Hello all J-pouchers. I am in desperate need of communicating with some people that get close to a full night of uninterrupted sleep. What you are eating, when, how much and what, if any, supplements you consume. My lack of sleep has been negatively effecting my life and I need to get a handle on it by mimicking someone that's figured this out.
J-poucher 25+ years
Brad
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Hopefully you’ve read through the archive here - just do a search for “sleep” and a decent fraction of what comes up will offer ideas from more people than are active here at any one time.
I generally sleep through the night unless pouchitis is out of control. I eat lightly (or not at all) after dinner, and go to bed about 5-6 hours after finishing dinner. I take my time emptying my pouch before bed, and I take Lomotil at bedtime (I don’t generally use a bowel slower at other times, since I have to move that stuff through). I take a dose of psyllium before dinner.
I normally sleep about 6.5-7.5 hours. I’m retired, so an alarm clock isn’t a factor. Once in a while I wake up earlier than I like, after perhaps 5 hours of sleep. At that point I may use the toilet and go back to bed, and usually can fall back to sleep and get more like 8 hours total.
Each of us is different. Some people are helped by a small fatty meal (Ike a spoonful of peanut butter) at bedtime. I hope you find a path to a more restful night.
I sleep through the night mostly, usually with one BM in the middle of the night that’s mostly gas, but am able to go back to sleep after. I’m on Entyvio to control chronic pouchitis. Counterintuitively, I find that the more dehydrated I am, the more frequently I get gas and liquid stool. So I stay on top of hydration with Liquid IV mid-day or around dinner time if I’ve been having a lot of BMs or liquid stool during that day, and that seems to keep my stool thicker and less prone to needing the bathroom at night. I try not to eat or drink after dinner, and especially not within a couple hours of bed time. But I’m not sure that makes a huge difference- with my system so slow, I’m usually passing lunchtime food and drink around bedtime. For me it’s more about consistent throughout the day hydration and not overeating at mealtimes.
See my posts on various marijuana sleep gummies in the Marijuana thread. I posted on half a dozen brands with pics. They all work on getting you to sleep and they slow down your bowels BIG TIME. 2 in 1 action, and you save the money on Imodium because the action is the same.
https://www.j-pouch.org/topic/...5#696574713366391505
For a lot of people a big part of getting to sleep is just relaxing or being able to relax after the typical day's assorted stressors. The marijuana really does help that part, chills you out and also fatigues you. It makes you want to sleep rather than dreading the night.
I've started going to the gym and find I sleep so much better.I still get up once or twice but straight back to sleep.
I sympathize. Not sure I'd have gone this route if someone had told me I'd never sleep through the night again. I use a Garmin now to keep track of how frequently I'm up and how much sleep I do get.
I follow many of the same protocols of others here and am able to string together enough good sleep on either end of waking to function normally. Though it's not the same as the 8 end to end hours I used to get before the surgery
I've also tried Pepto Bismol at bedtime at the advice of my gastroenterologist. It does work, but I'm not crazy about the taste or tactile experience. Have you tried it?
I'm only 1 year out, so still harbor hope that sleep will improve. But I'm not betting on it, just adjusting to "the new normal."
Haven't tried the pepto but I will keep that in mind - thank you
