Weight Loss After Colon Surgery and Ileostomy

Hi my name is Pat and I am new to this site. I had my colon removed on june 21st and I have an ielostomy now. I have been losing weight ever since my surgury so for I have lost 36 pounds will this stop and will I ever gain weight again

thanks

Pat

Hi Pat

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  I hope a nurse or a doctor jumps in here too, but having had 5 surgeries due to my Crohns in the past, I can tell you that each time I lost A LOT of weight, both before and after each surgery.  It also seems the more I worried about it, the more weight I would lose.  It also made a difference on my body 'output' vs it's 'input' for sure.  It took awhile but I gained my weight back each time.  It was a slow process for me, but everyone is different.  Your body has been through a considerable trauma and it affects many things.  The best thing right now is to make sure you stay hydrated and rest as much as possible.  How's your appetite??   You no doubt will gain but if you become weak or worry about it too much, contact your doctor and/or an ET Nurse to speak with them about it.  You take care! ...and welcome to our little community here

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Hi Pat, I have had several operations. My entire colon was also removed.  I also had an added problem from a stomach wound in Veitnam.  Many years ago they took out a couple of feet of small intestine and about half of my stomach.  I did fine with it.  Then when I had my colon removed there was some concern about my shortened small instestine.  I have problems with iron absorbution.  So I take iron every day.  If you haven't already, get a good blood test done.  We all react differently to these operations.  A very simple way to tell if things are being absorbed is this.  Take a few pills and see if you pass them, then take a few that are enteric coated, see if they disolve or pass.   Normally speaking and I repete normally, what we had done will have little effect on absortion of food execpt for veggies.  The colon as you know is mainly there to remove excess moisture, is a place  for waste storage and it also absorbs some digestive gases back into our body.  To sum it up I would think you should put the weight back on.  However water intake is very critical, you must drink a  lot of water.  You might also consider Probiotics to help in digestion.  I have spent hundreds of hours researhing Probiotics (good backteria).  There are tons of them out there.  I found thru trial and error and with the help of some digestive specialists for me "Align" seems to be help.  Pardon my terrible spelling.



Good luck and welcome



Rick.....

Hi I to have had a problem with not gaining weight when i first had my ileostomy due to radiation enteritis I only weighed 35kg it took me two years to get up to 49kg but after that it has just kept comming off i'm only 39kgs now and have had my ostomy for 4yrs it is really hard to put it on and the Doctors have given me a total thyroidectomy as i had Graves' Dieaese they are hoping that will help me put on weight but as yet i'm still not putting on any weight, Its really a pain not being able to find clothes that fit but hang in there, you could try things like sustegen and any of those other protein drinks witch I know have worked for some people, hope this helps.

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Hi Pat and all

Not sure of the reason for your colon being removed.   It is not unusual to lose wt. after surgery, I see this quite often, then a period of time for things to even out and many people slowly gain their wt. back over a period of months.  It is only a month since your surgery, and it takes time for the body to readjust from illness.  36 lbs is a lot to lose!



With an ileostomy, in general, I would suggest making sure you remain hydrated (fluid also accounts for wt. loss also) and perhaps trying to eat smaller meals/snacks more frequently.  I'm definetly not a nutritionist, but adding digestable protein  and fat that your system can tolerate (shakes, cottage cheese, peanut butter, higher calorie supplements, etc) may help.



Is there a nutritionist connected with your hospital or clinic that could see you?



On the reverse side, I have also seen people gain excess wt. over time after a diseased colon removed as they eventually are able to eat many foods their sick colon could not tolerate before.  



I hope things balance out over the next few months for you.

How to Manage Ostomy Leaks with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

I have my second set of ostomies in3 yrs.  Always lost weight. I just had surgery again this past May & dropped to 86lbs. Almost 2 months later I am now only 97 lbs.



Weight gain is slow but the docs have me on TPN (total parenteral nutrition).  It's all the vitamins, fats, calories etc. fed to me thru a pic line in my arm.  I usually hook up at night time cause it runs for 12 hrs.  It all fits in a backpack so it is portable.



My iliostomy is extremely active and I have a short bowel, so my food doesn't stay inside my body long enough to absorb any nutrients. Whatever I eat or drink comes out almost instantly.  The TPN saved my life!

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