Losing Weight

Hi, my name is Pat and I am new to this site. I had my colon removed on June 21st and I have an ileostomy now. I have been losing weight ever since my surgery, so far I have lost 36 pounds. Will this stop and will I ever gain weight again?

Thanks,

Pat

Hi Pat, I hope a nurse or a doctor jumps in here too, but having had 5 surgeries due to my Crohn's 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's 'output' vs its '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.

Hi Pat, I have had several operations. My entire colon was also removed. I also had an added problem from a stomach wound in Vietnam. 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 intestine. I have problems with iron absorption. 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 dissolve or pass. Normally speaking, and I repeat normally, what we had done will have little effect on absorption of food except 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 researching Probiotics (good bacteria). There are tons of them out there. I found through trial and error and with the help of some digestive specialists, for me "Align" seems to be helpful. Pardon my terrible spelling.

Good luck and welcome

Rick.....

Hi, I 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 coming off. I'm only 39kg now and have had my ostomy for 4 years. It is really hard to put it on, and the doctors have given me a total thyroidectomy as I had Graves' Disease. They are hoping that will help me put on weight, but as yet, I'm still not putting on any weight. It's really a pain not being able to find clothes that fit, but hang in there. You could try things like sustagen and any of those other protein drinks which I know have worked for some people. Hope this helps.

Hi Pat and all.
Not sure of the reason for your colon being removed. It is not unusual to lose weight after surgery. I see this quite often, then a period of time for things to even out and many people slowly gain their weight 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 weight loss) and perhaps trying to eat smaller meals/snacks more frequently. I'm definitely not a nutritionist, but adding digestible 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 weight over time after a diseased colon is 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.

I have my second set of ostomies in 3 years. Always lost weight. I just had surgery again this past May, dropped to 86 lbs. 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 through a pic line in my arm. I usually hook up at nighttime because it runs for 12 hours. It all fits in a backpack so it is portable.

My ileostomy 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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