Tachycardia or palpitations after eating (post esophagectomy): Anyone?

Posted by shilpa @shilpa, Oct 2, 2023

My husband is just 38 yrs old and had esophagostomy surgery in jan 2023... everything is going well only he has palpitation after eating meal and sometimes high BP but after sometime everything goes normal at his own.... just wanted to is it normal . Is there anyone who is facing same problem.. plz suggest.
We want to cardiologist also everything is fine he told

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jmp1514 | @jmp1514 | Oct 3, 2023

Dumping syndrome?

shilpa | @shilpa | Oct 11, 2023

In reply to @jmp1514 "Dumping syndrome?" + (show)

Sometime we felt like the same...... Once or twice in a month he feels 2-3times loose motion and it's all normal

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Oct 15, 2023

@shilpa, I'm also bringing fellow members @socalkelly @lcasry @davidwrenn @lori57216 into this discussion as they may have some thoughts about your husband's situation. @jmp1514 may be on to something with dumping syndrome since rapid heart rate is a symptom.

Here's more info from Mayo Clinic about it: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dumping-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20371915

Has his cancer team made any suggestions? Have things gotten better?

mrgvw | @mrgvw | Oct 16, 2023

Yes... fairly normal... and it's simply because the vagus nerves aren't handling things any longer. Since they were severed to pull the stomach up, these signals aren't being sent around his body any longer... and you'd be amazed at how complex the communications are that take place once food is swallowed! It's not just simply the stomach creating and releasing acid to start breaking down our foodstuffs. EVERYTHING is involved... from blood flow to breathing to heart rate to your liver and gall bladder to your spleen and intestines... and certainly your brain! After the esophagectomy, your body is lost... in chaos. And eating and drinking have to be relearned by our bodies... our bodies will slowly find a way to rewire themselves and get the old digestion process done... in a new way. And it takes a year or two... at least! My second year post-op went way better than my first year.

For me, the key was not panicking every time my tummy hurt, or my intestines had some nasty cramps, or my ass was exploding every other day. I did not quickly say... Well this food ain't working, I need to make changes asap! Nope... I just kept shoveling in anything and everything. I wanted my body to know that I'm NOT changing... it's going to have to figure things out and get the job done once again.

It took 12 to 18 months... but I'm pretty much back to normal... just eat a bit less and obviously more often. And I'm actually shocked at how much I can eat at one sitting now. But don't get me wrong... I can still cause myself some grief. My taste buds get me into trouble often... I overeat and pay the price with a tummy ache... but at least I know I did it to myself. But diet-wise, I can eat anything I want to once again.

Now will this work for everyone... no clue. But again... I wasn't afraid to go there... push the limits... be miserable for a long long time. Why did I adopt this strategy? Because early on post-op, EVERYTHING bothered my tummy. So what was I going to do... stop eating?! And back then, I could not eat more than a few bites at one sitting. So I figured I wasn't going to experiment... who has time for that... and writing everything down. I forced my body to get with the program... it took awhile, but it did. I went thru all this at 61... and I'm turning 65 shortly.

Be well.

Gary