to get up to speed:
take down in august, pouchitis almost immediately, on cipro, causes serious nerve problems in hands (almost gone away after month.)
Next, augmentin, works on pouchitis. Also, start taking four tablets of pepto a day, two morning, two evening, as recommended by another poster. Off augmentin for a week (after a month, and tapering the augmentin) Pouch fine so far.

Yep, been on it for years and it keeps me comfortable. I only take one or two tabs a day so you may want to decrease by a tablet in due time. My philosophy is it's better to take less than more if your pouch will tolerate it. If I see a problem, I will then increase for a day or two and then back to the normal dosage.
I am glad this is working for you.

I want to thank you I have chronic pouchitis since my operation. The only thing that made the diaherria stop was pepto. I unfortnately still go many more times than I should. I wonder what could help that

Count me as another having good success with Pepto. I take 1 tablet in the morning and 1 at night.

srw, I have good success with Citrucel (not Metamucil) in controlling and reducing the number of BM's a day. You have to experiment with how much to take, but you can control the consistency of your stool with it.

What does the pepto bismol do for you?
Slow things down?
Thanks
David

Pepto cuts down on the bacteria acting somewhat like an antibiotic.

To slow down the bowel- Lomotil, Immodium, or Tincture of Opium and some people have luck with either Metamucil or Citrucel. I'd try the last two mentioned first since they're not drugs. They give me a lot of gas but many folks on this site swear by them.

Tried Immodium, Tincture of Opium and Metamucil - these didn't workout so well.
Currently taking lomitil and it seems to help most days...
Couldn't hurt to try some pepto bismol.
thanks
David

I have tried citrucel. I use more Lomotil than I like. The Opium tincture made me way to sleepy.I did not know what it was like to not have diarrhea until I used the pepto. for the past three years flagel worked on stopping the number but than I got the sideeffect of burning toes. I have stopped Immodium and I do not get that much gas anymore. thanks for the ideas.

Fiber pills help me, but each person has to find out for themselves what dose works which day. For example, if I have very watery stool I take 2 fiber pills, and 5 immodiums. In about 3 hours my stool gets less watery and it also lessens the frequency. If my stool continues to be less watery I do not take fiber pills or immodium. But if in a couple of days it goes back to too much watery, I take fiber pills and immodium again. My GI recomends to take fiber pills every day, but after about 3 consequtive days on it I tend to develop constipation. So, I found a personal balance that works for me. It all depends on the stool consistency.

Hope that this helps.

My son keeps me going every day, and something to look forward to.

I am sorry what are fiber pills?

Fiber pills=metamucil (or generic) capsules - they just put the psyllium fiber into little capsules you can swallow vs. having to mix up the sludge or eat the wafers.

I thought that you chould not be on pepto for the long term?
Susan

Strictly speaking, Pepto Bismol is not for long term use, but mostly because there are no long term studies beyond 4-6 weeks. Plus, there are a few case reports of some elderly or very young patients developing encephalopathy (brain dysfunction) from long term, high dose use; from heavy metal poisoning. But, the bismuth is very poorly absorbed and in most people it is not a problem. The key is to use the lowest dose that is effective, and to be aware of the possibility of effects to mental status.

Jan

Some were mentioning thickening or reducing BMs - I saw a post earlier where someone recommended Salba. I haven't tried it (I use porridge, metamucil wafers, pepto bismal and lomotil) but the post seemed promising.

I copied the website here if anyone finds it helpful. (If someone trys it I hope they wil post their results for the rest of us).

http://www.salba.info/salba.php

Porridge on a regular basis for me seems to make the consistency of the stool just about right. I occasionally take 1 pepto tablet at night to reduce BB if I have enjoyed something which my pouch might not like. I have only used the lomotil occasionally but found it worked better in stage 2 than after takedown although I must admit I haven't needed it often.

Lew