I developed UC at 15, and finally had surgery at 27, a j-pouch. 12 years later I found I was suffering from pouchitis and severe stricture. The pouchitis has been cured, however after 6 attempts at dilation, no improvement. Because over the years my stool has really thickened up, I have doubled my trips to the bathroom to evacuate fully. Any suggestions or experiences to help? The possible resection surgery is scary and odds of losing my pouch seem way to high. Thanks for any feedback and God Bless.
Reply posted for jimrick95.
i was dx'ed at 14, had my jpouch installed at 23, and am now 49 (holy crap), about 6 years ago i was re-dx'ed with crohns and have a mid pouch stricture and one right above the pouch. for a few years i was getting obstructed regularly ie 4 or so hospital trips to the ER. we began to dilate my mid pouch stricture first every 6months then with increasing epidsodes shortened that interval to every 3 months. all the while being put intially on remicade then humira as remicade lost efficacy after about 2 years. about a year and a half ago, after i punted Tysabri, my doc chose to add a small oral dose of methotrexate 7.5mg (max dose is 25mg) it took two more obstructions and 5 months or so but then finally it seemed to have kicked in, and for a year my obstruction symptoms disappeared. well a meds suspension due to feared infection which thanfkully was merely gout, has tossed me off course again and presently we are back on the 3 month dilation schedule. hopefully the 5 months of humira/methotrexate combo has incubated again, but only time will tell. so thats a long answer to your question. but i guess my question to you is are you on meds, if not maybe you can be helped by them. of course the other option my doc has long put on the table is to reverse the jpouch and a perm ileostomy, which i continue to hope to fend off. good luck.
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