Can you have pouchitis, (or cuffitis) and not get a fever?

Does it do any good to take probiotics while you are taking antibiotics?

1. Yes

2. Maybe, if you take them a couple of hours apart.

Cat, I never have a fever when I have pouchitis. I usually have lower back pain, joint pan in my knees/hips/ankles and lots of uncontrolled bowel movements. That's usually the first sign for me, I usually have an hour or so lead time when I have to go when feeling alright but when pouchitis is coming on I have maybe 1-2 minutes, the joint pain usually comes after half a day of diarrhea. Cuffitis is usually just pain in my rectal area on the inside and blood in the stool. Good Luck, Scott Mc

My symptoms are the same as mrpickles! Get really bad lower back pain and a general aching in my joints, feels a little like I am coming down with the flu, but I never get a high temperature. I am only four months post take down, but have had 4 bouts of pouchitis. A week on cipro usually sorts it out and I'm feeling better within a couple of days.

for me joint pain usually is the first sign, in particular my knees, lower back and my right elbow. That's usually followed in about half a day with foul smelling watery bowl movements but I'm at the point where I'll usually start popping antibiotics as soon as i feel the characteristic joint pain and I catch it early. The only time I've run fevers have been when I've allowed it to get really bad, but even then it was only in the 99-100 range. I don't usually take the probiotics.

My GI doc says to not bother taking probiotics when I'm taking antibiotics. It's a waste of money.

I never have a fever with my pouchitis. also don't have the joint pain. I usually can tell because my usual stool is very watery, but you can see through it. When I have pouchitis, it is like a milkshake... or a suspension. My doctor also defines my pouchitis by the number of bm's a day. if m regular number is 5-6 and I'm having 8-10, he gives me antibiotics.

Everything is so individual. Good luck working it all out!

Thanks for the replies.

I think pouchitis symptoms must vary a lot from person to person. I have not had any pain with this (joint or otherwise) other than bad butt burn and some gas pain. Also, no fever but fatigue. Additionally, I have had strong urgency, very frequent and very loose stools and a lot of leakage.
I described the symptoms over the phone and my Dr. prescribed Cipro. I have been on it for 3 days and have already noticed an improvement.

I also have a hernia which I think is causing some partial blockages and has made my symptoms vary from day to day. But at this point it is looking like the cipro is helping.

Richard

I've had pouchitis off and on for 12 years and haven't ever had a fever. As the others have said, pouchitis symptoms vary for different people.

I've always been told to stop the probiotics while taking antibiotics because the antibiotics will destroy all bacteria - good and bad - so it doesn't help to feed the good ones with probiotics at that point. If you want to take probiotics, I think it's important to get right onto them as soon as you're off antibiotics so the good bacteria are being bolstered right out the gate before the bad bacteria start raging.

Good luck!

I have been dealing with pouchitis &/cuffitis for the past 3 and a half years with similar symptoms. My symptoms are pretty much the same as mrpickles and toosmallfeet with the exception of the fever because I run a temp that ranges from about 100-102 and my number of bm typically doubles until I've had several days of cipro. I am a pharmacist and I don't use the probiotics while taking antibiotics for the same reasons L. Mac has been told to stop them, but I do normally start them as soon as I finish the course of antibiotics.

I just started taking prednisone for a bad case of pouchitis (I'm pregnant, so Cipro wasn't an option). I never ran a fever, just was completely fatigued, had abdominal pain and was running to the bathroom constantly - esp. at night.