Ileosomies and weight

[UnXmas]

Simple question: does have an ileostomy mean you have to take in more calories to gain weight? Doctors can't work out why I'm not gaining despite what should be adequate calorie intake (and what I feel would have been adequate calorie intake for me to gain weight based on times when I've gained in the past). Is it possible to flush food through you too quickly to absorb it properly if you drink too much liquid with an ileostomy? My stoma output is not excessive in volume, and is a bit more watery than ideal, and a bit more watery than mine was before I started eating so much, but not overly so.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Responded on other thread

 

[2thFairy]

I lost 22 pounds while in the hospital after having my ileostomy placed. For me, the weight loss is due to food passing out of my system so fast. It took about 4 months after stoma surgery before my system slowed down and I started to gain some back. However, even now, 2-1/2 years later, I can eat everything I want and never get over 120 pounds. It's fun! I love to see the look on people's faces when I eat like a pig, get stuffed, and 30 minutes later I'm back to snacking while they are still miserable from overeating.

 

[UnXmas]

Do you still enjoy eating when you're stuffed? Or do you mean everything goes through you so fast that you're soon ready to eat again?

I'm supposed to have a gastric-emptying study soon to assess my gastrosparesis. But I'm also finding that it's when my bowel is through that I feel the least like eating. I've always had a pattern with my stoma where it doesn't produce much during the day, then it fills up a couple of times in the evening, and maybe a little more comes out overnight, which I empty in the morning.

Now I'm eating so much more, and I thought I may have to empty more, but it's still in the same pattern - but with all the extra food, I feel awful and full by the evening, I get stomach cramps, and for the first time since I had my ileostomy, I'm getting terrible "phantom" urges of needing to have a bowel movement the normal way, and awful rectal pain, then finally the bag fills up really quickly, and the stuffed feeling and the other symptoms ease.