a few minutes I was out in a comma.  I was out for 3-4 hours.  When I woke up all I remembered was standing at the resturant and knowing I was in trouble.  I didn't even remember leaving.For over a year I have since been very good at not eating sugar, but in the last 2-3 months I have started to push my limits.  I have sot that drunk feeling with cramps and a pukie feeling and passed out for short periods of time.  Why am I doing that to myself when I know the end result can be so bad.  Not to mention, I have ruined several family planned outings when I get sick and we have to leave or not go all together.It's like a drugie that knows they shouldn't take drugs, and there will be bad consequences if they do, but they do it anyhow.Thank you for the eye opener.Debbie Grooms Kostick

Anonymous said...

Such a reminder to me that I need to be oh so careful! I have had some minor dumping episodes; mostly some minor cramping and feeling a little bit sleepy, but that was from eating the tiniest bit of sugar. Eating anymore of it, who knows what could happen. I'm going to link to this post tonight because I want my hubby to read it as he tends to push the envelope sometimes.
Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your honesty, I am one of the "lucky-unlucky" I can no tolerate ANY refined sugars, no sugar alcohols, no honey, no nothing. Within minutes I break out into a cold sweat, my heart races, I will start to dry heave and sleep for hours and this is all on top of severe abdominal cramping too. But sometimes a piece of cake or a bite of chocolate sounds so enticing, but I don't dare. And people will say "well just a little won't hurt you will it?" Good luck with that beautiful baby and keep up the good work. Rebecca
2006-286lbs / 2008-130lbs

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am hopefully having surgery in October and your story was important for me to read. It was a great warning for me.
Please don't beat yourself up too much. You are only human and this was a valuable lesson learned. Your daughter is safe, and there isn't anything you can do to change the past but make sure to do better toward the future.
Again Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your story! Like you, I am pretty much eat anything that I want with little or no dumping! Sometimes it takes situations like this to make us learn our lessons! I am so glad you are ok!!! Thank you again for being so honest and sharing yours tory!

Anonymous said...

I too have had this happen... It is really scary. I do not dump on sugar easily, and I too have pushed the limits. Why???? I cant tell you. I just know that the addiction to sugar (actually any food for me) is sometimes too overwhelming to control. I am just glad that you and your little sweetie were ok.
Live and learn.