J-pouch and anti-diarrheals

[bbcopper]

Hey Everybody,

I was curious how different anti-diarrheals (imodium, lomotil, etc..) affect those with a jpouch:

Do you take any?
What do you take?
How much do you take?
How often do you take them?
How does it affect your body before eating and after eating?
What form of medication do you take (pill, chewable, liquid, injection)? Do you notice a difference in affects depending on form used?
How much does these meds slow down your rate of bowel movements? or does it?
What other affects do any of these have on your body either positive or negative?

It would be nice to compare how effective these medications have been, but I have no reference with other jpouchers, so it would be great to hear from you!

My history with these medications has changed recently. I have had my jpouch for 7 months now. I had been pretty much consistent with 10 bowel movements in a 24 hr period from the start. More recently I think I am averaging about 8.

For most of the 7 months I was taking 10-12 imodium, 10-12 lomotil and 3-4 doses of Opium every day! I was still going 10 times a day, but it helped me control things a little better during work hours.

I no longer take the opium and I have now changed from imodium pills to the chewables. I now take 8-10 imodium and 6-8 lomotil each day. I start in the morning with 6 imodium and 4 lomotil and metamusil wafes with peanut butter. If I do no eat I can go a good 6 hours with no bowel movements (onces all the food from the day before has been released). Once I start eating, my BM's increase pretty quickly..but it seems now I can go 3-4 hrs sometimes where before it was 1.5-2 hours.

I am just not sure how effective these medications are, if I am wasting my time with them, should I be doing things differently or are there better things out there that I do not know about?

Any input would be great

Thanks

Brian

[DianaT]

Hi, I hope someone replies to your concerns. I will be in the same situation as you come the end of November. I am going in for the 2nd stage of my reversal surgery and removal of my ileostomy which I have had since March 2006. The first stage of my reversal surgery was done in June 2007, almost 4 months ago.

I believe that you were the one to reply to my concerns that I posted in August and your comments really helped my alot. I was having frequent bowel discharge in August 2007 and was not sure what was going on, doctor discovered that because I had overflow from my ileostomy I had created an anal fissure. He then prescirbed flagyl and some other antibiotics and the flagyl made me extremely ill. I was naseated and could not eat for about a week. I became dehydrated and had to go to the hospital 2 times to get rehydrated with intravenous. Anyway, I am ready to have this last surgery and I am trying to think positive that everything will eventually be OK and I will have my quality of life back. I will be in the hospital for about 7 days, but after reading your post with regards to taking meds to control the bathroom trips - could you explain if I need to do this.... the doctors haven't mentioned anything to me. Your input would be appreciated. Thanks. I do hope some one out there can help with your questions. I will need to know about this too.

Talk to you soon.

Diana

[aturtlethatisred]

I have found antibiotics work for me to help with frequent bathroom trips , however I have noticed that a few weeks after the flagel was stoped i started having to go to the bathroom a lot. i also get really bloated so i suppose if anyone has advice for me that would be good. However, I have noticed that if i eat smaller amounts i don't have to go as much but anti-dihareals only work for so long before they don't work for me. I think the best way to find out if the fiber is working for you is to keep a food/bathroom diary it helps to see what is working.