Post Colon Resection Surgery Problems

[sam43]

Had  colon resection surgery performed November 2007 to treat diverticulitis. Recently developed a frequent and embarrassing problem with passing gas and bathroom trips 2-3 times daily. The stool appears normal. I'll gladly accept these conditions compared to the pain and discomfort I experienced before my surgery. Any comments?

[Morecambe]

Hi - four years ago I underwent a total colectomy for torrential diverticular bleeding.  Thereafter the number of toilet visits increased to 6-8 per day and 2-3 during the night.  In the last few years this has dropped to ~ 4 per day and 0-1 during the night.

If your anus becomes sore after a toliet visit (quite possible due to more corrosive bile juice in your motions) wipe your anus with toliet paper dampened with soapy water.

Also I found that increasing the fibre content in my diet "bulked up and de-liquiified" my motions.  Organic bran in foods such as yoghurt and cereals is especially effective as well as plenty of raw fruit and vegetables.

Good luck
Morecambe

[Jaybay]

I had nearly 2 feet of colon removed and it took about 3 months for everything to return somewhat to normal.  Like you, there were gas issues for probably another 3 months depending on what I ate.  The priobiotics are a good place to start.  Even drinking one Activia or DanActive yogurt a day will help.

Do pay attention to your diet and see if you can determine if any particular food or food group makes the problem worse.  Sometimes you just have to adjust your diet for a few weeks.  Intestines don't like being messed with at all, and tend to sulk for a long time after surgery.  Glad you're feeling better for the most part now.  :-)

[CalGal]

You may want to consider trying some probiotics. You were probably on some antibiotics after the surgery and that can change the bacterial content and number in your GI tract which can change your system quite a bit. Probiotics might give you a hand in squaring things away. Some decent brands are Digestive Advantage-IBS, Culturelle and FloraQ.