What are the causes of dumping syndrome? Dumping syndrome causes & risk factors are gastric surgery, pylorus problem & other health condition.
Dumping syndrome causes
The causes and risk factors of dumping syndrome are due to any form of gastric surgery, pylorus problems, and other health conditions.
People with dumping syndrome are experiencing food and gastric juices of the stomach rushes to the small intestine in an abnormally fast manner. Most often, these changes are due to surgery associated with stomach that involves pylorus (valve in-between stomach and small intestine) removable.
The pylorus acts as a valve, which wait until the stomach content has digested then only, it allows the stomach content to move into the small intestine. When it has removed, stomach content dumps rapidly into the small intestine. These ill effects are due to the release of gastrointestinal hormones in the small intestine, as well as insulin secretion to consume glucose.
Gastric bypass surgery performed for weight loss is the most common cause. It mostly develops within weeks after surgery, or immediately after, you return to your normal diet. The severity of the condition is in relation to the extent stomach has removed. Sometimes it becomes a chronic disorder.
Several types of surgery increase your risk of dumping syndrome. These include:
- Gastrectomy – is stomach portion removable surgery, particularly take off the pylorus.
- Gastroenterostomy or gastrojejunostomy – is a surgery by connecting the stomach directly into the small intestine without pylorus. Perform this operation in people with stomach cancer.
- Vagotomy - is a surgery to cut the fibers of the vagus nerves in the stomach, in order to lower the stomach acid production. The vagus nerve plays an important role in stomach emptying into the small intestine, thus affects its normal functioning.
- Fundoplication – is a surgery by wrapping stomach’s upper portion around the lower esophagus. Performing this surgery is to reduce reflex of gastric content into the esophagus in people with gastro-esophageal reflux disease. In rare occasions, unintentional damage of certain stomach nerves during surgery leads to dumping syndrome.
- Gastric bypass surgery – is a surgery to treat morbid obesity by creating a smaller stomach pouch. That is you no longer able to eat as much as you can once do. It connects the small intestine to this stomach pouch in the form of a gastrojejunostomy.
- Esophagectomy – is a surgery where all or part of the tube between the mouth, and the stomach is removed.
Certain underlying health conditions and medications you take also susceptible to dumping syndrome. These include:
- Diabetes
- Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS)
- Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, which causes severe peptic ulcers
- Metoclopramide (Reglan, Metozolv), sometimes prescribed to ease nausea, vomiting and heartburn.