When can you eat normally after a Reversal Ileostomy?

hi there. just read your post and want to say that you seem to be doing well. I had a bad time with mine after having it reversed 2 half years ago. I thought I would never be able to lead a normal life as I had to continually need the loo at very short notice and sometimes not making it. I tried eating only certain foods but no matter wot I ate it made no difference. I can have a curry, roast dinner, or just light meals and the result is the same. So therefore I have whatever I fancy and peanut butter is one of them. (reminding myself I have just run out of it!!) I know when I can feel free to go out as I know the warning signs. I have to always carry certain personal things with me - just in case. I go to work so life's not that bad. I hope you get on fine as I'm sure you will. Gill.

IN REPLY. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I EAT AS MY BOWEL HAS A MIND OF IT'S OWN. THE ONLY THING I DO AVOID REALLY IS TINNED TOMATOES, WHICH I LOVE... THESE DAYS I KNOW WHEN I'M GOING TO HAVE A BAD DAY, AND EVEN NOW, 2 HALF YEARS LATER, I WAKE UP IN THE NITE AND RUSH TO THE LOO. I CAN DEAL WITH ALL THIS AS I HAVE TO - AS ALL OF US ILLYS DO. SOMETIMES I FEEL SO UNCOMFORTABLE AS THOUGH I'M SITTING ON HOT COALS. IT'S HORRIBLE AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE HAS THIS SORT OF PAIN. PLEASE LET ME KNOW. THANX ALL.

Angel Baby,  My you have been though a lot.  Although I do not have a appliance I have had a total colectomy.  Mine was Feb 19,10 and I still mainly stick to turkey and chicken, things that are easy to pass and not all the fat content.  I am allergic to dairy so I stay away from all of that, but if you have dairy in your diet, it may give you additional gas that you may not want.

So many of us have lived our llives by our bowels and intestines.  I had the opposite problem from you I had C and I hated what I had to go through to try to feel good.  Glad that I had my surgery but I am 5'9 and I am down to `125 lbs...way too thin for me.  But I eat everything fatning that I can.  I hope that things get better for you, I just really wanted to send you some positive wishes your way.  Sorry that I can't help with your problems as I don't have any of that, they reconnected me when they did my surgery, so for that I am thankful.  But it too comes with its difficulties also.. so stay strong, and be well.

Leslie

I underwent a reversal of a transverse loop colostomy approximately three months ago. I'd been with the colostomy for just over a year. The first few weeks post surgery were the most difficult in that I was frequently unable to control movements, and the incontinence soiled to a lot of clothing and bedding. Chucks and pads were essential. Slowly I began to regain control of my bowels, but even now, three months out, it is not easy. Whereas I had experienced trouble almost daily, now it has diminished to maybe once or twice a week. I find that I am almost always extremely gassy, and that flatulence and controlling flatulence is often a problem, and can be embarrassing. While I have diarrhea about once a week, my movements are almost always loose. I've discovered that certain foods can be eaten only at the risk of becoming ill, sometimes violently ill. Anything fried is strictly taboo. Chinese food is out. India food can be a nightmare. Anything that is very fatty is trouble. Grease can trigger problems. Fruits and vegetables, ironically, are well tolerated, as is almost all forms of protein---meat, fish, fowl, eggs. Dairy is hit and miss. Metamucil each morning and evening helps to add bulk and some binding. Immodium is essential to keep in the med cabinet. A probiotic, like ALLIGN, can also be beneficial. It isn't easy, but consider this: my daughter suffers from Crohn's Disease, and her flare ups come much more often, and much more violently. And she has lived with the disease almost 10 years now, and it will probably be there forever. My gastro doc assures me that over time I will improve, and that it often takes year or more to get almost back to normal gastro functioning, if ever. Whilee I likely will not regain the cast iron constitution I had prior to my illness, I should be better than I am now. At any rate it sure beats the hell out of maintaining a colostomy.

Good luck to all.

