pouchitis

Hi Everyone,

I have not been here in a while. My son, Dillon, had his colectomy for ulcerative colitis and a J pouch built almost 6 yrs ago. He had a lot of complications during and after surgery but has since been doing SO well. He really has been a success story.

As we expected could happen at some point, he is experiencing his first bout of pouchitis. His put him on a combination of flagyl and cipro and he was feeling more than 100% better with 24 hours. However, he is now on this third day of this combination and it has made him very unwell. Intense fatigue and a feeling of being very, very hot. His doctor has said to stop the flagyl and continue on with just the cipro.

My worry is that they must give the combo for a reason. Is it now a substandard treatment to be stopping the one antibiotic? Would he be better off in the long run to put up with the side effects for another week? I do trust his doctor completely and she has never lead us astray …..but….we mothers do worry.

I look forward to your insights. I did have a look on the J pouch.org-pouchitis forum and saw nothing but terrible stories. I know those outcomes are not the norm and I feel you guys are more “rounded”.

I cannot take Flagyl. It makes me violently ill. And cipro isn't much better. I was given both of these when I still had UC as treatment. Obviously that didn't work so well. I haven't experienced pouchitis (yet) but I did have a discussion with my doctor once on what I could take in case I ever have to deal with it. She said Augmentin works well with a lot of people and I know I can tolerate that one. So if he continues to feel unwell on this combo, don't hesitiate to ask for a different antibiotic. Hope he feels better soon.