Diarrhea after resection?

You will have D after the resection for a while. Things will go somewhat back to normal after a while I had a resection in February 1 week later a temp ostomy and then un june I had the ostomy reversed. I still have D sometimes and other times finally it will be formed. Sometimes it is slightly formed. I do not have those huge bms I use to have with my C from my CD they were so bit and I so little I didnt kow how the heck it came out before. I hear some people never get back to normal therefore they have to take things such as Questran. I took that once and it gave me bad pain so I stopped it.

I went up to 140 pounds from pred while in the hospital. When I went in for my reversal June 20th I was about 118. I unfortunatly have already had my CD return so I am down to 97 pounds. I was about 119 prior to all of my surgeries but I was on pred prior to them too. I had been hanging around 115 for a while even tho my norm is between 103 and 108.

Some people say their bowels did not return to normal until about 1 year post op. Since you are having those areas removed you will be having theileocecal valve removed which can cause things to back up in the wrong direction but that is very very uncommon. I have had a nausea and vomiting thing post op but it was after the 2nd surgery....1/3 of my colon didnt wake up after my resection when my ileum perforated. When they went back in they removed that dead part of my colon not sure if he took more of my ileum when he was in there that time. then the ostomy. After the reversal ther vomiting has happened 2 times 1 time was today. I feel nauseous a lot. the ileocecal valve as I understand...please if I am wrong correctme...helps with the bile and bile salts which if too much bile gets into the colon it causes more D. That is when Questran would come in it is used initially for choleterol levels to help people with that but the way it helps is by binding to the bile salts helping to slow down the D helping it to form up. A lot of people have great luck and have no need for questran or any similar meds .

It is all an individual thing as far as D how long it will last post op etc.

I had open resections so I can't really tell you anything about the operation itself. I had always wondered about my appendix and whether it had been removed, but I had never asked my surgeon. My GI explained to me, while showing a picture of the anatomy, that the appendix really has to be removed if the TI is removed. If I were you I would still verify, but my surgeon has long since retired and short of tracking him down, my GI's answer will have to do for me. It is good to know, because if you ever show up in an ER with stomach pain its one of the first things they want to check out.

As far as the big D, if they remove your gallbladder along with the resection, you may have more of a D issue. But it really is an individual thing and you won't know until your body has healed and settled down. Intially you will only have D, which is probably a good thing because your insides are sore and you don't want to have hard things scrapping against them. But down the line, if it continues, you can speak to your doctor to figure out things that will work for you. You can work with you diet or add some immodium before you have to think about Questran. I couldn't tollerate Questran, but some people swear by it.

You also may end up with B12 issues. You need to make sure that your doctor monitors your blood levels. My doctor wasn't ever too concerned about it and I had to keep prodding for him to check me. Your body has some stores of it but eventually they will run out and you will need to get shots, if enough of your small bowel is taken out. I went 7 years after my last resection before I had to start, so it could be a very long time or not at all depending on how much is removed.

Good luck

I had a resection of the last half of my colon August of 2006. They did take my appendix while they were in there. Even though I didn't have my illeocecal valve taken out I did have "d" for quite awhile but also had constipation after about a month. That was a new sensation. Hadn't ever had that. A year and a half later, I'm doing pretty well. I still get bouts of "d" every week to 10 days and I do get stomach pains almost every day after I eat but it's pretty mild.

It does take awhile to recover but I did have a terrific support system at home. My incision was a full open abby incision because I had to have a fistula repaired that was going to my bladder. So far so good. Incision healed wonderfully but the scar is pretty ugly looking. You won't see me in a two-piece bathing suit but I never wore one before.

This is a big concern of mine as well - I'm going in for a similar surgery next week and am terrified that I will end up worse off than I am now. Right now my bowel movements are manageable, as I know what foods I can and can't tolerate. My surgeon tells me that I will be able to eat whatever I want after I have healed. She thinks that the bile salts absorption issue isn't a big deal because I can take medicine to help bind the bile salts if it turns into an issue, but I am just hoping that my intestines are quick learners that wake up soon after surgery and learn how to absorb the bile salts elsewhere!