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Has anyone experienced any sort of constipation immediately following the illeostomy takedown surgery? For the first week I was very consistent but I was eating a lot of broth soup and jellos and other very light liquid type food.. now, after following up with my surgeon he recommended me to move on to a more solid diet to see how the pouch adapts to a more complete diet... I did this and have noticed I tend to spend a lot more time on the toilet with very little results... It feels like ever time I try and empty the pouch, I never seem to get it fully emptied as it feels something always remains. Is this normal when you progress to a more full diet? Or should I be concerned?

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Did your surgeon check you for an anal stricture? I had this happen to me right after take down and the stricture makes it very hard to go. It's a quick fix (usually). He/she can tell with a digital exam. I had to go about 5 times to my surgeon's office for a dilation and it's been fine since but that's exactly how I felt...constipated.
mgmt10
Jan -- I have to butt in and ask... does the "waiting time" decrease as the pouch matures? My frequency is already pretty good (5-7x/day) but I usually need to sit, rock back and forth, stand up and sit down, for a solid 15 minutes with each trip. That means I spend about an hour and a half each day sitting on the toilet. That's 10% of my waking hours! I often hear veteran pouchers saying it only takes a minute or two and that emptying a pouch takes far less time than a typical bowel movement... is that something that develops with time?
P
After my takedown, that was pretty common. I'd rush to the toilet and then have nothing come out or only have little rabbit poops many times a day. It ended up being part of the adjusting process. My surgeon said if it lasted longer than a few weeks after the takedown, he was going to get me evaluated for stricture. Turns out, that wasn't necessary. Maybe your situation is different and you have something else going on so ask your surgeon, but that was par for the course for me. Good luck, hope it gets better soon!
P

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