I understand antibiotics are used for pouchitis....but didn't antibiotics act as a trigger for some people's UC? So...does that mean antibiotics can flare up cuffitis? Yet treat pouchitis at the same time?

My mind lives in Confusion City.

I'm guessing its because different antibiotics work on different things....Jan would be able to explain this better. Thats why when they do a culture to see what bacteria is growing they also do a sensitivity to see what antibiotic the bug is sensitive to....The ones we use for pouchitis are generally flagyl, cipro, levaquin.
The "gut" antibiotics. I hope that made some sense.
LoriP

Flagyl (one of the main ones) is used in treating UC anyway.

Yes, antibiotics have been known to be triggers for UC, but not directly. The theory is that the antibiotics caused a C. difficile infection, which in turn caused colitis. In someone without the predisposition for UC, the colitis would heal with proper treatment (flagyl or vancomycin), but in those with the genetics for UC, it just caused the cascade of chronic inflammation that would not heal.

Flagyl has been used to treat UC, but it is not particularly effective. No antibiotics have been shown to be effective for UC. However, they have been shown to be useful for Crohns.

Pouchitis is not viewed as a type of IBD, at least in most cases. It is felt to be a disorder of bacterial balance.

Jan