I was told whenever I feel ready. But try to give it 6 weeks. It will take an adjustment to get use to it again.

I was told 6 weeks by my doctor as well.
But don't push it, whenever you feel up to it is ok.

Piggybacking on this, does anyone know how long you have to wait after proctectomy/j-pouch construction?

6 weeks is probably a safe bet, but I'm not sure since I had a 3 step procedure. After my proctocolectomy, My doctor had told me that if I could walk a 1/2 mile, I could have sex. But I was pretty sick and weak... And after my j-pouch construction surgery, I had my take-down so soon after, that I never had sex in between. Sorry I'm not much help!

Walk a 1/2 mile??? I walked a 1/2 mile in the hospital to wake up my guts! LOL sorry, couldn't resist.

Thanks anyway, I think I'll have to suck it up and call the PA to find out for sure

Yeah, that was probably just for me, since I was in the hospital for 33 days and had a lot of recovering to do!

I know this is a little late- but my surgeon told me waiting 2 weeks was all I needed to do. He basically said at this point if I felt ready to, it was fine. Personally I waited 4 weeks because that was about the last thing I was interested in at the moment. lol But at 4 weeks all went fine so I think it is more important just to listen to your body and how it feels. Good luck!

A good indicator for me was my libido...I was not in much of a mood for love when I was post op (usually valve revision or full out pouch surgery but I have a k pouch) so my body and my libido were pretty much insync...it would take 4-6 weeks for me to even consider love making and another couple for me to feel 'safe'...that said, you really have to be ready for certain things to take time...some of us are miracles of biology and things work perfectly the first time out...others find that there have been anatomical changes down there (we are tighter, drier, there is pressure or discomfort the first few times...the pouch may be pressing up against the back of the vaginal canal or you may have some residual swelling etc...in other words, take it slowly, breath deeply and use lube...and give yourself permission to stop or slow down if you are feeling uncomfortable...try other things for a while if need be or change positions until you find a comfortable one...and laugh...lots of laughter helps to get through the akward 'first time back'...
Sharon

I finally spoke to my surgeon's PA and she said "Whenever you feel ready" after pouch construction, the main issue being the healing incisions (along with libido, energy, etc). I specifically asked if there was any danger from "jostling the pouch" to the new anastomosis and she said definitely not. As an estimate she said she thought about 3 weeks post-op, or two weeks after discharge.