So I just got back to bed from a BM.  
I take Imodium 3x daily (breakfast, dinner, bedtime) to slow things down.

we are all different and I find when I take a fourth Imodium it actually will constipate me and the next day there is a lot of straining involved to eliminate.

I am 22 months in, and still experimenting with different foods and medicines to help me avoid liquid burning stools.

I have not really got into using Metamucil powder, but I’m sure others will weigh in and provide you some guidance in that area.

have you asked you surgeon/GI for a script for lomotil which is a class 5 narcotic that some here have found success with.

finally when I have IPS spasms I will take levsin sublingual. It shuts down my pelvic floor for about 4-6 hours and I get uninterrupted sleep.

you will figure out what works best for you over time.

Have you tried taking more Imodium? When I was 8 months post takedown, I was taking 4 Imodium before bed. Six years later, I am down to 2.

At your point, I was taking 4 Imodium in the morning, Citrocel with meals and, of course, Imodium at night. I don't know how much of a difference the Citrocel made.

Did you take the Metamucil with a meal? I found that I needed to take it just before main meals, with minimal water, in order for it to help. And the smooth variety worked much better than the normal one.

Imodium made me feel a bit sick, so I never bought a second packet, and can’t comment on it.

From what I have read here over the years, most of us need to get up at least once a night for a BM. I do, and I’ve had my pouch for a long time.

You are making good progress at 8 months to only have one BM per night and an occasional “sleep through”. As your pouch matures up to the one-year mark, maybe you will see more improvement.

Metamucil does add bulk to the stool, so some people do find that it increases bathroom trips, but most people seem to get benefit. I can’t tell when you’re taking it, but I’d suggest trying it before dinner rather than at bedtime. I find that Lomotil at bedtime works better for me than Imodium. There are other tricks that may help get an uninterrupted night, e.g. a spoonful of peanut butter at bedtime. I’ve also found that using the toilet twice before bed (like an hour before and then just before) sometimes leads to a surprisingly long sleep.

Thanks so much guys! As always your replies are precious.
I tried taking 3 Imodium tonight (sublingual) and despite having eaten veeery late I managed to sleep for 5 and a half hours straight; when I woke up the urge wasn’t even that bad, I could have gone back to sleep without a  bathroom trip. I’m afraid they do not sell Lomotil here where I live, Italy… But I will surely mention it when I meet my GI!

Metamucil: I’ll give it another try, maybe before a *big* meal and see what happens. The first time I tried it was before a small snack in the morning…

@Kushami

you know, hearing that “I’ve made big progress at 8 months” truly made me smile. Thanks. Maybe it’s hearing /too many and only/ jpouchers sleeping through the night that makes me feel abnormal… and so I feel like nothing really is changing here. My doctors are basically absent since I need to even take a flight to talk to them. I am all alone in this basically and that makes me very nervous… jpouch still scares me!

Keep the positive attitude and stay involved here. You will continue to learn and with time, you will be able to manage the pouch.

you are not alone in your thinking. I was told how everything was going to be ok with this surgery, but if not for this web site, I would be lost.

Almost everything I’ve learned has been from here. Yes I need my docs to manage my ongoing medical issues, but they just don’t know how to manage the daily challenges we all face.

@New577 posted:

Keep the positive attitude and stay involved here. You will continue to learn and with time, you will be able to manage the pouch.

yoy are not alone in your thinking. I was told how everything was going to be ok with this surgery, but if not for this web site, I would be lost.

Almost everything I’ve learned has been from here. Yes I need my docs to manage my ongoing medical issues, but they just don’t know how to manage the daily challenges we all face.

I was told the same. Compared to the previous surgeries this should have been the easiest one… which is true medically wise, but it was the biggest lie ever psychologically?! It’s not a matter of quantity of bowel movements and I know I was terribly lucky at the very start too. It’s the whole changing your life thing to me- 6 years without feeling anything down there, forgetting what an urge even was even, have been and still are devastating.

I’ve been trying to be positive since day 1 but sometimes I just explode. But I’m hopeful one day I’ll feel normal again just like I did with ileostomy.

Thanks again. This site is precious.