I have had my j-pouch for over 20 years. In the last year I have needed to regularly be dilated because my rectum keeps narrowing. I am concerned this is a permanent situation. Any advice to how to help with this narrowing
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I do this regularly also for the same reason. My options were temp ostomy and pouch advancement. I also have stubborn anal fissures due to the narrowing. So far i have sticking w dilations every six months but definitely not the optimal situation.
I had my first j-pouch for 20 years, but the last 5 years I had to dilate due to narrowing. The time between each dilation became less and less. I finally made a decision to have a j-pouch redo (January 2018). Currently ,I still have my temporary ileostomy. My reversal is scheduled for July 2018. You can continue to dilate, but at some point you may need to make another decision. Only you are living your life day to day and will know when it is time to make a change or continue with the way things are. I wish you the best of luck. This situation hits VERY close to home for me.
Have you had a surgical dilation? I had thus done when the pouch scope dilations didn't work. I ultimately had pouch failure but only had my j-pouch 5 years.