Too many bowl movements, Cramping in my pelvic area, difficulty urinating

I’ve been on Cipro for 13 years and Cipro + Flagyl for about 7 years. With the medication I feel fine and live an active, normal life. I did experiment to find the lowest effective dose of the antibiotics.

thanks Scott,

How often do you take it?

@Tavofl61 posted:

thanks Scott,

How often do you take it?

For me, at least, they work just as welI taken once daily at bedtime. That makes it easier to space the antibiotics well away from dairy, probiotics, and psyllium.

These meds do cause problems for some people, but I’ve had good luck with them.

It's similar for me with chronic pouchitis. I try to get off antibiotics for some time, but after 3 to 7 days my digestion gets worse. When I've lost too much weight some weeks later I start to take antibiotics again, at first two times a day for the first three days and then only once at late evening. In the morning I take a probiotic supplement and eat some yoghurt.

Are you open to biologics like Remicade???

Gastroenterologist suggested biological medicine as last option, have you tried?

@Tavofl61 posted:

Gastroenterologist suggested biological medicine as last option, have you tried?

Never tried any bioloigcs at all. A lot of people on here take with good results so that is why i wanted to mention it. I hear Remicade is excellent for J-pouchers.

Thanks, I’ll see how it goes for a couple of months and then decide, I appreciate your input

@Tavofl61 posted:

Thanks, I’ll see how it goes for a couple of months and then decide, I appreciate your input

Your welcome

@Tavofl61 posted:

Thanks in advance to any advise, I had my reversal in September of 2019, since then i have been diagnosed with chronic pouchitis, my surgeon prescribed Metronidazole 500 (3daily) and Cipro500 (2 daily) the treatment works but after completing the 14 days, it returns after a week some times or two to three, while the pouchitis is active I have also problems urinating, I have to go #1 and # 2 simultaneously,  now am seeing a gastroenterologist and he gave me Mesalamine Rectal Suspension USP Enema, it appeared to work at the beginning, however, I was also taking the VSL #3 at the same time, when I stopped taking the VSL #3 I started feeling just like at the beginning, I just getting to the point that in my case the only thing that make the symptoms go away are the antibiotics, I wonder if taking them will affect me in other ways or if with time not even they will work.

If you have experienced something similar and you have found something that has worked for you I really will appreciate your comments, thanks again.   

Hi Tavo,

Sorry to hear you’re struggling. In my 18 years with my j pouch, I’ve had many periods of pouchitis   The first 4 years were similar to you. I finally tried eating clear liquids and soft foods (mostly yogurt and egg whites) a lot. I also cut way back on my carbs and just literally ate tiny meals about 2-3 times a day. I supplemented my diet with clean high end gummy vitamins. It really helped over the next year to let my pouch settle. Once I felt better I kept it up anyway. I got tired of the pain and bathroom trips. Food for me today is very light. I used to be a grazer with food. Nibbling on different things all day. When I organized my food and had actual meals with nothing in between, I started to feel much better.  

good luck to you. This is just what I did. I know everyone’s case is very different so check with your dr to see what he thinks. 😊