Is it possible to "react" to sugar, but not necessarily dump?

I'm 6 months post op today.  Thrilled with how everything is going.  I haven't really tested my limits with anything super sugary, but over the past 6 months (mainly past 3, with the holidays and all) I've sampled a few things here and there.  I've heard that if you dump you know it, but I've never had that kind of experience.  At Thanksgiving I had a teeny tiny sliver of pecan pie.  A few minutes after eating it I just felt weird.  Had a bit of stomach cramping, then BM and was totally fine.  About a month ago I ate an entire cupcake for a co-worker's celebration.  About 30 mins later I just felt kind of run down, but then it passed.

Is it possible to have some sort of reaction to too much sugar, but not necessary full on dumping?  Or can you dump proportionally on the amount of sugar you just had? 

 Both are possible.

Lora

I think you are thinking of dumping as one particular thing. It can be a spectrum.

You can have a light reaction dumping, which can feel like almost nothing...just a bit off.

You can have what folks commonly associate with dumping (sweaty, dizzy, need to lie down, stomach cramps)

You can have severe dumping (what I had at first, which is the common notion but it lasts a lot longer and you really do feel as if you are going to die)

You can even have what some folks call "late onset" dumping which doesn't happen right after you eat the food but a while afterward.

But if you are dumping you are dumping. It is noteworthy that drops in blood sugar can also feel like dumping but that is something different. 

Hi!  What you are experiencing sounds similar to what has happened to me.  Mine may have started as early as yours but I didn't really nitice it untill I was about 1 yr out, Although I wasn't eating any outright sugar it was the carbs that were getting me.  I'm talking fruit, fruited yougurt, healthy cerals with milk (which I still can't eat) as well as bread..

I finally got to the bottom of it when I started checking my blood sugar.. Shortly after eating it would spike up, mind you not THAT high, but up to 180-220, at which time I would be drop dead tired, no matter where I was I couldn't stay awake and also feel nauseous and sickly.  Falling dead asleep for sometimes up to 2 hrs, then I would feel better. Some people would call this a carb coma.  Mind you I never had any history of diabetes nor a family history and my normal, prior to surgery, was 80-100. I am a nurse so we periodically would do little health check ups on each other. 

Then it got to the point where I would then plummet, sometimes as low as 30 and I was almost incoherent. I would have a rapid heart rate, sweat so much that i literally looked like I just took a shower, running mascara and all.  It was then that I realized I had a problem

So I was referred to an endocrinologist and a dietician.  He explained it like my pancreas was knocked out of whack.  It doesn't recognize the sugar in my system fast enough so was slow to realease insulin (causing the high) then it would continue to release it for too long after (causing the seveere low). It could also be called reactive hypoglycemia. 

So what I have to do is first of all check my sugar, then try to balance the carbs with protein and fats. Must eat these with carbs to help level off the sugar level.  It is much better now, the high will still happen all the time if i'm not real careful, but the lows are much less frequent, maybe once every week or two and still scare the cr** out of me!  Hope this helps!

I didn't dump early out, but didn't pu**** either.  Now, 18 months out, if I eat a piece of pie or something like that, I can feel my heart pounding though my whole body. I've adjusted my eating habits accordingly, needless to say.

 I didn't have any reaction at first from sugar.  Now at a little after 3 months, if I eat too much sugar, I get so nauseated, pounding heartbeat (not fast), and need to sleep.  It happened this morning when I tried some cereal.  Not fun at work!  Luckily, I could take a few minutes to nap in our lounge.

Thanks for all the responses, everyone!  One thing's for sure, since my sweet tooth was definitely one of my downfalls, I'm happy that I have a reaction to overdoing it.  There are some things I know I just can't touch, since they're direct routes into my "past"... so for now I just avoid them.  I also don't miss them, either!