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Anyone have dumping syndrome post esophagectomy?

Esophageal Cancer | Last Active: May 18 3:43pm | Replies (16)
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@colleenyoung

Hey @tomhayes54, I just wanted to pop in and say "welcome"! Your experience with esophageal cancer will be appreciated by many.

Do you have to eat less but more frequently? What has been suggested by your cancer team to manage the aching and throbbing you're experiencing?

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Replies to "Hey @tomhayes54, I just wanted to pop in and say "welcome"! Your experience with esophageal cancer..."
tomhayes54 | @tomhayes54 | Jan 14 1:27pm

Hi,

As for eating, I am now an official 'grazer'. I eat more frequently and much less. Gone are the days of a full entre in a restaurant. I frequent the appetizers, small plates, soup and the kids menu if allowed.

I have had abdominal pain since the surgery in November 2020. I did not get along well with the j-tube, particularly when we made it bigger due to a leak complication. I have tried a few things to rectify this constant aching pain in my attempt to return to normalcy:

1) After removal of the j-tube and all complications behind me, I treated my pain with Over The Counter (OTC) pain meds; aspirin, Tylenol and Advil, 2 of each daily. I started bruising which I attributed to 'getting old'. My oncologist informed me bruising was due to the OTC pain meds.

2) Mayo Psychiatry - we tried numerous anti-depressants which basically turned me into a vegetable. No help, I have moved on.

3) Visceral Massage - My Chiropractor recommended visceral massage from a local practitioner. The theory was breaking up scare tissue in my abdomen, similar to my hip resurfacing in 2006. We have not resolved the abdominal pain issue, but is sure feels good every week. He practices using a Rolfing massage technique.

4) M-Fairview Pain Clinic in Minneapolis - My dental surgeon recommended seeing a 'Pain Clinic'. My General Practitioner (GP) referred me to M-Fairview at the University of Minnesota. We tried a lot of things; acupuncture, tens unit, opioids, spinal injection. Now we are contemplating a implanted drug pump, a Medtronic SynchroMed II. With FOLFOX chemo coming soon, I am reluctant to dive into an additional complication, The Pump.

5) Beyond the Pain Clinic referral, my GP prescribed medical cannabis. Yeah, right... I tried it and it worked, as well as the OTC pain meds anyway. I take the oil and tablets et the brew with mostly CBD (Indigo). The heavy THC is NOT something I am looking for. Not all CBD is the same. We will see where this goes when we go full on FOLFOX.

Bottom line, no silver bullet for the abdominal pain.

Cheers,
Tom

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