Large BMs

I am down to around 4 BM's a day too and I have experienced similar frustrations! Sometimes there is a large bm, followed by smaller ones, sometimes it is different colors, different consistencies....

Obviously what we eat has something to do with it, but I haven't found a lot of connection to bowel movement size. Sure, some foods don't work, but that doesn't seem to always be the issue. I agree that I don't think it would be a blockage. My only other thought is sometimes if I haven't been to the bathroom for a while I will obviously go more. 

Ahh, the strangeness of our j-pouches!

Very strange. I have noticed that these occur more when my diet is not so strict (soda, junk food, greasy items) but it is not as consistent as I'd wish. I have my one year colonoscopy checkup in a few weeks. These just make me worried that something has come back but, with all other levels are within norms, I'm pretty optimistic  

thanks for the reply. If anyone else has some insight, it would be appreciated!

Hello, Knorrboy.

I am 12 months after my colon removal, and 10 months after reversal. In the first few months it was rarely the same one day to the next, and I realized it depended on what I ate, and when. A big breakfast at 7am might produce some loose results by 12noon and it might be "fragmented" pieces, small like so many pieces of Legos! My surgeon told me to expect fragmenting for some time until my eating habits returned to normal and I was able to re-introduce solid food with fibre, vegetables, etc. I was eating mostly soft proteins, bone broth, and bulking food such as rice, sourdough bread, pasta. No vegetables or fruit in the first months after takedown.  I found that a hearty dinner at 7pm would produce more solid BMs in the morning, not perfect but more solid and greater volume. If I ate lunch at 12noon and had a BM within the hour, that was usually my breakfast being pushed out by the new meal coming through, and I took that to mean my insides and bowel muscles were working because meals were moving along. This happened when I had a colon too: a new meal would start the muscles pushing through. I think this is a good sign.

Take more time for your body to settle into its own schedule and food choices. When I reached my five month point after reversal it finally settled into five to seven BMs in a 24 hour period (from frequency of 10 to 15!) and now mostly formed, no longer fragmented. Only issues I have now are after indulging, or falling off the food wagon because there was a great dessert or I detected French fries nearby  and then it's back to fragmented pieces or loose until it clears out of my system within a day or so. In early days I kept a simple food diary and noted how many BMs a day so I could know what foods helped or hurt. I am drinking one probiotic per day (sometimes every other day) called Bio-K which has 50 Billion active cultures and that helps so much to settle my pouch. Good luck to you.