A patient who had gastric bypass surgery 5 weeks ago calls the office to report feelings of nausea, sweating, and diarrhea shortly after eating meals. What response by the nurse is most appropri-ate?

Question

a. "This is common after the type of surgery you had."
b. "Try to eat your meals slower to promote absorption."
c. "Reduce the amount of refined sugars that you are eating."
d. "You may be experiencing a postoperative infection."

Answer 1

C
Patients who have had gastric bypass surgery are at risk for dumping syndrome, which results in nausea, weakness, sweating, and diarrhea. These symptoms tend to occur after meals that include concentrated sweets; therefore patients should be advised to avoid refined sugars. Although this is not an uncommon manifestation after this type of surgery, informing the patient that this is common provides limited information to the patient and is not the best response. Reducing the speed of eating will not provide relief from the problems being described. This is not a symptom of a postoperative infection.