All of a sudden, after 19 years of having a J-Pouch, I find myself leaking and have to wear a pad in mesh underpants, all the time. I have recently had to self-dilate a stricture between the anastomosis and the anus once a week, to keep it open. I had been doing tht for a few months without leakage occuring. Recently I developed an internal hemorrhoid right at the opening of my anus, and that is when the leaking started. So, advice, please!
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I guess the hemorrhoid might be responsible, but I've never heard of that. Perhaps you've been straining to get past the stricture, and that may have caused the hemorrhoid. Is your self-dilation with a finger or a dilator? An overly enthusiastic dilation can affect the sphincter. Another possibility is that you may have coincidentally developed pouchitis, unrelated to the hemorrhoid.
I'm pretty sure I don't have pouchitis. I am using an 18 mm stainless steel uterine dilator, the sort of gold standard of dilation (ha ha), and once a week to keep the stricture from closing down again. This is the first hemorrhoid I've had in my life and am using Prep H. I'm hoping when it goes away, the leaking will, too, but I may be naive about that. Any recommendations to stop the leakage?