Hello, not new, but yet I am to the new site. Had my work done in like 2000/2001. Anyway having troubles lately, and now a DR I have never seen yet, has told my pancreas DR to put me on some hormone to keep my pouch from collapsing. Any one ever heard of this? I mean a pouch collapsing. Thanks for any info.

Generally when the pouch collapses on itself it is called a 'prolapse'. It means that the person becomes unable to empty the pouch properly because when it collapses it obstructs the outlet and stool cannot flow out. This is usually a mechanical problem though, so I am not sure how any hormones would help this but I am definitely no expert!
You can use the 'Find' tab and search for 'prolapse' and read the posts that come up.

Liqwid Plumber,

After 6 years with the pouch in 1998 I developed a serious problem evacuating the pouch. I went back to my original surgeon and they found a septum had developed in the pouch causing it to not properly evacuate stool. I am not sure if this is your problem or not, but you should go back to your original surgeon and let me him/her scope your pouch and determine what the problem is.

My problem was eventually corrected by 2 different surgeries that essentially removed the septum and then revised the structure of my J pouch so that I could not develop another one.

Thanks for the info. But I was just scoped from head to toe. Eitherthey found nothing major, or they did not know what they where doing. My origial DR I would not trust to scope me. But my Gastro DR is really good. And I thought my pancreatic DR was too, but I am having doubts about him lately.

I had a pouch emtying study done to determine why my pouch wasn't emptying. It showed that I could only empty 12% of the contents at any one sitting (pun intended) because the pouch had stretched too big and was buckling over on itself.

I'd had scopes, MRI scan, CT scan and ultrasound and none of them showed anything wrong. This was because all of these tests are done while you are lying down and the problem was only apparent when sitting to deficate. Perhaps you should ask your GI for this study so that they can get the full picture.

Good luck and take care.

Shell

Shell,

I sometimes have the feeling that I am not emptying the J pouch 100% in one sitting. I have found that if I lean my torso left while seated on the toilet and simultaneously strain as one would normally do, I can empty the unemptied contents. I was also advised by my surgeon that when I get this feeling to stand up, bend over and then sit back down on the commode and re-start the straining process. Try these techniques and see if they work for you.

My surgeon had mentioned the same thing to me about the pouch enlarging over the course of time as it adapts to its function as a fecal storage facility. With enlargement comes the problems you mentioned.

Usually, I only have this happen after I have eaten a large meal or a large amount of food. And it is certainly not nearly the incomplete evacuation problem I was having that led to my aforementioned surgeries in 1998 and 2000.

I seriously doubt any pouch, even the best one, empties its contents 100% on the first straining when you sit down on the commode. Some contents get squeezed back up into the ileum and then come back down, especially if you have eaten a large meal.

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

Hi DJB,

I appreciate your suggestions however unfortunately it would be like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I now have a perminent ileostomy and the back door has been well and truly locked.

My problem was a little more complicated than you describe and sadly I lost my 8 year fight to keep my j-pouch over 4 years ago.

However, Wee Willie (my ileostomy) and I live very happily together and I now have absolutely NO problem emptying 100% of the contents of my bag at any one sitting.

Have a nice day.

Shell

Hi Shell,

Sorry, I did not know your history. You had mentioned in your prior post that you were having problems emptying your pouch, so I assumed you still had it.

Hey,

I had a prolapsing pouch (actually 2 ) and it was also severely enlarged which was calling the prolapse. I was scoped and scoped and had defecagrams, CT's, X-rays - you name it, I had it. The way it was finally diagnosed was with an exam by my surgeon under anesthesia. They knew my pouch was enlarged, but could not ever visualize the prolapse until they did the exam with me under. Unfortunatly, I had to have the pouch revised - and it didn't work - but I won't go into that.

If you need anymore info or advice about this please PM me - I could go on and really get into the specifics for you.

-Mikaela