Doing well on Flagyl, not ready to give up Immodium

quote:

Does this sound reasonable?

Yes. Go with what works for you. Flagyl and other antibiotics may slow you down and you may in the future need to adjust your imodium dosage downwards. Cipro has the biggest slowdown effect of any antibiotic, for me. But it is all trial and error. You are only on day 4, but by day 11, things may be moving slower as the antibiotics kill more bacteria. Your bacteria count now is not what it will be in a week or 2 weeks if you stay on flagyl. So basically play it by ear and adjust imodium dosage as needed. I happen to be very sensitive to imodium and only need 1 or 2 at bedtime. Now that I am off antibiotics for the moment, I may need more 1 week from now as my bacterial levels increase.

I agree, play it by ear, but don't let things slow down too much. I get a bit nervous when people say it is just like having a colon. The ileal pouch is not intended to deal with stool as firm as what a rectum can handle. It is not as distendable and does not have the musculature for emptying. But as long as you are not having any trouble emptying and do not feel "backed up," you should be OK.

Whenever I am on Flagyl I usually have to stop my Imodium after 4-5 days, otherwise things get too thick. It sounds like you have a good handle on it. Just remember, Imodium stays in your system a day or two, so make adjustments gradually.

Jan

I can second Jan's comments. When I started taking antibiotics back in the 1990s and did not really know anything about them, I figured I could take as much imodium as I pleased. As I increased my antibiotic dosage I ended up stone constipated and this caused a horrible bout with pouchitis. It is NOT a good idea to strive for bowel movements like what you had when you were coloned. It is not going to happen naturally and it shouldn't. You do not have a colon anymore and the pouch is designed to produce bowel movements which, when you are fully adjusted, are going to be looser.

As I mentioned in my prior post, you have to play it by ear because as you take more and more antibiotics bacterial levels will go down and you may thicken up more than you need to. This is a VERY trial and error situation. Like other things.

Thanks everyone.

By "like someone with a colon", I only meant that I feel well/solid. If I approached anything that looked like a normal BM, I'd be scared!

I'll definitely keep a close eye on things. Thanks, again.

That's a relief! There have been folks here who actually want and expect a solid, firm stool...

Jan