Diarrhea and Urgency after Bowel Resection?

Ok, so overall I'm feeling better from having my Terminal Illeum bowel resection 2 1/2 weeks ago.  HOWEVER, the diarrhea and urgency are ridiculous.  I can count on diarrhea after starting to eat, maybe 5-10 minutes into my meal.  Sometimes I feel like I can barely make it to the restroom. I'm really nervous about getting out in public and returning to work with this urgency to go to the restroom.  For those of you who have had this surgery, is this common and does it get better over time?  (I had my illeum, illeocecal valve and part of my right colon removed)  Please let me know what to expect as time moves forward......thanks guys!

It's been almost two months for me and it's still a problem. I had half of my right colon removed. Questran seems to work better for me but sometimes I take Imodium also. I also started Humira recently and think that's starting to help. I understand your frustration, I was expecting some time of remission after surgery.

You might just need to give your bowel some more time to adjust. If you were suffering from a stricture prior to surgery, imagine how much work was involved in moving feces through that stricture (you probably felt it as pain, but the pain was really your bowel working hard). The bowel needs time to relearn how much effort it takes to move food through. Added to that, consider how cranky your bowel and abdomen must feel after being cut and sutured. Every bit of your bowel was taken out of its protected environment, laid on your abdomen and examined and then stuffed back inside. It all has to readjust again and it takes time.

Having said that, depending upon how much of your terminal ileum was removed, you may find that you will need to take a cholestyramine (Questran) supplement in order to remove bile salts that your body may no longer be able to effectively recycle. Do your stools look greasy (can you see a skim, like oil, on the top of the water in the toilet bowl?)

What kind of diet are you on? Sometimes after a resection, if there are too many simple sugars in the diet and not enough fibre that can contribute to diarrhea, but I would add fibre onlly in consultation with my surgeon this soon after surgery. It was recommended that I maintain a bland diet with not a lot of roughage for the first 3-6 months. But recommendations vary.

If you decide to try imodium temporarily just be careful not to overuse.

And remember, it has only been less than 21 days since your body endured a massive insult to the system. Is it possible to see your diarrhea as a prescriptive, in that it may encourage you to rest and recover, rather than pick up the threads of your busy life too quickly?

You say you had a terminal ileum resection done. Have you been told if they removed the ileo-cecal valve? If this is
the case, it would be one answer for you diarrhea.
I would ask your surgeon, as this is a problem that maybe with you for sometime...Good luck.

Well, it would seem that you will have my problem, and that of many of us on here. Diarrhea will with you for awhile. Sometimes
the gut learns to adjust, and starts to form semi formed stool. Meanwhile, please watch your hydration and vitamin levels, especially
vit B12. When you have that valve removed, because of the constant diarrhea, we tend to suffer more with absorption issues. This is
something you need to talk to your doctor about. I have to have B12 shots bi-weekly, largely because my levels were not checked
enough.

They have told me that there's high amounts of fat in my stool, which does indicate that I have absorption problems. I know
I'm lacking in potassium and vit D. My weight is an issue when I'm not on steroids, but since I never really get a chance to be
off steroids I hold steady at a healthy weight, otherwise I would probably be under.
So to answer you, no I'm not absorbing the right stuff..

I had an ileal resection, with removal of the appendix and ileocaecal valve, in October, 1999--and, with rare exceptions, I've had the diarrhea and urgency ever since. Any medications that I've been given either (a) are opiates and keep me from driving when I take them, or (b) block me up miserably (e.g., cholestyramine), with uncomfortable gas bubbles and much worse diarrhea when the drug wears off. No doctor has been able to find a way to alleviate these symptoms.

Other people (as above) seem to have had better luck than I have with remedies after an ileal resection. What the heck--I'm used to the whole syndrome now.

bumping up for those early birds.......

Hey there,

I had pretty much the exact same surgery as you described. Except that i had very severe D before it. Then after the surgery i had those awful feelings of urgency and D and pain everytime i ate, so i was utterly disappointed and thought the surgery had been a failure. But as one of the other members stated above- the ileocecal valve was removed which means your body can no longer deal with bile salts. This is where the Cholestyramine/Questran comes into it. I was totally depressed that
A) I had a big scar on my tummy at the age of 19, and
B) it had all been for nothing and i was having the same pain & D as before.

BUT as soon as my GE decided to tell me about the Questran and i started taking it, the D eased off completely and i never had another pain like the crippling pains i had before surgery. I would strongly suggest you give the Questran a go, i only needed 2 sachets per day, and now i only take 1. I prob have to take it for the rest of my life but it's a small price to pay - if i miss a sachet any day i get the pain & D back and it reminds me how lucky i am that just taking a sachet of Questran will take it away. It tastes disgusting i will admit BUT just use orange juice when mixing it. Believe me it's SOOOOOOOO worth it. And the added bonus is that it does not have any short or long term side affects at all.
Best of luck with everything..........

I also thought my surgery was a failure because of this. I still don't know if the ileocecal valve was removed, but after some reading about the right hemicolectomy I had, it looks like it at least probably took out part of the ileum. I'm going to have to ask the GI at my next appointment. I sure wish they would have told me about this so I would have been prepared. Maybe they were afraid I wouldn't go through with the surgery if I knew. It's been 2 months now so I'm still hoping the intestines are working it out and will settle down eventually. Questran does help me, but it's like with dunny a lot of the time it will stop me up but then when it's time to go, it's time to go, and not solid.

I had really bad D for about 5 months until I discovered PREBIOTICS (as opposed to probiotics). I haven't had D since starting them. (I had Ileocecum/ Ileocecal valve resection as well as some bowel and colon removed.) I get a Vit B12 injection every month.