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In all likelihood, yes this should improve. They say it can take up to a year for full adaptation. But, for me, I saw improvements years down the road.

There are some who never have acceptable function, but they are in the minority. Also, some people would find 6-14 bowel movements horrible and others find it yo be fine. It all depends on how YOU feel. Most of us just stop counting after a while.

Jan

As Jan says, things can continue to improve on their own. At the same time, it may be worth reexamining what steps you've taken to improve things, and what additional steps might be available to you. Are you using soluble fiber? Bowel slowers? Dietary adjustments? Are you helping your pouch adapt by delaying bathroom trips a bit?

In any case, I hope things improve for you.

I am 9 1/2 months post takedown. Right after my jpouch surgery I was taking Loperamide (2xday) and Benefiber in my morning coffee. I did this maybe 3 weeks off and on and it seemed to me that it really did not help me. I am somewhat of a stubborn person and decided to not do either anymore. On most days in a 24 hour period, I have 3-4 BM. This may be the best it gets and I am good with this just as long as I can get to a point I can eat more variety of food without having to deal with the BB. That happened last Sunday as I could not help 'grazing' on finger foods (ex. 4 shrimp dipped in cocktail sauce, some crackers with swiss cheese spread, a pickle....oh yea few tortilla chips dipped in guacamole). Result of my 'grazing' upped the BM to about 8 times the next day, then it was back to 3-4. Question:  is there anyone else who does not take anything and how is that going for you? 

P.S. As I think Jan mentioned about 'not counting', I highly recommend that suggestion. I was obsessed with keeping track and it drove me nuts. I quit counting and it really does help not to dwell, especially early on when the volume of BM's are more. 

At 7 months, you are still a relatively short period out from your takedown, and there is plenty of room for improvement. While some j-pouchers do settle around 10+ BMs as the norm, at this stage in your recovery, there is no reason to believe that this will be the case for you. J-pouches are complex and it can take you body a while to adjust.  In my experience, I really noticed changes around 1.5 - 2 years out. Those improvements tended to come in leaps and bounds, rather than gradually.  I also noticed that in the early stages, things would be very inconsistent. I might have just a few BMs one day, and up to a dozen the next. Or some nights, I'd be up several times; other nights once or even not at all. It may be frustrating, but it is certainly common at this stage.

I would also agree that I don't think it's productive to count BMs, unless your surgeon has specifically asked you to keep track. Jan is right, in that most of us just stop counting after a while. In fact, I recently had my annual physical, and my GP asked me about my frequency. I actually found myself surprised by the question, in the sense that I really hadn't thought about that, at least numerically, in quite some time. 

That said, there are things you could try, if you haven't already. You may want to try a bowel slower if you aren't taking one already. Probiotics are another recommendation. If you are not taking a fiber supplement, perhaps you should be - or, on the flipside of that, if you are taking a psyllium fiber supplement such as Metamucil, perhaps discontinue it for a few days and see if there is any change. For myself - and many others here - I found that psyllium only caused me to have excess gas and did nothing to improve my frequency or consistency, and was more of a nuisance that a help. In that sense, perhaps you also fall into that category and it may be useful simply as an experiment to see if stopping it might help you.

Again though, while 7 months can seem like a long time with a pouch, you are still in the early stages. Often things just settle down on their own, and unfortunately, the only thing to do is to be patient.

Last edited by Spooky

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