Hi all! My J-Pouch reconnection was 5 months ago and I've been waiting as patiently as possible for things to improve. I recently went on a 5 day dose of Azithromycin (Zithromax) for a productive cough I've been having for a couple of months. I was concerned about the antibiotics negatively impacting my gut, but lo and behold I have had the best 5 days since surgery! (yay!!) My stool is less liquidy/more formed, I have less urgency and fewer BMs, and less incontinence. I'm even sleeping for longer than 2 hour chunks!!
Can anyone help me understand what is going on here? My post surgery experience has been pretty miserable (there have been some small noticeable improvements for sure). Up until this dose of Azithromycin I had been going 15x per day and 8x per night. I feel like my symptoms have plateaued. After a pouchoscopy in May I was told there was no inflammation in my gut and that ruled out Pouchitis. In the meantime I have been working on "pouch management" using Meta Fiber Wafers, Lomotil (Imodium was not working, Tincture of Opium sent me to the ER), and Pelvic PT. Also doing stress management techniques, acupuncture, and drinking lots of H20 
Today was my last day of the antibiotic, so I'll see how things go moving forward. I'm worried things will go back to the way they were. I'm going to see my GI this week, but I'm wondering if any of you have experience with antibiotics slowing down the gut or gut infections being overlooked. Are there additional scopes or tests that I should ask my doctor about?
On one hand I know that time will help heal and expand the pouch, but on the other hand I'm concerned there is an infection being overlooked and that's why the antibiotics are helping me. Thanks in advance everyone!!!
Stephanie