Night-time emptying question

I'll preface this by saying I'm five weeks out from my temp end ileo creation...

I'm doing a ton of night-time emptying. The other night my last meal was at 6:30 pm, I woke up a couple of times during the night to empty, know I emptied once at again around 6:00 am, and still had quite a bit to empty again at 9:00 am. I thought total transit time from mouth to output was around 6 - 8 hours (3 to 5 in stomach then 3 in intestines).

I admit that my sleep schedule is a bit messed up right now as I'm on FMLA - I wake up around 12:00 noon and eat. I try to finish eating by 7:00 pm.

Does this night-time activity seem normal to people or am I a slow transit-or? Am I still to new?

Post Edited (ActiveUCer) : 10/4/2012 12:39:46 PM (GMT-6)

I'll echo that. Starting when my stoma was 3 weeks old, I was having leaking problems and would have to get up three times during the night either to change the burst bag or empty it. It was filling constantly during the night, very thick output too. This continued for weeks.
At this point I wouldn't reckon with transit times. It will do what it wants and it is constantly in action. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower.
You could try to end eating before 7 pm. 6:30 isn't much difference. Your stoma will still be active in the night though, regardless of when you stop eating. I had fairly good results when I would stop eating at 2 p.m. but this can get very uncomfortable in the long run because who wants to go hungry for so many hours?
At some point, after a couple of months, I would only need to get up once in the night and empty again when I woke up for the day. There were a few lucky times when I didn't get up at all, but those were few and far between. Everyone is different though, you could get to the point when you stop getting up in the night. I think everyone on this forum really values being able to sleep the night through.
Right after reversal I had to get up 3-4 times during the night, it's a kind of torment. But this calmed down as well and now, about 6 months after reversal, I can often sleep through the night, or only have to get up once.
I promise, however it is now will improve.

B'Dereh is right - everyone is different. In the beginning I thought I would try to stop eating by 7pm. However, since my husband doesn't get home from work until 7 most nights we tend to eat late. I am still able to mostly sleep through the night. The bag can be quite puffy in the morning, but often it is a lot of gas. I do find that it's not always when I eat, but what I eat that affects the output. For me, ice cream too late in the day is not a good idea.

My husband makes me eat it :)

Same with the chips.

The chocolate is all me though.

Haha, I wish someone would make ME eat ice cream ;).

I'm still on the soft GI diet too so maybe things will change when I go to other foods.

I've been getting up once a night to empty pretty consistently for the last year now. I try to stop eating by 7pm. Early on, I woke up with a ballooned pouch maybe 4 out of 7 nights in the week. Immodium helped a little, but then you deal with the absolute flood o' poop the next morning, which for me was usually when I was already at work. (For that reason, I stopped Immodium- it only delayed the inevitable for me. It can be helpful though.)

By the way- I have noticed some transit times are different for varying foods. Bananas will shoot out of me within 2 hours, for example. 4-5 hours is about my norm for most things, while awake. It took a few months for my gut to settle into that groove, though.

I probably would have gotten up more often at night during the first few weeks, but I had a lot of trouble moving around with the open wound + wound-vac. I think that may have motivated me to stay put when, if I were more able-bodied, I probably would have gotten up. Pre-surgery, my UC flares were so bad that I was jolted awake to run to the toilet 3-5 times a night (this on top of the 10-15 trips during the day). Lots of sleepless nights, 6 months running. Took its toll. Give me a peaceful jaunt to empty my ostomy over that torture any day (or night)!

So I guess: don't eat too late, Immodium but ymmv, eat something binding to slow things down....and stay away from bananas. :)

--
Matthew

Take an iron pill right before bed! I have noticed that when I take my vitamins, I also take an iron pill, that it stops my output for hours! I thought i was having blockages or something awful happening, until I realized it was only happening on days I took my vitamins in the morning. I don't know why it works, but it works way better than immodium.
I have never noticed that eating late or not makes a difference. I get up to pee anyway, so it's not a big deal to me.

Also it's not only food that comes out -- even if you don't eat at all, there's all that bile etc.

I have gotten better with time. I try to eat a small, low residue dinner now. I can sleep through the night w/out emptying, although usually I wake up at least once anyway to pee or because I'm too hot/cold...

Yay! I got cleared to take some immodium :)

My track time was much like yours. I'm 7 months out from surgery (with a temp ileo and hopes of a JPouch soon--scar tissue could be an issue).

Now I get up once a night (sometimes just an hour before I am supposed to get up anyway) half the time. At the most 5 out of 7 days.

Jen S

Are you flying commercial? Is there a bathroom on the plane? That's what I would recommend.

Can you ask to take two immodium?

I empty 2-3 times a night every night almost at the same times lol once around 12 then 3 then around 5-630 when i get up. Granted i empty when the bag is about a third full for fear of over filling ha