Here are my symptoms and here is what I have done. My biggest symptom is cramps that seem to come and go and fatigue. My bowel movements have not seemed to increase that much. I don't have a fever but I do have headaches. I also have alot of unusually loud noises from the pouch. These are the majority of my symptoms and I want to take steps to treat this properly. I am pretty confident I have pouchitis based on the many great posts from others of what they are experiencing. I have taken a 10 day round of Cipro and after four days being off Cipro the same symptoms came back. My doctor then prescribed a 14 day round of levaquin which I finished last Wednesday. I am still having some symptoms and am wondering what to do next. Should I try Flagyl and if so how much should I be taking per day. I took Flagyl years ago and had difficulty with it making me sick to my stomach but am willing to try it again. Is there any other things that I should be trying. This is my third time with pouchitis in 6 years which I know is not that much. I feel that my doctor is unfamiliar with what is going on and I really am thankful for the advice I recieve on this site. Any suggestions and help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Leftie,

I rotate cipro/flagyl, xifaxin and augmentin to treat pouchitis. I also take pentasa and, when needed, pepoto bismol tablets.

Because I start having serious problems within a week of going off any antibiotic, I stay on them and rotate. Rotating from cipro to levaquin is not a good idea because they are in the same family, kind of like first cousins and taking them one after the other is sort of strange as you do not want to be rotating onto ABs in the same family. I use cipro in tandem with flagyl, If flagyl gave you problems before be careful with it, you can also try augmentin and xifaxin. I would use xifaxin after cipro, then flagyl, then levquin then augmentin, but if you tandem up use augmentin and xifaxin as the in between rotaters before you go to levaquin and then back.

I have been doing this for 16 years and I think of my antibiotics as my starting rotation of baseball pitchers. You have to adjust the rotation sometimes.

Dosages vary, try a dosage that will work and then see what happens when you lower it.

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