Does anyone experience "dumping"?

As many of you know, I have IBS-like symptoms from rectal cancer in 1999, 90% of my sigmoid removed, 15 inches of my colon removed and having my gall bladder out. I have multiple bm's now, follow a low residue diet, keep my stress level low, take 50 mg of Colace each evening, etc. I do okay but I'll never be normal again. I've given up that dream! Long ago.

But one of my colon phases or aspects is what I've heard referred to as "dumping". It seems as though even if I've followed my diet carefully and did everything right, in other words not eating lots of candy, chili, spicy foods, etc. - I still have what I would call repeated bm's for several hours, a few times a month. It seems as if this is my body's new way of emptying the colon, because when it's over, I feel empty, depleted, cold and ravenously hungry (which starts the whole cycle up again, so I often just drink water and go to sleep instead).

Does anyone experience this dumping effect? The stool isn't D but it's not formed either, it's in between and keeps coming. I joke the bm's are like labor pains, they're every 10 minutes apart, or so it seems like to me.

Also, I feel so much better when it's all over with (the next day) so I usually allow this phase to continue, I don't try to stop it with Imodium, etc. I just let my body do it's thing and I just go with the flow - no pun intended.

I welcome feedback. This just seems to happen every month or so. My family doesn't quite get it. They say - just stay in there and finish. Finish? Finishing takes several hours! They of course all go once a day......the lucky dogs!

Mary/Marsky

Nice to hear I'm not alone but sorry to hear you go thru it too Lady Frog. It does only last a few hours. And you do feel better later on (usually the next day or two). But while it's going on, it's just one bm after another. That's why I compare the bm's to labor pains.....you have to find the humor somewhere. One beverage that seems to speed the process up is hot, weak tea. It goes down well and soothes my gut. I also massage my abdomen. I know my family would prefer I stay in the bathroom but I'd rather try and come out for air a few times during this entire process. Since the 4th was a few days ago and our neighbors have continued to shoot off fireworks each evening, our Golden Retriever was holed up in the bathroom too. One time she didn't want me to leave. After hearing her loud sighs and pants and my lovely odor, I wanted out of there, even if to grab another cup of tea. Then she didn't want me open the door for the next round. I worked my way back in and she sighed at my feet. She afraid of the noise, I was taking care of business.

I do feel better today but a little tired. That's another aspect. You are depleted and just wrung out. As if you'd taken a powerful laxative! And all you did was let your GI tract clean itself out.

My ex-sister-in-law has IBS and is a nurse. She used to tell me how many of her coworkers had IBS like issues. She's the first one that mentioned the dumping effect to me. She used to describe their personal medication stash at work as if it was the laxative/fiber aisle at Kroger's or something! She used to joke that nursing and IBS went hand in hand.....I'm not sure if I buy that explanation but when I would describe what my body does every month or so (and it doesn't coincide with periods or anything female related), she said - oh that's dumping.....

Whatever it is, it's annoying. I'm always so glad when it hits and I am home.

I tend to avoid tea as ANY caffeine is a trigger for me. No chocolate, soda, tea, coffee, nothing. Though I do have some fancy coffee that I love for when I get backed up. If I am going to have to take a laxative I might as well enjoy it. I like ice water for when it happens. I don't know why but one of the ways I know that it's going to be a mass evacuation is that my tummy burns. Like when you've drank something hot too fast and just your stomach heats up. I keep a couple bottles of water in freezer just in case. By the time my tummy feels better enough to put liquid in it, they have melted enough for me to sip at them.

My parent's dog used to be terrified of fireworks. He'd climb under the couch( he was a Pomeranian) and he'd be shaking so bad that it was like one of those massage chairs. We never got anything to help calm him down because he wouldn't take it the one time we tried. So my brother and I would take turns laying on the floor and feeding him treats in his "safe spot". We realized he was going deaf when the one year he didn't dive for cover when they started. Now they have a cat that hates them. She just goes in her closet and curls in the corner and goes to sleep. If she's in her spot it doesn't matter what's going on, she feels safe and ends up taking a nap. Their other cat though loves them. She makes weird noises and would love nothing more then to chase them down and attack them. Not much bothers her.

I have serious, serious dumping issues every day. I'm a little whacky, though. As soon as I eat, I'm having ridiculously profuse diarrhea for a couple hours afterwards. Then I'm safe for a little while (until I eat again). I hear you on this and sympathize tremendously!

You know after reading all the replies here - thank you all by the way - maybe it is female related. I don't know. All I know is I am 53 and just starting to skip periods. In the past oh 6 to 8 months, I started having them every 2 or 3 months apart. But before that, up to age 52, I was having a monthly period still. I did start at a late age, 15. So I've always just chalked it up to that too that I'm entering the oh so fun M stage at a late age.

I also have a mild uterine prolapse. My GYN swears that if I have a hysterectomy someday I'll have less bm trouble.

But that's major surgery and our family of 4 each has a $2500 deductible. After that only 80% is covered anyway. We'll have 2 in college this Fall also.

So a hysterectomy isn't mandatory and I'm reluctant to believe it when a doctor says surgery will help me. So unless he says my uterus is outside my body now, sorry for that lovely detail, I'm keeping my body as-is for right now!

This dumping is just annoying because I know if I try and stop it, it makes matters worse, not better but while it's going on, it's quite frustrating. In the middle of this last bout, my husband had a friend pop in. I had to change bathrooms and use my least favorite toilet (refills take forever and it just flushes odd). I had to leave my favorite powder room, in case this friend wanted to use a bathroom. The dog had to leave too!

Oh, how I'd love my own bathroom!

Thanks again everyone..
Mary

In my house this is dubbed "bathroom day" because when it's my day I'll be in there for hours until I'm emptied out.  I literally cannot go anywhere or if I'm out cannot leave for hours.  It is completely and utterly exhausting and by the time I'm finished I need to lay down and have a nap.  I also experience incredible bowel spasms when this happens.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to when this will happen but prior to my hysterectomy I do recall that it happened more right before my period.  I actually weighed myself and lost 4 pounds during my last episode on Sunday  .  Sorry to hear somebody else also experience this lovely phenomenon.