As someone going through menopause, I have suffered the horror of the Hot Flash!!

As a diabetic, I have known the unique "joy" of diabetic highs and lows, followed by their respective accompanying consequences.

As a bariatric patient, I have now experienced the delightfully new (to me) sensation known as Dumping Syndrome.

Short explanation:
I ate something I shouldn't have and my body made me pay the price.

Long explanation:
I ate something that my new upper digestive tract did not appreciate and/or could not handle. As a result, it "dumped" that food into my intestines to get rid of it. This caused my body to pull water from its reserves to help flush it out as fast as possible.

So what did it feel like? The best description I can give is that it was like a diabetic over-carb mixed with a long hot flash and what felt like the start of food poisoning.

Different people experience different symptoms during "dumping."

My particular symptoms:

• nausea - I thought for sure I was going to chuck
• feeling of fullness - but not the same as when I am actually full
• sweating - not profuse, just surface
• skin flushing - not sure if it was visible, but I sure felt it
• fatigue - I wanted nothing more than to go lie down

This lasted about a half hour or so, during which I took a shower to try to cool off.

I lay down for a few moments with a fan blowing on me, but had to get up to visit my throne and expel the source of my distress via means I won't discuss in detail but let's just say it wasn't pleasant.

Once I made it to that last part, all of the other symptoms vanished... poof... gone!

It amazed me how fast the relief came once it was all said and done. The suffering for that half hour though... yeah... I really don't want to repeat that.

Unfortunately, as I am still in the learning stages of my new dietary lifestyle, I have a feeling this won't be the last time.