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Hello,

My best friend had his large intestine removed, then an Ileostomy, then J Pouch. The J Pouch started out good then it became very uncomfortable when his Bowel movements became like shards of glass, as he described.  The doctor checked for infection and found none. He wants to reverse it back to an Ileostomy and bag, but his doctor said give it more time. In addition now because of the sleepless nights he has chronic insomnia. He also has gone from 135lbs when the bag worked, down to 122 lbs on the j pouch. The doctor just put him on an anti depressant, but that too is not working. He is in Pittsburgh and I am scared he is going to the wrong specialist or even the wrong Psychiatrist who does not understand the scope of the what these procedures do to the body and mindset.

Can anyone suggest who in the Pittsburgh are he can go to who actually understands his discomfort and mental state enough to prescribe the correct meds for depression. Or is there someone out there who has enough experience with what he is going thru to talk to him.

I love my friend and he needs help.

Thanks,

Marc

 

 

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Loosing weight on a J pouch in early days is pretty normal man. They've made a whole together new storage. Body needs time to adjust to it. Initial months of J pouch arent the best. Instead of going to doctors who dont know what they are doing he should start monitoring things for himself. Instead of taking anti depressant if he goes for a morning walk I bet in one month he'll see how much better he feels. It can take months before coming to a near normal state. Tell him to stop expecting to be completely normal and just focus on improving the current state.

He might need the antidepressant.  The colon is involved with making neurotransmitters used in our brains. Since he no longer has it there is a possible physical need for them.  Also going through these surgeries can cause situational depression and antidepressants might need to be used until he gets more use to everything. Do a search on "the gut as a second brain" for more information about neurotransmitters.

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