Sleep

Totally normal - at least from my experience. I posted here a number of times at around the same sort of point as I was so frustrated with this (and I occasionally had accidents, so you're ahead of the curve if you're in control). People gave me helpful advice, but on the whole, simply said it takes time - and it does.

I'm approaching a year post takedown now, and things have improved markedly. I am still up a couple of times a night, but it's bearable compared to the 6-8 times it used to be, and my situation (had the pouch as a result of rectal cancer after radiation and chemo) puts me at a disadvantage so you might well get through the night in time. I still take lomotil, tincture of opium, and sometimes try metamucil.

By the way, I would find it all the more frustrating when people would just respond by saying give it time, but they were right.

Hope things improve for you soon

 I'm going on six weeks post takedown I am still going to the bathroom maybe 6-8 times a day  and getting up maybe once or twice maybe three times during the night during sleep obviously the only thing I'm doing is I'm taking two Benadryl before bedtime and one  prescription Imodium (Loperamide)  I get into a deep sleep with the Benadryl but I still get the slight urgency to go to the bathroom I get up maybe 2 to 3 times very little stool comes out  it's like not even worth the interrupted sleep  

I'm 11 months post takedown and I am now only having to get up once or twice per night. Daniel R. is right that it's frustrating to hear, "it takes time," but honestly, it does. A good tip would be to monitor when you stop eating for the day and see how that affects the number of times you're up. If I stop eating around 7 PM, I can sleep through the whole night, but most days I don't even get home from work until 7:30 or 8, so that is impractical for me. 

Another helpful tip that I just recently started following is to use a nightlight in the bathroom instead of turning on the overhead light. The bright overhead light was waking me up too much and I had a hard time falling back asleep. I bought a cheap nightlight at Target ($6) and I can now fall back asleep almost instantly. 

Good luck!

Opium ?? Please if someone can explain how do you get it and what does it do for a person with a jpouch? Thx 

An opium solution. Tastes like absolute s**t, but was effective for me. It's pretty old-school I'm told, and I found it difficult to fill the prescription - very few places where I am (Northern NJ) seem to have it. But it has helped me a lot.

DanielR posted:

An opium solution. Tastes like absolute s**t, but was effective for me. It's pretty old-school I'm told, and I found it difficult to fill the prescription - very few places where I am (Northern NJ) seem to have it. But it has helped me a lot.

Sorry to bother but in which way did it help you slowing the frequency and urgency? 

Yes. Along with the lomotil, it slowed the frequency. Neither worked that well alone, but together they worked much better for me.

DanielR posted:

Yes. Along with the lomotil, it slowed the frequency. Neither worked that well alone, but together they worked much better for me.

i really appreciate the Intel you gave me .. I live in Pennsylvania and I wonder if this is something that my surgeon wil prescribe for me and if it's even legal in Pa ... Are there any side effects? 

When i need a good night's sleep i take a codral cold and flu tablet. It contains 9.5mg codeine phosphate, paracetamol and phenylephrine. The codeine slows things down and the pain killing might ease the cramping or urge to go. I try not to take many because I'm worried they might stop being effective. 

We can't get codeine meds over the counter in the US, even in weak amounts.

Jan

SonnyJ - no side-effects that I've experienced as yet after 6 months of it.

Sounds familiar!  It does get better.....at least for me, it did.  One or two times a night is typical for me.  Fortunately, when I was up many times during the night I wasn't working and could make up the sleep time by napping during the day.  It all worked out for me.  Best wishes!  Hang in there!

OMG - I travelled to India earlier this year with a dozen or so Codral cold and flu tablets. If I had done the same thing in the US without a script I would have been guilty of a felony?

I was like this at first but once I got comfortable letting out gas whilst lying in bed the bathroom trips decreased at lot at night. I still usually have to get up once during the night, but I tend to eat a decent size portion at dinner.

I think its good to experiment different positions for releasing gas without any follow through. I find what works best for me is lying on my right side and left leg slightly raised, but I can pretty much do it from any position now, standing too sometimes...