Indiana pouch "gas" pains?

[tehuti88]

Hi! I have a relatively new Indiana pouch (December 2016); my bladder and urethra were removed for interstitial cystitis (non-painful, just a tiny sensitive bladder). I'm now doing the regular self-catheterizing thing; I can often go 4-6 hours because I drink relatively little (I know I should be drinking more, but my stomach is too small just yet, I hope to eventually do better). Since the surgery I've dealt with a serious kidney infection which required hospitalization so I'm still figuring my way around this.

I've learned that I usually can't tell when the pouch itself is full because it doesn't feel that way; instead I find out when I either start leaking through my gauze covering, or get these bad cramps in my lower intestines. I assume the cramping feeling is the full pouch pressing against the lower intestines, though I could be wrong?--since the pain doesn't seem to be coming from the pouch area itself. It feels just like gas pains, and so that's why sometimes I really can't tell whether I'm having gas or my pouch needs to be emptied! I'm dealing with lots of digestive issues because of the surgery and I hope that getting back on cholestyramine (gallbladder removal) will start to help things, so that's an added complication.

I'm wondering if this is something that lessens as the pouch expands to be able to hold more urine, or if I'll be dealing with it permanently? It seems like it'd be the latter since the pouch will just be putting more pressure on my insides, but I haven't read anything else about lower intestinal pain being a side effect of a growing pouch. Will this become less painful in time or is it something I'll have to get used to?

It's good to have a way to tell I'm full, I just wish it didn't hurt and didn't feel so much like another issue (gas pains)!