so this brings a new concern to mind.
what if...you have a pill that unbeknown to you, got stuck in the valve. but if you didn't know, and it didn't work itself out in time, and you went to intubate again you push the pill back in with the cath? OR, it causes you difficulty getting the cath in?
would something like that be possible.
gotta tell you, i am freakin out about taking ANY pills.
i had an absolute killer headache yesterday and tried to just ride it out. slept alot. but couldn't shake it. finally i broke down and took extra strength tylenol.
and now i'm on super alert watch for any little red pills coming out.

I guess the cath could push the pill back in. The pill could also make it's way back out at another time.

Aleve had liquigels..look for Tylenol and Advil.
Dr. Fazio told me to crush all pills which of course for some you can't do.

You shouldn't be freaking out
Just be aware...

I was just at the store the other day and got some Tylenol that was a gelcap so not liquid inside but those tiny little beads. It said fast-acting or quick-absorbing or something like that so I think that would probably be ok. I went to chewable vitamins and calcium - which are like tootsie rolls so I'm not suffering there
Did you get your scope scheduled Les??

thats great. he never said anything of that nature to me,
not when i told him i'd have to take celebrex regularly for the rest of my life.
i gotta find out if i can crush those.
i hate the taste of crushed pills n such, but i actually hate swallowing pills more. so maybe it'll be better.

i got my killer headache again today, hit me instantly like a ton of bricks. so when i took the tylenol, i split em up.

No scope yet.
I want to talk to the doctor first so this doesn't become a two visit thing...an office visit to then set up a scope for a second visit.

...and...I popped another one last night.
So you know, this does not hurt at all.

one way to look at it, whatever they are..at least they ARE coming out. if there was a ton of build up, at least you know you're getting em out now.
safe and sound.
i'm really curious about it though. i'd like to hear what fazio discovers.
when are you scheduling your scope? i'm due for my one year post-op soon (sept. 26 is my anniversary. but i think fazio is booked til beyond then)
b

Karmen is correct. The pill gets caught in one of the side holes in the catheter. It then gets dislodged as the catheter is being removed and stays in the bowel between the valve and the stoma opening. Peristaltic action eventually pushes it out. If you eat peanuts regularly and don't chew them well, you will find them on the gauze too.
tp

Well I had my k-pouch scoped today and it was pristine! Not a pill in sight and no disease either. GI was very very pleased and so am I
Les, you get your scope date set yet?

no scope date yet
hope to know something by the end of the week.
still 'poppin' pills

did the math...if these pills are what I think they are, there are 50 in the bottle. There are 22 left which means I took 28. 6 have come out, which leaves 22. Wonder how many dissolved and how many are floating around, literally.

I did buy these pills in a different form which dissolved rapidly in water...a good thing!

Katie..was there a reason you had a scope?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lesrich1,

Put pills in a cup of vinegar...this will tell you how they dissolve...to some extent.

Remember, vinegar does not have nearly as much acid as we have in our guts and pouches. Most pills dissolve with no problems at all.

I have crohns disease so my GI wanted to scope my pouch 3-4 months post-op to see if my new pouch was affected at all. He said it looked great! but he'd still like to scope again in another 6-8 months and it looks like I'll be taking 6mp indefinitely. I don't mind though, I don't suffer any side effects and have no other drugs to take. Small price to pay for my k-pouch!
I was very severely warned about the dangers of crohns spreading to my new pouch and that crohns patients rarely get intestinal pouches. I'm one of the few who did actually qualify. It was worth the risk to me.

This is not at all surprising as different areas of the GI tract have different pH levels. Some time release pills are designed to disolve in the pH of your large intestine such as Asacol and with a pouch made of small intestine they may never see that pH and therefore never disolve.

The pain killers like percoset and asperin I would think would disolve as soon as they hit the stomach to be fast acting although the enteric coated stuff will hang in there.

I agree with the theory of cath holes pulling the pills into the valve followed by them working themselves out. Maybe it just started happening now because the pills disolved down in size enough to start fitting into the holes.