Experiences with Diversion Colitis After Colectomy

Ok so I didn't really know here t put this topic as its not really about ostomys?

Since my sub total colectomy in march I've still Been having some colitis like symptoms like pain and bleeding. I had a flexi sigmoidoscopy to see what was going on and to see if I could go for pouch surgery and results came back fine and as my surgeon expected. He did however tell me I had what they call diversion colitis in my rectal stump that was causing bleeding and pain. Has anyone else experienced this? It gets me down sometimes cause I thought surgery would of fixed it. I have to use pred foam enemas every night and they make me feel sick and in pain for hours. They do keep my symptoms more or less under control but if I miss even just one I get really quite poorly again! Hopefully pouch surgery will be the answer to my problems! I'm hoping for this jan/feb so hopefully not long to put up with this now!

Hi Rachel, yes, I have diversion colitis also.  Thought the surgery would have made all of the pain and bleeding go away, but not so for me.  I am 11 months out from my surgery.  I have pain and bleeding everyday.  I was hospitalized for an exacerbation of Crohns just two months ago, but on colonoscopy doctor found no signs of Crohns (happy face here).  I was prescribed Canasa suppositories, non-steroidal antiinflammatory, (actually it is mesalamine, same as Asacol oral med), but so far I am still bleeding, although the pain is under control and I do not have the side effects of the steroids.  I am only one week into the treatment. However, the suppositories cost $675.00 for a one month supply, and I have no insurance, so when this prescription is finished, I will not be using again.  If you have insurance that will pay for the suppositories, you might want to give them a try.  My gastroenterologist made very light of the diversion colitis, said it is just something that happens to some people, nothing to worry about, of course he is not the one dealing with the pain and passage of blood per rectum on a daily basis!! Good luck!

Hiya sorry to hear your suffering too! I don't know how he can make light of it, it gets really bad for me the pain is almost as bad as full blown colitis all over again! What's the next step for you then? Will you be having more surgery to fix it? X

Rachel,

I had diversion colitis as a result of my ileostomy.  I also was told to give myself enemas which helped a bit but come to find out, it was my entire colon was filled with mucus that they could not even get a scope up my colon.  I had a complete removal of my large intestine, rectum and anus.  All the symptoms have disappeared all but he typically ostomy issues like blockage, ibs systems and dehydration.

So please talk to your doctor about getting the proper test to verify if you too have mucus built up in your colon.  My doctor did not take me seriously until I demanded another colon surgeon.

Debra