My son just got his J Pouch June 24, so I'm afraid I can't answer all of your questions. But I wanted to give you my best wishes and hope things improve for you!  Hopefully, others here will be able to help.  I know this is an obvious/ dumb question, but have you discussed this with your doctor?

thanks for all the feedback.

Hey Step. Sounds rough. Also doesn't sound like a normally functioning pouch to me. If it were me I would likely follow up the my doctor to check for issues and I would try some diet changes - especially for the gas problem.  If you search 'diet' on this site you'll find lots of information but it may feel overwhelming. It seems the common denominator in suggested helpful diets is low starch and sugar. (Also a probiotic might help). All things you've likely heard before....

Hi Step,

Although I have a k pouch the digestive aspect of our pouches is identical.

1. When I eat fruits on an empty stomach they arrive in my pouch within 20-30 mins (ditto for veggies).

2. Fluids (juice, water, coffee, tea etc) when taken on an empty stomach also make it through within 1/2hr.

3. Carbs like breads, cakes, pastries, potatoes and pasta take about 3hrs when not mixed with meats or fruits.

4. Meats and other animal proteins (meat, fish, chicken, eggs, cheeses etc) take about 6hrs to make it through...but if I mix Proteins and Carbs then things take longer (and I end up with a pipeline worth of gas!).

5. If you want to slow things down then you eat carbs like rice, oatmeal and potatoes, if you want to speed them up eat fruits on an empty stomach (except for bananas and apples)...

6. Any time that you eat diary you are likely to have more gas and cramping (except for yoghurts and ice cream for some strange reason).

7. You may wish to try taking a good probiotic (I bought a chewable from Costco or GNC and it doubled my digestive time by 2+xs(the consequence being that I started gaining weight!)).

8. Lomotil and Opiates also slow things down substantially. (so does pepto bismol if I am not wrong)

I would start with a good probiotic taken on an empty stomach every morning, avoid mixing fruits with carbs and reduce your diary intake and see how that goes before hitting the panic button. Give yourself 3 months for a major difference but you should start to see improvement within a couple of weeks.

Personally I do not find 10-12xs/day shocking  (I used to go before and after every meal, when I woke up, before leaving for work and at least once before bedtime + occasional night-time runs)...I got used to it and actually surprise myself whenever I go more than 3hrs without emptying my pouch (it has been happening since I took my 6month run of probiotics)...some days I go over 6hrs and sleep through the whole night!

You may need to keep a food diary, to check what works and what doesn't and follow a mono-diet (stick to one food per meal and see how it acts before going to the next food group) for a while to retrain yourself .

Hope that at least some of this can help you

Sharon