Pysllium

Hi Jess, After having the ileostomy in December 2011 and the bag I found I could not thicken the output. I then started with 2 teaspoons of psyllium husk in a glass of water or juice of a morning I found I had instant results. After a few months of being on the bag I found I could reduce this to a half teaspoon after every meal. Over 15 months I have stopped altogether. Be careful not to use too much in the beginning as it can work too well and cause blockages. In your case I would start with small amounts only. Before I started with psyllium husk all my output was just dirty water. I hope this helps.
John

The wafers worked fine for me (my wife called them "nasty biscuits), but the calorie count was higher than I liked. I tried the capsules, but in my body they didn't mix sufficiently with the stool, so I switched to the powder, which I've successfully used for several years, and is slightly lower calorie than the wafers. I don't care for artificial sweeteners, but that's an option with the powder. Others here are happy with the capsules.

I'm with Scott in that I liked the biscuits but did not care for the sugar, so switched to the powder form - or thought I did. Turns out it was wheat dextrin in a very similar looking container. Thought I would give it a try. Fortunately it appears to work just fine.

I have also been using a product called metacleanse. It is psyllium with flax and bentonite clay. It works quite well too for bulking. I'm not positive, but I think it may also be helping with my pouchitis as I have not needed cipro since taking the metacleanse on a daily basis. Could be a coincidence, but I'm not ready to test that hypothesis.

Jess, go to Vitamin Shop and get Psyllium Powder. I take two table spoons and one table spoon Citricul twice daily. Citricul contains methylcellulose which is also bulking. I don't recommend this much at first but that what it takes to make my stools firms. I have chronic diarrhea and this is the only thing that helps.

I had chronic pouchitis until I started taking it. I take it in loose form with a full glass of water about three times per day. I don't know if it is the fact that it helps to empty me or some other reason why I stopped getting pouchitis after I started taking it, but whatever the reason I'm so glad I started.