Jpouch - ACID Output

Have they scoped your pouch yet?

I think Blksteeda said that once he started taking antibiotics that his output was less acidic. I'm not sure that you want to go down that road without getting scoped though.

What about if you take a slowing agent like lomotil?

I'm 2 weeks post op and my skin is very raw and hurts. My doc recommended baby powder. He said its actually moisture that is tearing up the skin and to try baby powder. Worth a shot maybe? I'll be trying it.

I don't have a jpouch but an ileostomy so have similar output not poo! My output is not acidic and even if I have a leak my skin never burns and I don't get broken skin.

I personally think it is because I take a probiotic. I alternate 2 different ones but the one I find most helpful is Digestive Advantage Gas Defense because the strain is effective against yeast and has a couple plant digestive enzymes.

I know some GIs will say no colon, so probiotics aren't necessary but a lot of strains live in the small intestines. I think they have helped my ileostomy a lot. Might be worth a try.

Try eating Metamucil wafers. As your body adapts to it new plumbing, you'll notice this will get much better over time.

Many of us who have pouchitis use Pepto Bismol in conjunction with antibiotics. My pouch works much better when I take Pepto regularly.

For me what hurts the most is my butt hole directly from wiping so much. It even seems that throughout the day later on I get a couple spots of light blood from the skin being so raw. Just to confirm, that is butt burn? I do use calmoseptin almost after every time that I go as well as baby powder when I'm at home.

Thanks,
M

I hope you don't mind me asking a question on your forum. Did you guys who got the J pouch ever experience a long/meaningful remission before needing it?

I flared on and off for the first year, post-diagnosis. I would do a course of pred, then taper off, and a few months later I would flare again. I had a scope at the first post-diagnosis flare up (a few months after tapering off pred), the doctor basically said, "your UC is bad, you're not going to have an easy ride, this will have a major long term impact on your life." That was hard to hear, but he was right.

When I went on azathioprine I had about a year where things were good (no urgency, stool still a bit soft though). Then I had a colonoscopy and we realised that I still had some active disease. From then on things gradually started to slip. I was put on infliximab, which didn't work well enough. The final flare lasted for about 18 months. It was a total nightmare and by the end I was so glad to have my colon removed.

I'm now a very happy j-poucher: no disease, no meds, no urgency, usually 4 or 5 bowel movements a day, I sleep through the night and (apart from a couple of extra toilet trips each day) live a totally normal life.