Going with my Gut: A Journey to Wellness

A little update since it feels like a lifetime since I last wrote! After my last posting I had office visits with my surgeon and GI doctor. I shared my many symptoms and I got validation that what I had been experiencing was not normal. The next step was to do a pouchoscopy (similar to a colonoscopy) to see what was going on inside. If any of you are ever in a similar position (and I hope you will never be!), I would recommend asking for an alternative to the saline enema...talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Youch!! Anyway, the pouchoscopy revealed interesting and reassuring results: there was no inflammation in the pouch (meaning, no infections) and no inflammation higher up in the small intestine (so, no Crohn's Disease). It was exciting! Woohoo! But, then what was wrong with me??? The findings from the pouchoscopy narrowed down the problem to "pouch management." When the j-pouch is created from your small intestine it starts out with a small capacity and over time,