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J pouch sleep accidents

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Posted 11/18/2009 8:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, my boyfriend had UC since he was practically born and last year around Nov 2008 he had surgery to remove his colon and he had the stoma bag for a couple months and in January of 2009 he had his 2nd surgery and now he is UC-free (and Colon-free) and now he has a J-Pouch. He seems to be much happier and things are going well for him. He is still going to the bathroom a lot but it's not as much as a hassle, urgency or bother like it was when he had UC.

The main problem for him is having accidents while he is sleeping. He thought that this would be normal after the first few weeks/months, but seeing as how it's almost been a year, is it normal for him to still have frequent accidents while he is sleeping overnight? is it common? Will it ever go away? Should he see a doctor?

I feel that this is really the only thing holding him back from fully enjoying his new and improved lifestyle.

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I am new to the forum.

Thanks for any responses!!
Posted 11/20/2009 6:42 AM (GMT 0)
i know how he feels i had a couple night time accidents.
ive had a j pouch for only 5 weeks and I am awake typing this because i was in a deep sleep then all of sudden a powerful sensation to go and yes i made it to the bathroom this time but there are nights where i wish i could just sleep rather than go. like right now im wide awake thanks to my wonderful j pouch and every night this happens- cant ever fall back asleep. i need to go to work tomorrow on only 2 hr sleep? grrr i should prolly start a sleep help thread too.
Posted 11/21/2009 12:32 AM (GMT 0)
Isn't it crazy??? The only time I seem to have a wafer leak is in the middle of the night, anywhere from 2ish to 5ish, you'd think it would happen when you are up and about instead of quiet and sleeping.

Cathy
Posted 12/18/2009 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
I've had my j-pouch for almost a year. I have some random light leakage at night, maybe up to 3 times a week especially when in a deep sleep. My doctors say I should try taking Imodium before going to bed, but I don't like taking pills and don't want to be on them for life. I just wear a light pad which is more than adequate. I usually go to the bathroom twice a night anyway. I want to see if this is a long term thing as well or gets better with time, every month seems to get better. During the day I'm fine without any leakage or accidents.

If he is going to the bathroom a lot during the day, more than 6 times, he may have pouchitis and not know it right after the j-pouch surgery. I thought it was normal, but they discovered I had pouchitis through the 1 year follow up appointment and prescribed 10 days of antibiotics. I was down to one to two BM a day, but after a month or two I'm back to about 4 to 5 a day and 2 at night. I feel a million times better and living life again. Hope this helps.

UPDATE...I've now had my J-pouch for 6 years. The random night leaks stopped 2 years after the j-pouch surgery...and I say I reached my final jpouch "capacity" about 5 years post op. 5 BM a day and one at night. I also discovered I have chronic pouchitis. I began taking tinidazole (an antibiotic) initially with the two pills a day for two weeks and discovered that after the first day the pouchitis symptoms were gone. So I began lowering the dose on my own and now I take one or two pills and and that lasts 6 weeks, then I usually feel the pouchitis symptoms again and I take another one or two pills and I'm good for another 6 weeks. I've been doing this religiously for the past 4 years like clockwork. My life is normal and I don't have any dietary restrictions other than spicy foods just because it exits too hot for me.

I just recently had to have an emergency surgery to remove scar tissue that wrapped around the small intestine. In fact I just got out of the hospital a week ago. This surgery was much easier than the 3 I had in 2008. They still had to reopen my old 12" incision but I can tell I'm healing/recovering much faster than the other 3 surgeries I had. I had scar tissue all over the place but I was told they did a good cleaning this time!!!

Post Edited (GISGuy31) : 11/10/2014 12:59:08 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/18/2009 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
He needs to see a rectal physical therapist. He probably has some weakness to a portion of his sphincter. The rectal PT will determine what part of the sphincter needs work and will assign specific kegels to that area. Really, a rectal PT saved my life after having nightly accidents. If your BF can hold it during the day but only leaks at night this is the problem.

Sue
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