Life After a Temporary Ileostomy Reversal: What to Expect?

I'm about to have the reversal of my temporary ileostomy in a few weeks, which I've had for about three months. I want to know what to expect, but I searched all over the internet, and everyone seems to have a different situation and all I keep hearing are horror stories due to their colitis/IBD/cancer etc. 

I had an autoimmune disease which caused inflammation, one of the areas affected was the small bowel. The autoimmune disease went away by itself within a few months. This inflammation led to an obstruction, and so the surgeons removed a small piece of my small intestines out, about a couple of inches. Thankfully I will not have a J pouch formed or any other bits removed. 

I want to know how many bowel movements to expect in the first 3 months. In 3 - 6 months, and then in a year from now. People keep saying they have 30 BMs, but that's often because they had improper bowel function beforehand or had a J pouch formed. My bowel function was perfect (thankfully) before the surgery. 

I also want to know when I can resume having receptive anal sex. Obviously this will depend on whether I have 1 - 4 BMs a day or 6+ BMs a day. The ileostomy was only there for 3 months, I only had a couple inches of small intestine removed (no colon or rectum removed and like I said there will be no J pouch), and I didn't suffer from any bowel problems beforehand so I'm hoping I could get to as normal as possible. 

I really wanna know about the first 3 months, and then how it will be about 6 months later, then 12 months later. 

Hi zackhq,

I will provide my experiences with a J pouch and hopefully some of it can be of benefit to you with whatever surgery you are having. I would like to quickly address your concerns about the large amount of bowel motions. As you mentioned, the majority of these issues when I read about them prior to my surgery were completely J pouch related, and seeing as you aren't having a J pouch formed, it's possible that you are worrying yourself with possible complications of a surgery that you aren't having. Not criticizing or giving false hope, just an observation.

I have had my J pouch for about six months and I have not had any major issues at all. I stand by the idea that the reason there are so many horror stories online is because those whose surgery was successful are too busy getting on with it. Nevertheless, my surgery went well, with the only issues I have had being a very rough few days post-op, some very light nighttime incontinence that lasted for a couple of months, and a wound that is still struggling to heal because it had to be reopened. Other than that, I go about four times per day, with none overnight most of the time thanks to Gastrostop/Immodium/whatever anti-diarrhea tablets you get. Straight out of surgery I was going about six times per day and once overnight before I started using Gastrostop.

My surgeon does keep reminding me of the healing powers of being 18, though. I certainly have never reached anywhere near 30 bowel motions per day. In fact, I don't know if I've ever even entered double digits. The first three months were somewhat unpredictable at times, and still can be on occasion, but it settles down with time.

Seeing as you didn't mention your autoimmune disease, I can only give my experience with ulcerative colitis. As you may be aware, colitis specifically affects the colon, and so by having mine completely removed, I don't have any issues due to inflammation anymore, so it hasn't affected my J pouch or digestive function in general.

Best of luck with your surgery, or if you've already had it I wish you a speedy recovery.

Hamish