Hello....well i was hoping i could be off any of these sites but i need some much needed support. i have just finished reading all 3 years of posts to see that i am NOT alone. I had a rectal tumor back in Sept. 2010, had chemo and radiation for 5 weeks, and 2 big surgeries. i had my rectum taken out and about 2 feet of my large intestine and was given a temporary illiostomy. Had a ton of complications for 2 1/2 months with the illiostomy so my doc reversed it Feb 2011. So its now been 7 months. I think i beat you all. and this is NO exaggeration. No matter what i eat, no matter, what i take to bulk my stools, no matter what meds natural or pharmaceutical i take i am going 80-100 times a day!!!!! I LIVE ON THE TOILET MORNING NOON AND ALL NIGHT LONG! I am exhausted and have not slept more than a solid 2 hours in over actually 1 1/2 years. I have taken lomotil, Immodium, Opium tincture, do psyllium 2 times a day, take bentonite clay, I only have one protein smoothie after i get out of bed which is usually around 1:00pm-3:00pm because i am up all night going and going. and then one more small meal like rice with avocado or 17 hour slow cooked rice and lentils or rice pasta. even if my stools are more formed i am going and going the 80-100 times a day everyday no change. I have accidents all the time and live in diapers. My body has become immune to the Lomotil and opium tincture. i have taken them so long and so much they don't work anymore. I am seeing a holistic doc now too who is trying to help. I had been given this anti spasm pill because every night when i lied down to sleep i began having these constant awful anal spasms that would not let up or allow any sleep whatsoever. so he gave me this pill called Hyoscyamine. It dissolves under the tongue. it also helped to dry me up a bit more which allowed me to sleep maybe 2 hours the most straight uninterrupted without waking up. i want off all my meds so i asked my holistic doc the original plant form of this drug. He knew what is was right away and had it in his office. It is a liquid herbal tincture called Hyoscyamus Niger. I have been taking it for 2 weeks now with much better results as far as having some hours of being dried up mostly during the day and sometimes if i am lucky a few on and off hours in the night. i only need to take 5 drops in an inch of water and that is all. however if i take one or two drops more i can flip into awful hardened stools and as they try to pass i go into a 10 in pain. its awful. however without any meds i would have constant 24/7 liquid diarrhea all day and all night non sop. and i mean NON STOP!!! I can easily go 20-30 times in one hour!! and i mean running my a-- off to try to make it each time to the toilet. i am getting good at this but still have many accidents in a day. i basically have hardly any life outside my house as i take a HUGE change if i go anywhere. My God is this ever ever going to change? My docs here are at a loss with me and are sending me to OSHU in Portland Oregon coming up. I have a feeling these speciality docs will offer me a permanent colostomy but really i must wait this out and keep trying everything i know to do. i do NOT want a permanent colostomy at all!!!! and I will offer any of you who have the awful unbearable bile burning a prescription powder called, Cholestramine. it is a powdered resin that binds bile. i MUST 100% take 2 packets a day. it does take 12 or so hours to get into the system and start working. the very few times i had forgotten to take my 2nd packet in the evening, i suffer and cry and cry because the burning is absolutely unbearable and NOTING, no ointment, no pill no nothing can stop this burning. so if you are going to take this seriously be on top of the exact times you take it and do NOT delay the 2nd packet by more than 1/2 hour.. Make sure to rinse your mouth out several times after as this resin can be harsh on your teeth. And for anyone advising which i will so value and appreciate, yes i have done the brat diet, no i hardly eat any fruits or veggies, i am a vegetarian for 40 plus years, no meat, chicken or fish. Good news is i am cancer free but man oh man what i go through 24/7 is totally wearing me out and i just have hardly any life outside of my toilet. I know they say it takes a minimum of a year for the bowels to relearn how to absorb the water. But i barely eat so how is it possible i poop so much in a given day. i just don't get it at all. HELP!!!! Thank you!!! Hope there are still some readers here after so many years of posting here!

Hi Mandy

yes none of this is easy. your dad is still sooooooooo early on only 2 weeks. i am going crazy with this all after 9 months now 24/7 bowel management with little to no change. I am in LA now going to Cedar Saini's where they have some great colorectal specialists. looking for answers and solutions. i am glad i could help you out a bit with what i have learned along the way. it seems to be one big trial and error process with everything. but i tell you if your dad's bottom is burning it could very well be from the bile coming from his gallbladder and the ONLY thing that helps that is the Cholestramine powder. if its a diaper rash thing, that is entirely different and many different ointments help with that.

hang in there..i need to tell myself that every single day!!

so if his butt still burns absolutely check into him getting and taking the Cholestyramine Powder. The burning at least mine i found out after 4 miserable months of burning is from the bile from the gallbladder. and because i have a shorter transit time due to only 2 feet of large intestine left the bile gets in there into the stool and burns so so bad. if i take this powder even an hour lat the next day i will burn for hours and no pain pill, no ointment or anything will stop the pain. its from the bile. and this powder is a resin that binds the bile. as far as ointments the best one i have found as a barrier so the diarrhea does not burn is from Coloplast called "Clear moisture Barrier ointment. also Calmoseptine ointment is thicker and has some mint in it to cool the anal area. use a kleenex to get it off your hands before washing the hands. i promise it makes it a lot easier to get these off your hands. I am getting all kinds of tests this week in Los Angeles. my colonoscopy yesterday showed negative. tomorrow i do the breath test to check for bacteria overgrowth which i know will be negative. and friday i am having yet another cat scan. but this machine my doc. said is rare in that it can show the inside of the small bowel to see if there is any radiation damage causing a partial blockage at all which she said could be contributing to the massive diarrhea that i still have 1 year and 9 months later! i too am up ALL NIGHT constantly going to the toilet. i am so so so tired of all this and want my life back. i was so active and a healer for many others and i am at my wits end trying to find a solution to why i have such awful bowel incontinence and still have diarrhea. I had been taking heaps of all kinds of great supplements and herbs for all kings of things, enzymes for food digestion, herbs to help heal my intestinal lining, amino acids, pancreatic enzymes, vitamins like vitamin D3, Vitamin B12 and various other ones. my doc asked me to go off ALL herbs and supplements to see if any of them are contributing to the diarrhea. so i am now on day 2 of no supplements so we will see what shows up. hope you dad can rest better tonight. its a crazy long night when this happens, i know all too well for too long!

Be well

Findingmyway, this is an old post and a lot of people on it don't post regularly any more. It might help to start a new thread so people don't ignore it because it's old.

Sorry I don't have any info on your specific problem, but welcome to this list. It has been enormously helpful for me.

Look for the button on the left above the posts that says post new topic, w/the plus sign on it. Be sure to put a specific subject line in (you can include that you're new too).

Hi all. i had a stoma reversal. 5 weeks ago yet i still have real bad tummy ache and need to go to loo all the time. is this normal.
please advice as not much happening when asking the doctor.
thank you.

Thank you to all of you for the information above. I had a reversal of my ileostomy 4 weeks ago. The gas pains,nausea are brutal.
I've been drinking Gatorade, water, V8 juice, cranberry juice to hydrate.
My rectum(J pouch) does get sore so I use barrier cream with relief.
I eat chicken ,turkey, seafood, fish. Beef, pork are very hard on my digestive system, so stay away from that.
Vegetables are few- beets, carrots, potatoes, rice.
Take one teaspoon so far, of Metamucil 3-4 times a day.

Anyone have any other suggestions? hints>

That is to be 2013. I haven't received any answers or suggestions?

Katmom, Thanks so much!