Doesn't that drain a person. When a person has diarrhea & has to go 4-5 times a day, that leaves a person completely drained. Just curious.

Probably has to do with, when a normal person has diarrhea their body isn't used to that.
When a person has an ostomy or a jpouch it takes the body a couple of weeks to start to pull more water and nutrients out and up to a year to completely get used to it.
That's probably why everyone is so drained the first couple of weeks after a colectomy. I know I was, but by the time I hit my 6 week mark I was feeling like my old self. Now I'm 12 weeks post step one and I feel awesome.

Gosh, if I pooped only 6 to 8 times a day, I'd be dancing in the streets!

Does everyone still count? When my doc asks and I feel good I say 6 to 8 because I know that is "typical" for pouchers. Otherwise I kind of make up a nimbler. Terrible, huh?

Its just a habit I guess, but I still have a sheet in the bathroom and mark how many times a go a day. If I go alot then I look back on the day and know what I had to eat that would be causing my bathroom trips!

CeCe, I feel exactly like you, I never count anymore and when I go to the dr for my checkups the PA or nurse still want an answer, so I make up a number....lol

Slentz, it really doesn't feel like that. 6-8 times a day is pretty good for a normal j-poucher. Plus, it's not diarrhea like when you're sick. It's not straning on the body to go...it just kind of quickly empties when you push (for me, doesn't feel that different than when I had to go with a healthy colon). But it is important to stay hydrated since you are losing a lot more water.

I can accept the number of times I go a day-12 or so, because I know what it was like with the colitis.

By comparison, I am happy ( but not satisfied).

the reason a j-poucher goes more frequently is b/c rather than having 5 feet of colon you a small sac of small intestine. Just a space issue.
Like others have said, not being sick makes a big difference.

Going 6-8x with a j-pouch is SO much different then with UC - for me, there's not the urgency and pain. Most of the time, when I go urinate, I empty the pouch too. Although, I am at the point where I can go to the restroom just to urinate.

Yea the frequency right now doesn't bother me a bit. It was the agonizing pain that was with UC that I hated.
Staying in the restroom for 30 minutes at a time 12+ times a day. adjfkasdfl;kj

I even hate thinking about it.

6 - 8 times per day is great! I go probably ten or so. I'd be much happier,though, if half of them weren't in the middle of the night! I'd give anything to get a full night's sleep.

I was going to start a new topic about this, because I find searching through old threads very tedious, but since it's here....
I took my daughter to Children's for a follow-up yesterday with her GI and surgeon. She is now 7 weeks post takedown and feeling pretty good. I feel like things are going extremely well, all considered, and have to admit that I am really disappointed in our GI doc's lack of enthusiasm. She is concerned about Ashley's lack of weight gain, and I am too, but her BMI is still in low-normal range; and we're working on that. What is bugging me is that the doc feels like 8 bm's per day, with one being at night, is too many. She said 4-5 is what is "typical", even 2 months post TD. I mentioned that Ash is eating a fair amount of fiber (as well as sugar), so that may be a contributing factor. She thinks it may be a malabsorption issue causing this "diarrhea". The stool is typically at least semi-formed! The doc wants to first try adding more soluable fiber (my idea), and gave us a 5 day script for Flagyl if things don't "improve". She says that periodic short stints on Flagyl are necessary to balance the intestinal flora (we had a scope 2 weeks ago- pathology was normal, and her cbc and inflammation markers are normal) I hate the thought of adding anti-biotics without the presence of an infection. Has anyone else heard of this? I watched the CCFA's recent webcast on UC last night, with Dr. Ullman from Mt. Sinai. He stated that after J-pouch, average frequency is 5-10/day. You all have corroborated that. Does anyone know what the average is for the "normal" peolple who are busy having a life?