Since my takedown, I've had to go every 2-3 hours. The last couple hours I've had to go every hour. The gas starts to push stool out, which it usually only does when my pouch is really full. Its really annoying

You have a long way to go before you can look for consistencies in your stool pattern. For the first year pretty much anything goes, great one day, crappy the next, unfortunately time is what will help the most. Even the "normal" plumbed people have bad days, nevermind people like us. Stick to a good diet, take your Immmodium, I'm sure everything is OK. It took at least 2 years for me to know when something was truly wrong, before than I could have days of going 5-6 or as bad as 12-20 times. Now its 6-10 a day, but even that isnt consistent. Like Jan said in a recent reply, she doesnt gauge how many times she goes as how well she's doing, its more of a sense of well being(or something like that, to which I agree), you sort of just know when things are amiss. Good Luck, Scott MC

At roughly a month post-takedown, sounds like you're doing about normal. The first six months to a year are a time of adjustments all over the place.

I know the doctor will ask you each time you go in..."how many times...", but you know what? DON'T COUNT!

You gotta go? Go. As time goes by, you notice less and less.

Well this pattern has pretty much continued... Its just so weird for me because I have been basically consistently going every 2 hours at the least, a little less once in a while. But today since about 12 (I took two immodium a half hour before I ate at 11) I have had a BM every hour and a half, sometimes 2 hours. And its all been extremely watery. Most of these times the gas or whatever it is starts pushing stool out no matter how I try NOT to before I get to the toilet. An hour ago I had that kind of thing a half hour after my previous BM and BARELY ANYTHING came out. Ergh. I haven't had particularly diuretic food either. I've had two servings of pasta today, which I expected to thicken things up.

Anyway, I hope it gets better tomorrow...

To read this is very upsetting. My husband had his take down a week and a half ago and the surgeon assured him that within two weeks things would improve. He is going 16 to 18 times a day and the pain is unbearable. The thought of going every two hours after 4 weeks is extremely difficult to bear. Is this normal?

Well maybe I should clarify. I can't say that your husband will lower within a month, but I can suggest that he look out for "false alarms". When I say every 2-3 hours, I mean in the daytime. I really shouldn't be complaining about this... Even going more often today, I doubt I topped 10 BMs. I have one at night, one at about noon, then one every 2-3 hours until 10 pm. Which usually adds up to 8, 7 if I'm lucky. I hope your husband gets better! But it DOES get better in the long run, but perhaps with your husband not so much the short run.

ARGH!!! I'm so frustrated!!! It has been about 50 hours or so since I first started noticing this stuff and its still going on!

I've gone 3 hours only 2 times since the start of it. Not counting the morning - Somehow I can go from early morning (2-5 am) to 11-12 am. But after that its every hour or two, as I said, sometimes 3 (usually later at night). My output has been either completely or nearly completely LIQUID!!!

I've only had one formed stool, early in the am yesterday. I've been taking metamucil pills and imodium and I haven't noticed them doing anything. Should I call my doc? I've been eating things that I know from experience creates thick output.

I'll try to eat things that should be thicker coming out though... It's just really pissing me off and frustrating me from doing so well (minus the gas problem of course) to this craptastic status that I'm at right now.

I really think Scott hit the nail on the head. The only "normal" for anyone is what is normal for each of us....including those with colons! It is far too early to determine what "typical" frequency, etc. will be for you. If you feel sick....crampy, low grade fever....where you didn't feel this way before...call your doc and have him take a look-see. After six years post takedown, I'm still learning about myself as it relates to bowel function. I've discovered that after a night of lying down I will tend to have a series of bowel movements in the a.m. As my pouch empties, another batch of effluent moves into its place in my J-pouch. Finally, the the B.M.s ease up and become rather minimal during the day. If I drink more than two cups of strong coffee in the a.m., I experience more frequent B.M.s and even seepage. So....I need to make a choice! I don't count how many B.M.s I have in a day. If things seem "different", I pay attention to what I've eaten and if that doesn't seem to resolve things, I call my doc. It isn't often that I need to do so. My B.M.s have never been as they were when I was healthy "with" a colon. But.....I know what healthy is "without" a colon! Most of the time, that is where I am! It took me several years to figure it all out. It is/was an adventure! Best wishes.

This just caught my attention because I have consistently had thick bms after liquid and then thick again kind of thing. Its been consistently, well, consistent. If I eat foods that would be liquid, its liquid, and thick foods and stuff. But all of a sudden no matter what I eat/take medication, it seems to be liquid. I doubt its anything serious, but still its a great deviation from the norm - I know its only been a month, but I have been fine previously until now. Anyway, I've had a couple metamucil, a couple imodium, and a meal which I know to cause thick output previously. So maybe tonight things will change, at least for now.