I haven't been active on this blog for several months now - and to be honest, that's because there's never much to report anymore. Life in my 6 months with a J pouch has been absolutely fantastic, and health-wise I almost feel like before I got ill with IBD. Most of the time, the pouch behaves perfectly and I find myself needing the loo about 4-5x per 24 hours, never with any urgency and able to hold off for hours at a time if needed. I eat whatever I want (with the one exception of mushrooms) and don't even really consider myself to be ill anymore.
However, there have been a couple of blips here and there, and this is one of them - I've come down with what is my first confirmed (but probably 2nd) bout of pouchitis. I'm now on a 7-day course of Ciprofloxacin.
Pouchitis isn't quite like UC, but it's not far off. There's no urgency like there is with IBD, but lots of painful cramping, greatly increased frequency, feeling hot and sick and generally very unwell. Fortunately, this condition can usually be treated with antibiotics, either Cipro or Flagyl.
A couple of months ago, back down in London, I had a similar episode of symptoms and went to the walk in centre - who didn't really know what do do with me - so turfed me to A&E. They ended up keeping me in overnight while they ran some tests, but couldn't find much and sent me home. The symptoms seemed to go away on their own. My gastroenterologist said that mild cases of pouchitis can and do go away without antibiotics, and thought that was probably what had happened.
This time, the symptoms just wouldn't shift, and I'm actually meant to be going to Glastonbury Festival tomorrow, so after a restless night with 7 trips to the toilet and minimal sleep I finally bit the bullet and got an emergency prescription of the Cipro.
I've only taken 2 tablets and already things are calming down. I'm not too worried at the moment, as pouchitis is pretty common - some 60% of pouchies will have at least one bout in the first year post surgery - and it's only a minor blip considering how good life is with a pouch. It's a very small price to pay for a usually normal lifestyle.
In other news, I've just passed my second year of uni and now filling my summer with work experience. I've got lots planned - this summer is very busy - but I'm very happy at the moment and everything is going well!
I'll try and drop a few updates over the next few months - I realise the blog has gone pretty dormant recently. Catch up again soon!
