J pouch/spirituality and fecal transplant

The only way that surgery changed me emotionally is that I feel happy and grateful for becoming healthy again. I'm still the same person, but now I can eat, sleep through the night, exercise, and work. I couldn't do those things before.

I can't speak to FMT, I never tried it. It seems to work for a minority of UC patients, but some people say it made them sicker, and my health was too fragile to try anything that could have made me worse.

14 years post colon and I am way better off. I have been able to travel the world, eat what I want, and exercise like crazy. My health post surgery has never made me cancel a commitment.

I am different, though. But I don't believe it's due to surgery. I think it is due to the 2.5 years I lived witha severe flare. That time robbed me of so much of my life and forever altered my soul.

Sue

I can't tell mine is gone......I mean, I can tell I'm not hurting and cramping anymore, but my insides feel completely normal, and emotionally there hasn't been a change at all. This stoma and bag are annoying, so I guess there's an emotional quotient to be factored in for that, but it's temporary. After my takedown surgery in a couple weeks, I fully expect to be happier than I ever have been.

My j-pouch is not working as well as some of the other members here. With that being said, I love my j-pouch. I couldn't handle my diseased colon any longer. I can sleep through the night, I feel healthy and I am much happier than when I was sick. I feel like a new person. My GI jokes with me about it, he says that you wake up from the colectomy and the monster is gone, it is kind of true because you wake up and you can tell that you just feel better.

I have had chronic pouchitis and been on antibiotics since my take down. It is nothing like being sick with UC, I have minor discomfort from the pouchitis and that is it. I had always hoped for not needing medicine after my surgery but that is not the case but I am still very thankful for my j-pouch.

The FT may or may not treat your UC but I doubt it will treat "whose colon has hardened, has polyps and atypical cells?"

Do the dooo first. It has savevd many people from surgery. Jus don't tell your doctor or they might think youre crazy. I used my sons and an enema. Just shake it up, lie on your back in the shower and do it.

Thank you all so much for your insights, they are hugely helpful...and your so right, my emotional state right now, living with this disease is such a whirlwind I can't imagine it will get worse.

I also sometimes feel like it is defeat to get the surgery, because I have believed in all these diets, and I have believed the body naturally wants to heal itself, so is this not true? Is acupuncture,energy work, diets, healers...none of that has healed me so do I no longer believe in them? I dunno....I do know this is no way for me to live anymore and I feel closer to surgery after all of your words, thank you.

Capuchin- how long did u have UC before you did the doo? R u in complete remission?

Surgery isn't defeat, rather it's just another uc treatment option that's been a godsend for those who've failed other treatments.

I also believe that the gut being the center of your overall health is vastly overrated. Most who have had their colons removed have not gone into a health tailspin, so that thinking is not quite right. If that thinking has any merit to it at all it might be that it is connected with small intestine and not the large intestine because you can't live without a small intestine but you can live just fine without a large intestine.

While every single UC'r can benefit from nit and pick diet changes, it is not true that you can pick a particular name brand diet and expect results and if that diet doesn't work then you just pick a different diet and expect results from that. Common sense will tell you that if an all meat diet helps one group of people and an all vegetarian diet helps a different group of people (ditto every other kind of diet) then there really is no such thing as a diet that a new patient can expect results from. Some people get lucky and hit on one that works for them but the majority don't see results from any name brand diets, thats why many GI's will tell you that diet doesn't have anything to do with it.

While the body does heal itself in certain areas such as cuts, bruises, broken bones, some viruses, etc., you can't extrapolate that into everything, including curing UC. If your arm gets cut off you aren't going to grow a new one and if you get UC, even though the body might be trying to heal itself, it is more than likely going to fail, just as it fails to grow you a new arm. You can't take the concept of the body wanting to heal itself and apply it to everything. People die from cancer and many other diseases all the time so why would anyone believe that the body is going to cure itself of UC? Not going to happen.