Eliostomy reversal 2 weeks ago-diahrea all the time

I just had my 3rd surgery in one year just two weeks ago today. A year ago my Colon perforated suddenly because of Diverticulitus, they removed 2/3 of my Colon and put a bag and drain on. 6 months later I went in to have the bag removed and reconnecting the rest of my Colon. The surgery did not turn out well (6 1/2 hours long). they had to remove ALL of the Colon and put another temporary bag on. So 6 more months of healing and I had the final take down (2 weeks ago today). The surgeon was able to connect my intestinal track to my rectum but now I have a real difficult time with diahrea. I'm off work for 6 weeks and I'm hoping I will get this under control by then. I have MANY accidents a day and wear depends and pads. I take 4 doses of Lomotil a day and Cellium 3 times a day. I've been finally able to eat food (no appetite until a few days ago) so I've been eating just regular food and it seems that everything causes gas and diahrea. I read on this site about marshmellows....I'm going to try that. It does seem to help when I eat a bagel or pasta etc instead of salads....they seem to stick with me a LITTLE better. I sent an email to my Surgeon asking if this is all normal, waiting for her response. I see her in a few days to have my staples removed too. I hope life will get better because this is so depressing right now. I'm glad I found this site today.

I too had nothing but problems post-takedown surgery. 3 bm's during one meal, it was awful.

Until I went on a low residue diet. I faithfully kept a food diary for 2 years, never straying for that diet, if I wanted cookies or candy, I had extremely small portions. In fact I started using a salad plate for my dinner plate and took very small portions of foods I could eat. I ate 4-6 very small meals per day, for 12 hours in a 24 time period. My solid intake cut off was 7 pm each evening. If I got hungry I drank 1 to 2 tall glasses of water. That was it until morning for any sort of food. Why did I do this? To give my insides a chance to recover from the ongoing bm activity (and so I could sleep). The diet did solidify my stool and I could leave home. It was wonderful. I wore (and still do) Stayfree Ultra Thin Maxi pads that are overnight ones, they are very long and cover the back part of your underwear (I wear these for minor accidents). My go to foods on this diet were and still are - white rice, instant mashed potatoes (over from scratch), cottage cheese, bananas, white bread, plain english muffins and bagels, chicken, turkey, white fish. My husband jokingly has referred to this diet as my white diet. I avoided all fresh fruit, except for bananas, and any whole wheat product.

I wish you well.

Sorry, just saw the lomotil comment. Try immodium instead. Lomotil didn't do much for my daughter when she had her colon, and it's prescription...over the counter meds are so much easier!! No waiting for refills. I think you are on the right path..you just need to make a few adjustments!

Thank you everyone for your comments. You have all been so helpful. My Surgeon did email me back and said I can increase the Metamucil to 4 times a day and if it doesn't get any better in a week then she will add another prescription. Yes, I am on Lomotil. I take 2 tablets every 4 hours to slow things down. I was on 1 tablet everey 4 hours before the take down because I got severly dehydrated a few months ago and went into Kidney failure and was in the hospital for 3 days with IV and antibiotics. I was putting out liquid to fast in the eliostomy and not taking in more liquid. I know drink lots of water and gatorade. I've been trying the marshmellows, they seem to help a little. I've been having some slices of hard cheese and that has helped too. Yesteray I did a no no....I met my husband for lunch for chinese. I prepared myself to mainly have rice (no veggies) and orange chicken instead of my favorite Kung Pow Chicken. Well I did eat a half bowl of the egg drop soup and then realized it had lots of oil in it and so I stopped. I paid dearly for this. I had around 10-12 BM's for 2 hours afterwards. My bottom has gotton so sore that I had to go buy some baby ointment for it. My situation is a little different than other ostomies because I no longer have a Colon at all so my Surgeon said that I will ALWAYS have liquidy stool but I will just learn what works and it will get better..,...any more ideas or suggestions just bring them on. I appreciate it so much. Thank you all!

Amused, do you have a jpouch or is your bowel connected directly to your rectum?

One of you asked me if I have Jpouch or connected directly to my rectum.
I was connected directly to my rectum.....I guess that's good but it's still a BIG pain. I didn't even know what the Jpouch was until after reading some of the comments on this site so I researched it on google afterwards to see what a Jpouch is....now I understand a little better.

I love reading all your comments. I wish I would have found this site before the take down. It looks like most of you had a take down because of Crohn's disease. I had a bad flare up of Diverticulitus (never had it before) and after that my Colon was damaged so bad. I was treated with chemo for 6 months and 19 months of steroids to fight Leukemia that I was diagnosed with almost 3 years ago. My Gasterenterolgoist feels the Colon damage was caused from the chemo and steroids, however my Oncologist disagrees. All I know is that my Leukemia is now in remission (testing every 3 months for the rest of my life) but this whole Colon thing has been the worst. I'm doing better since I started following the advice many of you have given me..."the white diet" and keeping a journal. My Surgeon took my staples out a couple days ago and said it looks like I'm healing well, it was 3 weeks ago today and I'm off work for 3 more weeks. She put me on another medication to bulk up my stool. It's actual for lowering cholesteral but the side affect of it is constipation (which is what I need)....however it also causes gas which I don't need. Today is the 2nd day on it so I will see how I do, she said try it for 3 days to see if it will work, if not then discontinue using it. Yesterday afternoon I got SEVERE cramping and gas for hours until bed time and I finally had to take a couple Vicadin in order to stop the pain. I don't know if its the medication (Cholestyramine) or maybe because its the first time I've had a cheeseburger and a coke since surgery (it had lettuce and tomatoes)....probably a no-no. So last night I ate a bowl of Chex cereal and I continued having gas cramps and going to the bathroom. Is dairy a no no too? Thanks guys for your help.

For most people, issues w/dairy are issues w/lactose, and that can vary as some dairy products have more lactose than others. The lower lactose things like yogurt and hard cheeses are easier for many people than the higher lactose things like milk and soft cheeses. Butter has very little lactose in it. Heavy cream has less less lactose than regular milk, so some people can tolerate soups w/cream in them but not w/milk.

The Lact Aid pills work for some people too -- they are just an enzyme that helps process lactose, and you take them before you eat dairy. I did not have much luck w/them when my disease was active, but I have a friend w/Crohn's, who uses them and can eat any dairy she wants.

Glad your leukemia is in remission. Wow, these last three years have been hard for you. I hope the next three will be much lighter.