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pouchitis????

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Posted 3/31/2010 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hey...I need your imput.

My son Dillon, who had his reversal a month ago, spent most of yesterday and last night in the bathroom with the dreaded D. confused He also had a fever last night of 38.5 but that was gone today. He overall seems "sick"....just wants to sleep and feels like crap. He is not nauseated, is not crampy and it does not hurt to have a bowel movement. Also, he has a sore throat and a bit of a cough. He had a bit of blood on the tissue one time yesterday, but my thinking is that is probably just from wiping so much.

For those of you who have had pouchitis what were your symptoms. His surgeon is going to go ahead and treat him with cipro/flagyl. I believe their thinking is that it will do no harm and just in case it is pouchitis this should deal with it.

My gut tells me that this is just a bug like any of us could get.

Thanks for your knowledge.

Cathy
Posted 3/31/2010 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
This sounds like the flu and not pouchitis. The symptoms of pouchitis are cramping, higher frequency, urgency and possibly a low grade fever. Because your son also has a sore throat and a cough leads me to believe he has something else. I wouldn't start him on antibiotics for these symptoms as there is no need to unnecessarily take them.

Sue
Posted 3/31/2010 8:10 PM (GMT 0)
Suebear....what does one expect when you only have a small intestine if you get a bug that would cause the rest of us diarrhea. I don't know, if for the rest of us, if possibly the bugs only affect the large colon and thus water does not get absorbed and D is the result. Do these same bugs affect both the small and large colon?

Since you have had your pouch for a while...if you get the flu do you spend the night on the toilet?...and then when you are better have your BMs go back to normal?

Thanks
Posted 3/31/2010 8:51 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not really sure but I think that pouchers have very similar flu reactions except for us it's much faster to empty our system as it holds much less waste. I have had the flu once in the past nine years and yes, I think I was up frequently at night. You can always treat a flu with lomotil or imodium provided you know for sure it's not a blockage (it's not in your son's case). Adding either of those drugs will slow his system down and help him to retain fluids. It's also wise to have him drink either electrolyte beverages (I recommend Vitalyte) and when he's feeling like eating, salty broths and pretzels or crackers. All the salt will help him prevent dehydration.

I'm sure this must be scary for you but it's not that bad for us as long as we know when to call a doctor (which takes time getting to know the new plumbing). Time and experience will help him to figure these things out.

Sue
Posted 3/31/2010 10:57 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much Sue. I just talked with the surgeon (not her "helpers") and she said that this definitely is not pouchitis. She is not giving him any antibiotics. Supposedly it is almost unheard of to get it in a pouch that has only been working for a month. She also said to use some imodium. He had a dose earlier today and his frequency has slowed down a lot.

Thanks again for your time and input.

Cathy
Posted 4/1/2010 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
Cathy, a few weeks ago I had similar symptoms as your son. It started as a sore throat and cold then I developed flu like symptoms a few days later. I was really sick and couldn’t eat any food. I was throwing up and had the worst diarrhea I have ever had since getting my J-pouch. It was pure liquid. My pouch became functional in January of 2009. Both my daughter and wife ended up getting the same thing a few days later and they both have their colons.
Posted 4/1/2010 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Paul....this makes me feel a lot better. This is new to us and we are never sure what to expect.

Have a great Easter holiday,
Cathy turn
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