Just shy of 2 weeks post takedown

So it's been LESS than 14 days, yes?

You need to take it a lot slower and dial back your expectations. I know it feels like you've been dealing with this forever. Unfortunately you are going to have to be patient for a while longer.

My surgeon kept me on a bland, soft, low-residue diet for the first ~10 days after surgery and I graduated to 'real' food slowly after that, so the early weeks were not that hard on me. When I started adding varied foods (I particularly remember a sushi dinner followed by a cupcake... that was good) I paid for it with extra bathroom trips but generally speaking nothing affected me dramatically.

If I were you, I would focus on trying to manage your symptoms with your diet, not by adding more drugs and supplements. There's no shame in using bowel slowers longterm *if you need it*, but so soon after surgery they are going to mask your body's natural reactions and adjustments. They are also not universally tolerated -- for example, lots of pouchers swear by Metamucil, and I have a healthy well functioning pouch that turns into a nightmare if I take Metamucil.

I don't think it makes sense to add Lomotil on top of Imodium and Metamucil this early on given the fact that you're not having more than 10 BMs per day, but for the record, your surgeon is correct, it is safe to take both Imodium and Lomotil.

I was just thinking about you. I think you need to take it easy too. It's a huge process to heal from and I think things will get to where you want them to be, you just have to be patient :( I am sorry you're stressing.

Whoa! Expect improvement in weeks, not days. And if you want to improve your quality of life take lomotil or use metamucil. Whatever you can do to get through the first few months will help you to mentally feel better. I was told to eat what I want so I did; I kept a food journal and measured transit time and adjusted my diet based on that. I was fatigued for a full year; I attribute that to 2.5 years of prednisone use on top of battling a severe flare during that time. You need to be patient with yourself. Rest when you are tired, get exercise-walking is great for recovery, lower your expectations, and engage in tasks that get your mind off your butt.

Sue

You may not think so but you're doing pretty darn good two weeks after takedown. Seriously.

I would suggest getting out of the house and occupying your mind with something else other than the bathroom. You will be surprised how little you'll think about it if you're out doing something. :)

Agreed on taking things slow and having a little more patience. Things really do change in weeks. For the first month I was at a pretty constant 8 - 10 times over a 24 hour period, and that's gone down about one less time per week. Now at just over 10/11 weeks post takedown I'm going about 6 times in 24 hours. But I'm really not counting anymore it's just become another part of the day, and I can continue to hold it longer and stretch out time between bathroom trips more and more each week.

For a while I'd easily get 5-6 hours after breakfast and then about 3 hours after lunch. After dinner though I'd be in the bathroom almost every two hours for a six hour stretch. That's slowly beginning to change and I'm even getting 6-7 hours overnight between bathroom trips (before UC I could easily sleep for ten hours or more if nothing interrupted me, so this is really exciting for me).

I know you've also been complaining about gas a lot. I think I said this in my other post, but that goes away too. I'm at the point now where I really only have gas right before I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. Most of the times I can't even feel it and don't even realize I have any until it comes out while I'm going. Again, as everything gets used to working again and your body gets used to processing all different foods again it will get better.

As far as diet, I really don't know what I can say to help. For me, I never really adhered to "bland" foods, but more a soft food diet, with very little fiber at first. If I knew I'd be eating some kind of sauce with chicken (with some kind of vinegar, oils, fats, etc) or tomato sauce for dinner, I'd take it easy with the foods I'd eat throughout the day and just brace myself for the results (basically eating as things like turkey sandwiches, yogurt, oatmeal, bananas, maybe a soft pretzel or a roll during the day). Again, as your body gets used to processing things and troublesome food groups again it will get easier, but you have to go slow.

Even then things can affect you differently different days at first. I finally added apples back into my diet a few weeks ago (again, that would be the sole piece of fruit I ate for the day at the time) and had no issues. One week later I ate the same type of apple just from a different farm stand and had a pretty terrible night and next morning. I've since tried bits of broccoli, cauliflower, corn on the cob, and other potentially horrific vegetables, in moderation, and things have actually not been too bad. But again, it's been very slowly and one new thing at a time.

And as far as the immodium and benefiber go, I agree that it's probably much too early for that if you're not having any dehydration issues (although I would take some immodium for the wedding, or any other long days out as well). As Liz and others stated, it's best to really let the body heal the way it's going to heal so you can actually feel and figure out what's really going on and how your system is really working.

Additionally, benefiber (and to some extent immodium and lomotil, but it never has for me), add bulk to the stools, which can actually increase your bathroom trips due to the added volume the pouch has to hold. Especially now when your pouch is just starting to expand and not at it's full holding capacity yet.

I will say that I just started taking metamucil last week and that has helped with the less nighttime bathroom trips, but I REALLY don't think it would have done me any good in the beginning. You're also setting yourself up for potential blockages or obstruction issues if there's too much bulk or things slowing down this soon as your bowels are still just waking up again. And if you have any type of partial obstruction, even if it's not serious or major, it can again increase your gas, bathroom trips or make things watery and more urgent and miserable.

In regards to keeping things thick, rice and pasta never really work for me. In fact, rice tends to make things pretty watery. A banana in the morning and a potato at night with dinner almost always keeps things pretty solid (or as solid as they can be with a jpouch) and ok for me, even with sauces and spices and other potential problem foods with the rest of the meal.

Sorry this turned into a novel. I really have been trying to make my posts shorter and more succinct. Hopefully there was something useful in here.

Basically, I know it's tough to hear and is incredibly annoying, but it really will take a little time. Just hang in there and try to be more focused and appreciative of the little things or improvements you notice each day, not measuring your healing by where you'd LIKE to be right now.

I don't specifically remember any pain in the beginning. Maybe some soreness in my abdomen, and definitely some discomfort and burning up in the rectal cuff. I really haven't had much of an issue with butt burn since the first week, except for in the cuff area just inside the anus. Not sure of the right technical terms.

I do still have to push sometimes to get or feel like I've emptied all the way. Mostly it's just a push to get things moving and then usually it's more of a releasing the muscles kind of feeling.