Hi guys!  Things have been going o.k. for my daughter (temporary ostomy for refractive Crohns).  Still dealing with leaks on and off but keyword is dealing.  She has been going along great and we even took a cross country car trip!  However, this morning she woke up with lower abdominal pain and had to run to the bathroom and passed stool.  She went to lay back down and a little bit later running again for the bathroom and stool again.  This went on all morning until she was passing pure liquid and now blood.  She has gone maybe 20 times today…reminiscent of pre surgery.  She even missed an appointment today because she couldn't get out of the bathroom much less out of the house.  She is not eating for fear of more bathroom trips.  What on earth could this be?  There is a weird stomach bugging around here but why on earth would the stool bypass her stoma?  Does it travel too fast or something?  And a bug wouldn't explain the bleeding.  I read a little about diversion colitis.  Does this sound like what it could be?  But this amount of stool is just bizarre.  Of course the last guess is Crohn's kicking up but why the passing of stool?  We wrote to her GI and her surgeon and are hoping to hear back tomorrow but of course I am anxious.  I like to think through all the scenarios and be prepared for what they will say.  My bets are on diversion colitis.  How do they dx this?  I am guessing they would try enemas first because she is starting a very important internship and there is no way she will want to reconnect now and risk an all out Crohn's flare.  Of course if it is her Crohn's then the complete proctocolectomy is probably in the cards..internship or not.  Her surgeon and GI are far away (a flight) so logistics are difficult.  She could go to her pediatric GI (23) for scopes etc and take it from there.  But I am really feeling like any surgery suggestions and we are on a plane to her surgeon.   Any advice, experience etc would be greatly appreciated.  I am so sorry that your daughter is going through this. I have no experience with Chrohns but maybe others that do will chime in. Just wanted to say so sorry to hear. Please come back to update. Prayers 🙏 Hey @momof2! It was nice to hear that she was doing pretty good until this morning. The sudden nature of this is concerning, but hopefully her GI or surgeon may be able to narrow down possible causes; I'm hoping it's just something like a stomach bug, which is entirely possible since it came on so quickly. I'm hoping she feels better in the morning. Please keep us posted. Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate. Met with NP yesterday who was thinking diversion colitis.  Apparently 70-100% of people with diversions get it but only a small percentage experience symptoms. The treatment is to reconnect but if you can't then they try short chain fatty acid enemas or mesalamine enemas etc. But people usually do not pass the volume of stool that she was passing. She improved with no intervention. Only going about 3 times a day which is still weird for a diverted person but a huge improvement. Met with surgeon this a.m. and while initially he wanted imaging he is suggesting we wait and see. He said this could be a form of reflux. The stoma has two holes. One connects to ileum and the other to the colon. He said sometimes stool works its way into the second hole. Perhaps she had a bug which would explain the frequency, urgency and volume and it just worked its way into that second hole. If it keeps happening, we can stitch up the second hole, or do enemas or have a radiologist clean out the area with contrast inserted through the stoma. But for now we will wait and see what happens. Sounds like a good plan to me and definitely a good plan to her because she wasn't willing to try a reconnect at this time. I am only left wondering if the fact that she started bleeding as soon as stool was introduced into the colon/rectum is a poor indicator for reconnection success. But that would be getting way ahead of ourselves. Just gonna sit and wait until scopes/reconnect in May. Thank you for the update. I hope everything settles out for her. Glad  she was able to get to her specialists. @momof2 Thanks for the update! It does sound like you've got a plan, and at least a few options moving forward. It's good to hear that things cleared up without intervention. Considering the holidays, it wouldn't surprise me if she caught a bug. Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate.
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
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