New Member - torranceboy

34 year old male
Originally diagnosed in 2003 with Crohn's disease
Temporary colostomy in 2009
Currently on Cimzia, 400mg's every two weeks

I recently relocated from the midwest, where I'm from, to the LA area. It's been a big change but I've been looking to make the move for a looong time.

Currently seeing doctors at Cedars Sinai and am discussing getting the j pouch procedure done. Problem is that it's a rare procedure for Crohn's patients and for good reason. The likelihood of success is not in my favor but I still have most of my GI tract so I want to at least try all options before I must make the decision to live with a permanent colostomy.

I never had many of the common symptoms of Crohn's, for the most part it was pain and discomfort from the sigmoid colon being so diseased. That much was removed in 2009 and have had a couple corrective surgeries since because of prolapsing. I'm at the point where I need to make the decision on how I want to handle my situation and right now I'm heavily leaning towards trying the j pouch. I would be very disappointed in myself for not trying every option available before getting a permanent ileostomy. I've read quite a bit about the procedure and have read both good and bad. The best reading was personal stories of people who have been in bad situations and made the decision to go with the j pouch and how it affected their lives.

I'm trying to soak in as much ion as possible before I make a decision about what to do next.

P.S. Crohn's is a bizatch

Hi , I was diagnosed with Crohns disease 23 years ago and had ileostomy surgery 2 years ago and I must say I am very happy with it. My diagnosis changed to Crohns/Colitis shortly before my ileostomy was done and due to many problems it was not an option for me to have JPouch done and I was disappointed we couldn't but I'm ok with it now. I do have a good friend that had a temp ileostomy done at the same time I did and he now has the J Pouch and even though he has had his share of problems with it he really doesn't want to go back to an ileostomy again, he controls the amount to times he needs the bathroom by taking gastro stop pills and panadeine forte very regularly and he still goes to the bathroom at least 10 times a day. But in saying that it doesn't happen that way for everyone, his diagnosis was UC and he didn't want the 3 step surgery either as he wasn't dealing with the ileostomy very well at all and became deeply depressed and told the doc to get rid of the ileostomy immediately so they did. He now wishes he had done it the way the docs originally suggested but he is managing ok with it now. You will hear lots of different stories but in the end the decision is yours and if I were in your shoes I would probably try for the J Pouch first too. I am often on the ostomy site and would love to hear what you decide and how you are going so please keep us posted. Take care and hope all goes well for you
Doreen