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Reply to "Jpouch recovery"

Hi Alex,

We have very similar stories, I am also a 23 year-old male and had over a year between colon removal and the j-pouch takedown. I am almost 5 months out of takedown surgery and doing pretty well. Back to work, working out, biking, running, skiing, ect. Tons of good advice on this site, I will try to add some suggestions based on my experience:

Take an active role in your recovery but be smart about it. Everyday I tried to do something to get my body moving and promote recovery. For you right now that's probably not much more than a walk around the block or some light stretching. I waited 6 weeks to get back in the gym and even longer before doing workouts explicitly working the core. After everything you've gone through there is no use in setting yourself back with a hernia because you tried too much too fast. Even now that I'm 5 months out I lift differently, I always aim for higher reps at lower weights and try not to strain near my maximum. I have no personal experience with boxing but I would be careful with that one for awhile.

Get serious about the foods you are putting in your body. Your body is fighting to recover every single day so the best thing you can do is give it an abundance of vitamins and nutrients to maximize that potential. This is certainly not easy to do but I have found that I feel 100x better when I ensure I am getting quality nutrition everyday. Everyone reacts to things differently, but I have found awesome effects from cutting out gluten and processed sugars and limiting dairy as much as possible.

Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, keep a healthy mindset. This disease sucks and what happens sucks. But I promise that you WILL get better. What feels impossible today will be a breeze next month, there is a whole life ahead us beyond that damned diseased colon! It certainly isn't easy and it isn't always fun but I have found that if you embrace a "fighter mentality" and approach your goals knowing that you will have to be more disciplined and focused than most people our age to achieve them, you will be back up and moving in no time. I struggle with these things everyday, so I am not trying to stand up here preaching, just hoping to pass along a mindset that has really helped me over the last 18 months. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any other additional questions. Wishing you a quick recovery and a lot more time out enjoying your life this year than doctor's appointments and hospital beds.

Cheers,

Marc

 

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