• Hayduke@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    I hope you don’t. In my case nothing helped so I had my lower intestine removed. The made a facsimile with a section of small intestine and re-plumbed me. It was during that recovery period that I went on TPN to effectively reduce the usage of my digestive system.

    TPN is Total Parenteral Nutrition. Basically it’s a large bag of glucose, lipids, vitamins and minerals that is fed through a PICC line (in you upper arm) directly above your heart for thorough dilution and distribution through your bloodstream. An external peristaltic pump doses it into you throughout the day. It’s a trip, albeit cumbersome. Oh, and it does spikeTF out of your blood sugars so you have to take insulin during the process, which sucks.

      • Hayduke@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        The surgery did, but it was a long recovery period. I think it was three months with a temporary colostomy bag while my intestine healed and then at least a year for my body to get used to the new setup. After about 5 years I noticed that I was closer to normal, or as normal as you can be after getting a j-pouch. But it’s better than going through continued episodes. I don’t think I would have survived more than a couple additional bouts. Plus living with UC really increases your risk of colorectal cancer. Fun stuff