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Hi Kathy,

You have waded into an old thread and an old post I made in 2018. It's now 2022 and my J pouch has turned 30 years old while the rest of me is now 59. So it's now over half of my life with a J Pouch.

The Fleet enemas tend to be something of an irritant to the pouch and in the last few years I emptied the saline solution and used warm water enemas instead. You are constipated so we have to distinguish between laxative effect and just cleansing the pouch. You may want to use the Fleet saline solution, which is a laxative, as a treatment of the constipation. The caveat is it may cause some mild irritation of the pouch. I am not familiar with "drinkable fleet" but there are myriad drinkable laxatives and I usually am told to drink Mag Citrate, 1 10 ounce bottle. This will result in about 2 hours of explosive watery bowel movements and totally cure your constipation and clean you out. It's got a horrible taste and needs to be chilled and chugged, the "C and C method." Just make sure you get the clear liquid and no dyes.

What concerns me is why you are getting constipated. Are you taking pain meds, Imodium or other bowel slowers? You should eliminate anything that's slowing down the bowels and hydrate, which you should be doing copiously if you take any laxative anyway.

Good luck with your scope.

Last edited by CTBarrister

One thing to pay attention to is whether this is actually constipation (i.e. hard stool) vs.some sort of a mechanical blockage, like a stricture vs. a partial bowel obstruction, such as from adhesions. I’d suggest paying attention to what the enema frees up to help figure this out. It might also be worth connecting with a knowledgeable gastroenterologist. Good luck!

@CTBarrister posted:

Hi Kathy,

You have waded into an old thread and an old post I made in 2018. It's now 2022 and my J pouch has turned 30 years old while the rest of me is now 59. So it's now over half of my life with a J Pouch.

The Fleet enemas tend to be something of an irritant to the pouch and in the last few years I emptied the saline solution and used warm water enemas instead. You are constipated so we have to distinguish between laxative effect and just cleansing the pouch. You may want to use the Fleet saline solution, which is a laxative, as a treatment of the constipation. The caveat is it may cause some mild irritation of the pouch. I am not familiar with "drinkable fleet" but there are myriad drinkable laxatives and I usually am told to drink Mag Citrate, 1 10 ounce bottle. This will result in about 2 hours of explosive watery bowel movements and totally cure your constipation and clean you out. It's got a horrible taste and needs to be chilled and chugged, the "C and C method." Just make sure you get the clear liquid and no dyes.

What concerns me is why you are getting constipated. Are you taking pain meds, Imodium or other bowel slowers? You should eliminate anything that's slowing down the bowels and hydrate, which you should be doing copiously if you take any laxative anyway.

Good luck with your scope.

Thank you for your response. I stopped taking all meds and vitamins. It’s been a week. I did try a fleet but not much happened. Im not eating a lot though either. I did get 2 appointments ( need to cancel 1 of them ) it’s a 6 hour trip to our daughters home and I’ll be there 3 weeks. Im going to try the warm water next.
Before all this happened I ate some pomegranate seeds from a fresh pomegranate. And I also ate a little bit of cheesecake and I’m lactose intolerant! So I kind of blame those two things but I can’t be sure! I mean I’ve been going on 18 years and doing pretty well except for pouchitis a couple times! I’m 67 years old or shall I say young! So wish me luck thank you for getting back to me. I really appreciate everybody on these post trying to help each other out! Enjoy your weekend I’ll keep you posted!

Kind Regards,

Kathy

@Scott F posted:

One thing to pay attention to is whether this is actually constipation (i.e. hard stool) vs.some sort of a mechanical blockage, like a stricture vs. a partial bowel obstruction, such as from adhesions. I’d suggest paying attention to what the enema frees up to help figure this out. It might also be worth connecting with a knowledgeable gastroenterologist. Good luck!

It wasn’t much, so you may be right! Unfortunately I don’t have a doctor appointment till the end of August! No one in my area even knows one thing about it. So that’s why I’m so reluctant and even go to the emergency room. My own family doctor to shakes his head but he’s called me every day this week to check on me. So he’s a good guy and he’s an internist he just doesn’t have experience with colectomy’s and J pouches. Thank you for getting back to me and your concern I really appreciate you!

Kind Regards,

Kathy

Kathy,

If a warm water enema doesn't dislodge the fecal logjam so to speak, I would try Mag Citrate but discuss with your doctor. It's a powerful laxative which will cause frequent, explosive water bowel movements, so I would not plan on going anywhere in the 3 hours after consumption and make sure you are near a toilet. You may have a partial blockage so I would talk with your PCP or GI if the warm water enema doesn't dislodge and empty you. Good luck.

Last edited by CTBarrister

Hi!

I am not sure if this will help but thought I would share.  

My J-Pouch has never emptied completely.  Several years ago, my surgeon at Mayo Clinic  suggested I start "irrigating" my pouch.  They provided me with a good catheter  and catheter tip syringe:  60 ML needle nose syringe which I fill with shower water while I am showering in the morning and/or evening. I insert the catheter in to my Pouch and then insert the water filled syringe  into the catheter.   My J-Pouch immediately  starts emptying  through the catheter, into the bottom of the shower/shower drain.  I repeat this a few times until the output coming from catheter is clear.  This has been a game-changer.  Instant "relief."  There may be new methods for irrigating the pouch now but this is so easy and literally takes a few minutes in the shower.  No pain or discomfort at all.  I think I posted a picture of my catheter in the past.  I clean it with a little brush with some bleach when it starts to get dirty/discolored. (Just make sure I rinse it very well since bleach is involved).    I buy the syringes from  Amazon. You can use the same syringe for a good few months before you need to replace.

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