Digestive diet

[pinklily]

I had colon cancer 6 years ago with resection and complete cure.  In Oct. 09 I had a total colectomy with temporary ileostomy bag and had my reversal surgery Jan. 21.  I know it's still early, but I'm not having much luck in slowing my digestion such that I still have 15-20 BM's a day with associated hemorrhoids, can't sit very long, cannot return to work, cannot sit to drive, etc.  I have tried a number of medications prescribed by my surgeon without much positive result.  After my colectomy in Oct. I my body seemed to crave foods which helped it to heal and also helped with the ileostomy output.  Now my body feels confused and exhausted.  Am looking for some foods, remedies, advice to help slow my digestion and help stools to form more.

thanks,
pinklily

[Morecambe]

Hi - I underwent a total colectomy five years ago and experienced multiple daily #2 motions (probably 10+ initially) but this did reduce over time.

I followed a high fibre diet and included a daily portion of home made muesli - viz;-

- soak organic oats and bran in milk and add lemon juice + grated apple + other fruits + banana.  It looks like wet cement but it tastes OK.

I found that this made my motions more muddy/sludgy.  Imagine a liquid spillage on the kitchen floor to which you add sawdust in order to be able to gather up the spillage more easily.

Give it a try.

regards
Morecambe

[ggreg]

Well, first of all, a doc needs to draw blood and make sure you don't have a bacterial infection going on in your guts.  Also, if you are taking any kind of medication right now, have the same doc review all the side effects, sometimes they can cause diarrhea.  And anyway, when you have such a lengthy bout of diarrhea following the bag reversal, you need to tell the doc about that.  So, make an appointment with a doc, even your general doc is okay if you can see him quicker than the surgeon.

Now, as to solutions, after every time you bathe, apply plain KY jelly on the area where waste comes thru, and that will help ease the discomfort associated with constant diarrhea.  And after your waste has finally done its thing, you can reapply KY with a damp tissue so you'll remain more comfortable throughout the rest of the day.

To help waste form more solidly, you can eat more whole grain foods, like 100 percent whole wheat bread, oat cereal, brocholi is a miracle food, salads are a huge help, too.  Just be sure to drink plenty of water daily so you don't go the other way and get stopped up.  Also, to keep your electrolytes straight, you can drink gatorade.  Also, you can have a teaspoon of children's liquid vitamins, but only once a week.  Chew all food thoroughly, especially meats, because they are the most difficult things to digest, altho scrambled eggs will go thru rather easily.  You may have to cut back caffeine for the duration of this temporary issue, as it can cause the bowels to move.

But as I said, you DO need to go to the doc to make sure you don't have a bacterial infection, and also to make sure any medicines aren't doing this to you, and also to make sure the reversal went like it was supposed to.