Hey there! My name is Liam and I’m 23 years old from Liverpool, England, I had a 2 stage J pouch operation in September 2014 and December 2014 respectively so I’ve had my Pouch for a little over 3 years now and I must say it’s the best thing I’ve ever done although it isn’t perfect, I do have complications from time to time, I had my very first operation in August 2013 and I lived with an ileostomy for just over a year and it was a huge relief to finally be Colitis and bag free, I suffered with Ulcerative Colitis from the age of 15 and I just felt the surgery route was a route I had to go down as I wanted to be medication free, and I kept having regular flare ups so it’s something I had to do, I enjoy travelling and am quite active so I felt a J pouch was a must for me as I felt having a bag was a huge burden and lowered by self esteem, anyway I’m wriiting this post as I wish for some advice as my Pouch has been functioning a bit odd of late, Ive recently recovered from a bout of pouchitis over Christmas which was treated with a combination of Ciprofloxacin and Metronidazole, I finished the treatment a couple of weeks ago and really done the job but recently I’ve been having quite a bit of urgency again, although I feel fantastic, Prior to having Pouchitis I usually go the toilet around 4-6 times a day with occassionally formed stools which is funny because I was told I’d never have formed stools although I do from time to time but it’s mostly a paste/porridge like consistency, the past week or so I’ve been going the toilet around 10-15 times I Day although I have complete control and I don’t get any spasms or discomfort like when I had pouchitis, the output seems to be quite thick during the day and night but really loose in the morning time, I don’t get any urgency during the day only late at night and in the morning, and a lot more seems to be coming out than usual, my diet is the same as it’s always been but for some reason I’m having more frequent stools only in the night time and first thing in the morning, there’s also some skin irritation and stings a bit during the night and morning, I’m fine during the day, I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice and tell me why this is if possible....Thanks!
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After a round of antibiotics your mix of gut bacteria is hugely altered. It’s possible that you’re dealing with a pouchitis recurrence that's behaving differently as a result. Other possibilities include C. diff and gastroenteritis.
Have you tried a strong bacterial probiotic, like VSL #3? I have found it helpful.
Hi Scott, thanks for your reply, I appreciate it, is it possible that I weren’t on the antibiotics long enough? I was only on the antibiotics for just over a week but they seemed to work, I feel great in general just the increased urgency is a bit annoying, can this issue resolve on its own? And does pouchitis ever just go away on its own? I’ve been looking into Probiotics but I haven’t tried them yet, do they stop pouchitis from recurring?
It is possible you needed a longer course of antibiotics. Usually they don’t give you two antibiotics as the first course of treatment, though. I would think a longer course of a single antibiotic would make sense.
Jan 
What Jan said. Also, VSL does seem to reduce the frequency of pouchitis occurrences, and I have found it very helpful (at high, ridiculously expensive doses). Not everyone finds it helpful, and it can be hard to decide if it’s working.
I think that’s what the problem is, I most likely weren’t on antibiotics for long enough, and I think I was on a combination of Cipro and Metronidazole because maybe they thought the Pouchitis would go away quicker and for longer I’m not sure, I was actually hospitalised for a few days over Christmas because I had an extremely high fever and they suspected Sepsis but it weren’t as bad as suspected really, I was on the IV antibiotics for 3 days the then a week on tablets, I mean I feel great now apart from a bit of urgency so maybe it’s not Pouchitis recurring, I’ll wait a few more days and see how it goes, I’ll definately have to try out Probiotics aswell, I was really surprised I got Pouchitis because for a period of 2 years after my surgery I had no problems with my pouch at all, I’d just like to mention that with the Pouchitis I was also getting really bad joint pains on my outer upper leg area, have you experienced joint pain with Pouchitis and what is the reason for this?
Actually, the risk of pouchitis increases with time, so your case is not unusual. What is unusual is the high fever, and it does seem as if you were septic. An acute flare of joint pain with pouchitis points more to an IBD type of pouchitis, so do not be too surprised if you have recurrent flares (just like UC). You may be in remission for months or years, or even decades.
Jan