excessive night time BM

Hi MAS, you are only 3 weeks out from takedown and it sounds like you're doing great. Nighttime can be challenging. Try to avoid laying on your right side. This is a good position to expel gas during the daytime as is pulling your knees toward your chest. But in order to get some much needed sleep, try laying on your left side with your legs straighter. I found it easier early on to sleep in a recliner. Nothing got stimulated. Things should settle down for you with time.

I did the same thing. You are very early in the process and it will calm down... But ever so slowly. I was exhausted from it too. I still get up at least once a night but it is a heck of a lot better than it was. Gotta have patience. You will say to yourself one day... Hey... I'm not getting up as much as before. Patience. It's tough but you have to have it to get through it. All improvements were so slow with me and I am still healing and getting used to it. I am 10 months out. It does get better. One month out I was drained from it.
Others here will say the same. And others had different experiences. Old saying.. We are all different and heal differently. Right now I feel for you. No fun. Good luck.
Richard.

How's the consistency of your nighttime BMs -- are they very liquidy? It's possible you could be worsening the situation by not eating for so long. When you don't eat, there's nothing to thicken your output and your BMs are totally liquid which is more urgent and harder to hold. A lot of people have luck with having a small thickening snack at bedtime like cheese or peanut butter with a few crackers. You might also talk to your surgeon or GI about trying an Imodium tab before you go to bed.

Unfortunately, your experience is fairly common. All the food from the day is ready to exit during the nighttime hours. Also, any inflammation or upset in your j-pouch due to healing or imbalance in your gut flora will be exacerbated at night. Meaning: you have excess gas and stool and can't sleep for very long.

I really hated hearing it would just take time, but as you have seen during the day - it will get better. See if probiotics help you out any (ease into them - immediately more is not better). And give it time. My experience was much like yours. I was up all night until about 4:30 am - and then there wasn't much night left to sleep.

Also - something to try if your doc is okay with it: try taking a Prilosec daily. Reducing the acidity in your system may help. There is a study or two that show an 80% reduction in pouch inflammation / symptoms after takedown when taking a PPI like Prilosec. Apparently it not only reduces the acidity but also changes the bacterial composition of your gut because of the PH change. Worth a try.

Steve

thank you everyone for the positive feedback. It is great to hear this is normal. I will try the tips and hope it helps. I'm hoping to go back to work at the end of August, but with getting no or little sleep I'm not sure if that will be possible. I'm hopeful that the BM's will slow down in the night. For the most part my BM's are formed throughout the night but by 5ish they do become liquid.

Lambiepie what does laying on right side or left side have an effect?