What is Dumping?

Monique Attinger - nutritionist·Saturday, November 24, 2018·

This is the single most frequent question that our group gets! So this document is intended to give all members the basics on dumping, and we will continue to edit it over time. Many thanks to Cynthia Fuller who wrote the first version of this, and who made sure we had this on the group.

Here is the “tag line” description of dumping: Dumping is the excretion of stored oxalate from tissues via urine (kidneys), stool (digestive tract), mucus (lungs and respiratory tract), tears (eyes, vitreous gel) and sweat/ skin secretions (skin).

 

A reduction of dietary oxalate may trigger dumping by lowering the amount of oxalate in the bloodstream. The reduced oxalate levels in the blood triggers the release of oxalate from tissues.

How long dumping may continue once you start the diet varies, person to person. Factors that might affect this are your age and how long you have been storing oxalate, the level of oxalate in your diet prior to starting LOD, whether your are an endogenous oxalate producer, if you have genetic mutations that might cause endogenous production, if you have nutritional deficiencies contributing to endogenous production, and gut health. Additional factors, including your level of oxidative stress and your genetic could also be factors. The science is still developing regarding oxalate and health.

Here is the challenge: we don’t have studies on dumping. All we have are some limited case studies looking at individuals with genetic hyperoxaluria (one kind of endogenous production) that have had liver transplants to deal with that problem. But we do have years of feedback from group members who report that they tend to dump from different parts of the body at different times, and that dumping can continue for months and years. The challenge here is that oxalate dumping is a long process and it's suspected that we dump compartment by compartment. 

A variety of supplements may trigger dumping. Some are:

- Vitamins B6 and B1 may induce dumping by addressing endogenous production. 

- Oxalate disrupts biotin dependent carboxylase enzymes, so supplementing biotin may trigger dumping. 

- The minerals magnesium and calcium, when taken before a meal, can help bind dietary oxalate in the gut so that we absorb less oxalate. Minerals can prompt dumping in this way. 

- Citrate can dissolve calcium oxalate monohydrate, making it soluble and easier to excrete. Magnesium citrate, calcium citrate, lemon juice can have this effect. 

There are a wide range of both physical and/or mental dumping symptoms that listmates commonly notice when reducing oxalate. 

Typically, these are the symptoms that brought you to LOD and It's possible that some of these symptoms will increase as you start reducing oxalate, due to the greater amount of oxalate being excreted. 

Some of the symptoms we frequently hear about are:

Bloated stomach
Stomach pain/nausea
Sandy / light coloured stool
Burning stool
Black specks / white crystals in stool
Diarrhea / Constipation / alternating diarrhea and constipation
IBD
Cloudy urine
IC
Bladder pain
Kidney pain
Lower back pain
Gallbladder pain
vulvadnyia
Frequent urination
Chronic UTI's
Kidney stones
Insomnia
Air hunger
Heart palpitations
Peripheral neuropathy
Burning tongue / mouth
Weight loss / gain
Flu like symptoms
Dry cough / phlegmy cough
Sore throat
Sinus issues
Headache
Asthma
Odd sensations (fullness) / plugged ears
Vertigo and dizzyness
Tinnitus
Fluctuations in hearing
Burning / red / gritty / crusty eyes
Floaters in eyes
Burning feet/ skin
Joint pain
Muscle twitching
Frozen shoulder
Back / neck pain
Achy all over
Rashes
Psoraisis flares
Cold sores
Irritability
Fatigue
Anxiety
Panic
Brain fog
Depression
Anger / sudden rage

Dumping is a positive thing. It indicates that you do have stored oxalate that may be a factor in your symptoms. But, we recommend you both reduce dietary oxalate and introduce supplements gradually, so that you can keep the dumping at a manageable pace. 

Also, oxalate drives pain and inflammation, so that's key to why we recommend a slow reduction. A slower reduction means less intense symptoms. We want to get oxalate out but we don't want to drive worse health while we do it.