Is pouchitis just like an ulcerative colitis flare?

They put me on cipro and I starting feeling the effects of it almost immediately. Hope you start to feel better.

My bouts with pouchitis have not been as serious as a colitis flare, but they do take their toll, especially if you are active (I'm a runner).

I was first put on flagyl but it only made things worse. Cipro is what worked for me. If you don't start feeling better with flagyl after two or three days, ask for cipro. As Holly said, you should notice the difference pretty quickly.

There is a difference. I always had bleeding with a UC flare but never in 17 years with pouchitis. While urgency increases with pouchitis it is never a total loss of control and crap in my pants as with UC, althugh with pouchitis I will have fecal spotting in my underwear, especially at night. Last the pain level is more intense with UC. With pouchitis it is more like a feeling of irritation and cramps.

quote:

I always had bleeding with a UC flare but never in 17 years with pouchitis.

From what I remember long ago, it was when I started bleeding again did my doctor tell me I had Pouchitis. He was able to cure my Pouchitis though, long before Jpouch.org was in existence or I even heard of Pouchitis, which was all new to me when my doctor said I had it.

Ask for a prescription of cipro and maybe slow down on the running when pouchitis is active. After 16 months on augmentin for pouchitis which lost it's effectiveness at the end for me, cipro seems to be the thing that is helping me the most. My GI prescribed both flagyl with cipro but I cannot tolerate the flagyl and so far seems to be no need for it. The cipro makes me feel like I am a person with a colon again


For me, pouchitis is way worse than UC ever was as I also get cuffitis with it..double whammy...something I also never had with UC .

Everyone that needs to be on antibiotics long term - please know that if you do not rotate antibiotics or combos of antibiotics you will have problem with loss of effectiveness and susceptibility to yeast infections. Ideally xifaxin should be the middle antibiotic in any rotation of antibiotics as it is not systemically absorbed and thus gives your skin bacteria time to regenerate thus preventing yeast infections. I had a 4 month yeast infection in 2010 and only turned the tide against it when I rotated from cipro/flagyl onto xifaxin and also bombed it with antifungals. Don't go down this road, you don't want to be there and that was caused by me not actively rotating antibiotics.

Good info CTbarrister, I sure hope I don't need any more antibiotics after this round of cipro but if I do I now have some good information.

I have bleeding, diarreah, abdominal cramping and 24/7 headaches. The pain is usually about a 5 although it reaches a 7 at times.

If you have bleeding it might be cuffitis instead of pouchitis. If it's cuffitis, the treatment would be different. Your doctor can detect cuffitis by digital examination.

kathy

How long have you been on flagyl for? In my experience flagyl works best in tandem with cipro. Augmentin and xifaxin are other antibiotics that can be used to combat pouchitis, if what you have is pouchitis. The bleeding concerns me. Is it excessive and does it come at the very end of the bowel movement or is it mixed in? The former would be indicative of cuffitis.

Yes...for me pouchitis was always just like a colitis flare minus the bleeding. The pouchitis soon antibiotic resistent. Had my pouch disconnected...all better...

Sub: Pouchitis can present itself just like UC...with bleeding, urgency and pain. There are many antibiotics that they can try other than Flagyl -- like Cipro, which has been suggested. Of course it's discouraging, but you and your doctor will get this under control. A poster above said that his Pouchitis was 'cured' and that is untrue, as there is no absolute. Once you are diagnosed, and they find the right med's to get you symptom free, it's considered remission. It's important for you to have the correct information and for those posting here to make sure what they say is accurate.

Good luck and keep us posted. Know that many people here have been in your shoes and know exactly what you're dealing with. You are not alone.

I am now on both Flagyl and Cipro. The Flagyl makes me nauseous and dizzy but my surgeon wants me on both. I was on Flagyl alone for five days and it did nothing. My symptoms became much worse. It was back to a level 8 pain.
The bleeding is mixed in with the bowel movement. Surgeon said it happens when the pouchitis is left untreated for too long.
I am disappointed that there is no cure. I am so tired of being sick and in bed. I stopped training because of the dizziness.I fell down the stairs this morning. My surgeon said to take an oxy and train with my husband. If the pain isn't too bad, I plan on trying that tomorrow. Luckily, my husband is really slow.

I wonder why your surgeon wants you to take both flagyl and cipro especially considering that flagyl makes you sick (it did me as well - primarily nausea and especially headaches). My surgeon took me off flagyl immediately and changed strictly to cipro - which made my life much, much better.

Hope things get better soon.

As a follow-up, I wonder how you are to determine when you are getting better if one of your medications makes you so ill?