Hello All,
the 21st of this month will be 1 year since my takedown. just wanted to give an update for all of the newbies or potential newbies out there so they can see another positive outcome.
everything has been going really well. i tend to go to the bathroom 5-6 over a 24 hour period. haven't had a case of pouchitis in 1/2 a year, which is great because i at first thought i was going to be a chronic sufferer. i look back now and i think my pouch was still in the early stages and what i mistook for mild pouchitis was really just not eating properly.
i take fiber 3 times a day and vsl#3 DS twice a day. i alternate lomotil pills and immodium pills throughout the day (1 lomotil in the morning, 2 immodiums at lunch, 1 lomotil at dinner and 2 immodiums at bed....this really works well for me).
i only get up once in the night now as opposed to the 2-3 times in the beginning. butt burn/itch hasn't been a problem since the 2 month mark.
i used to have a lot of issues with night time leakage, but that has been reduced to a minimum over these last 2 months. in fact, last night was the 1st time i had any leakage in over a month. i am very pleased with this.
up until 2 months ago, i was getting frustrated with my pouch. but these last 2 months have been very nice to me. i have really been pleased with my pouch as of late. i'll still have a bad night once in awhile...last night got up every hour. probably because of the ice cream and milk i had earlier in the evening. ice cream and pizza seem to throw my pouch out of whack. beer does too. thankfully, rum and coke doesn't seem to affect it all that much like i would think it should. but i am fine with that!
i have also found that THC has a nice settling effect on my pouch. 1 hit a night seems to do wonders for me.
so for everyone who just had a takedown or are considering going for a j-pouch, hopefully my update will ease some concerns you might have. is my life perfect? hell no. but compared to a year ago, it is like night and day. the key word is PATIENCE. it takes such a long time for the pouch to adapt. i still think mine has a lot of adapting to do. only now do i feel like it's really starting to function like i hoped it would and i feel there will be even more improvement over the next 1/2 year or so.
things will and do get better over time.
anyway, i have to run. have a great day!
peace,
mark
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