Diet Problems After Bowel Cancer Surgery

My surgery was Aug so I am not too far ahead of you. I have not had a reversal but I can relate to signifant bowel changes after surgery. It sounds like you are eating low residue foods and that's all the advice I've been able to get. 

I don't know if this will be my new normal or if my system will eventually stabilize a bit. 

Hi jamespr and a warm welcome to the board. Not sure what type of operation you had but, as you discovered in hospital, the bowel does not like being messed about with. 
Although you didn’t have your stoma for long it may take several months for things to settle back down again. Fibre can be a problem so a low residue diet is often recommended then you could try to introduce new foods gradually. It might be worth keeping a food diary to see if any particular food is causing an issue.

Is there a reason that you won’t take immodium/loperamide? My surgeon told me that I might have to take them for life. The removal of any amount of colon will mean that waste passes through your system more quickly and less water is absorbed causing loose stool. The loperamide slows the transit down allowing more liquid to be absorbed and hopefully firmer stools. You can take up to 8 a day 30 minutes before eating. 
I totally get where you’re coming from and it’s frustrating and you’ll probably never go back to your old routine but it’s a case of managing it as best you can and hoping things improve over time?

Ive attached a link to the reversal page on the stoma board which may help?

 Living well with a stoma reversal or LARS 

Take care

Karen x

Definitely second taking loperamide.

Also keep a diary of what you eat, any supplements or pills you take and your bowel movements. Soon you will see patterns and learn what to avoid. Over time you can reintroduce foods gently. Definitely don't try too much fibre at the start.

For me, Buscopan, probiotics (if allowed), omega 3 oil and a banana for breakfast have got me to the state 2 years down the road of being pretty much back to normal, and in fact I've recently stopped loperamide unless I'm on a flight or similar. The Buscopan is for IBS which I had before, that may or may not help, and I found if I can manage the gas, things go smoothly. Walking and doing light abs exercises really helped too, as well as Kegel exercises. My consultant said that the scar tissue needs to soften up and the exercises will help speed that up.

Having said that, I remember about 6-8 weeks after the op things weren't great so feel for you. Suddenly I passed some stuff that I think was scar tissue and after that it was a lot better, that happened once more. Hang on in there. 

Hi James, sorry to hear that you are having problems following your reversal. I had a very similar pathway of treatment to you, but luckily I did not have the same level of problems afterwards. I found the reversal was worse than the anterior section for me, but it really does get better with time. I was lucky that in my area, there was a fantastic facility called Active Against Cancer, which gently encouraged exercise, under expert supervision. This totally changed the way I viewed being active. Between my two surgeries, my weight went up to just short of 19 stones, but over the last three years I have lost 5 stones, I now go to the sport centre three times a week and do a daily walk, rain or shine. 

I still have the odd bad night, getting up for the loo and some foods such as spicy things and pizza still cause me problems. Often the Imodium causes constipation for a day or two, but I have been told that this is normal.

I hope your problems settle down soon, until then, try to stay positive and also try to follow your GP's advice.

Best of luck.