I am approaching my 66th birthday and am not in diapers (yet). Women who have carried babies to term have more risk for weakened sphincters in general, so that puts them at higher risk with a j-pouch.

Any person who lives to be old enough may face wearing diapers as they age. I would suggest you not worry about things that may not happen. As for myself, I really cannot imagine getting an ileostomy unless I had full incontinence with zero control. Even then, it may not be medically feasible at that point, depending on my overall health and condition.

Jan

I am two months since takedown.

I do wear a diaper 24 x 7 and totally ok with it. I have had a few accidents when trying to pass gas. I also leak a little bit while sleeping. I am now 64 and going to accept the consequences of this surgery in light of the benefit of no chance of future colon cancer.

i would never willingly go back to a bag.  The diaper in comparison to the other issues I am having at the moment seems trivial.

I am just one mans opinion, but I am thinking that the diaper, depends, pull up or whatever we want to call it, will not be a permanent thing. But whatever happens as long as the diarrhea and spasms subside I am going to be ok with it.

eric

Having no leakage issues even 99.x % of the day is not enough if you wear only cotton stuff. It may result in a stain not only on the trousers but also where you sit.

For me it's only some liquid drops passing through very occasionally, so I wear thin women's inlays during day (glued to the back of the pants of course). It gives me a safe feeling, because since a "minor" anal fissure surgery some years ago continence is not as good as it was before.

For sleep I have to wear pull ups, even one loperamide before sleep does not do the trick. But that comes with my chronic pouchitis / ileitis triggering a diarrhea reaction of the bowel with too much fluid output.

At the moment I'm trying a medical electrostimulation device for training the pelvic floor and inner sphincter, but after several weeks there seems to be no improvement. Has anyone been successful reducing leakage in that way or another?

I read that the inner sphincter has only a load of about 50 % for people with a pouch compared to others (i.e. there is less pressure / stool mass from inside). That may result in the muscle shrinking and leakage increasing. I was also told that normal pelvic floor training (by intentionally tensing those muscles) may not be enough for building up that inner sphincter.

Steve

I wondered the same thing actually!!! I asked a lot of 70 year old people on here if they had that problem and I believe all of them said no and I asked quite a few. I think it just depends on the person. What you said does make sense though!!!

I've noticed more issues at night now as aging progresses. My main gripe is the lack of sleep with getting up more than once a night. If an ileostomy is what I eventually need to be well-rested, I'll go that route.