What is your transit time?

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imisspopcorn

imisspopcorn

Punctuation Impaired
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
5,723
Hi Gang....I've been having some issues lately. Especially now that I have a cold. I was wondering how long does it take for food you have eaten to usually reach the toilet? I realize not everyone can answer this. And I know it is strange. Anyway I was concerned because it is about 4 hours for me. My GI thought I was making it up......I am just concerned. Thanks for your answers.
 
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I've had times when flaring where food I have eaten has made it's way through in 2 or 3 hours... Things like mushrooms or spinach where I could definitely tell what it was and when I ate it. I told this to my doc and he didn't seem suprised or anything...
 
I will hazard a guess at 2 days but lately I go 2 days without a movement then I loose 5 lbs at once. My GF says she alway knew I was full of **** but I think I gotta do something about this regardless:(

If I eat the wrong thing it might only be a few hours and I feel crampy and ill the whole time.
 
Hi Carrie, sorry you are having problems! :(

I'm not exactly sure about the transit times. I am no expert but I believe when I have one of my crampy episodes (which i think is up behind the ileum) that mean I am on the loo for quite a while a few times it is not what i have just eaten that is coming out, but the spasms are pushing out what is in my large bowel. I have never identified anything in my poop. I get this cramping anywhere between 30 minutes and 4 hours after dinner so I guess you could say my transit time from mouth to ileum is anywhere between that - not very helpful am I??
 
The last Barium Upper GI x-ray took 2 hours till it hit my bottom, yummy stuff..
They were Recommending a laxative!
Once upon a time it did Constipate me, maybe 12 years back?
 
When things were bad I reckoned it was about 2 - 4 hours. With remission, Humira, and eating a restricted diet, about 18 - 24hours.
 
I have eaten something I shouldnt and had blood within the hour! If I drink coffee or pop, it hurts instantly. But im not sure exactly how long it takes for stuff to pass. I know it a lot quicker than it should be.
 
Post surgery it's taking me about 6 - 12 hours. Prior to surgery it would take between a day and up to 4 days (not good!). I saw on Dr. Oz last week that you should be passing stuff once a day, so the stuff from yesterday should be coming out in the morning (that's for healthy people). Not sure if this was helpful or not...
 
Before I started meds, Remi/Imuran, transit times could be timed in minutes. I could not finish a meal without having to run--not walk to the bathroom. Now that things are under control, I would say 8-10 hours.
 
I think between 12-24 hours. Strangely though.. I used to have my tongue pierced and accidentally swallowed the ball from the piercing. I was freaking out thinking it was going to get blocked in my strictures but was told I'd be fine. It took exactly a week to come out! A week!!! What was it doing in there all that time?! Every time I laid down, I imagined my intestines were like that labyrinth game with the ball going up and down. But that's just my weird brain for you. Needless to say, I left my piercing out then.
 
I am missing my entire colon, and have a j-pouch. My transit time is usually about 12 hours on average. Salads and greens take much less, usually 4 hours or so. I am frankly surprised that stuff stays in there so long!
 
When I was first diagnosed my Gastro put me on Asacol HD and then Lialda. I was flaring so badly I was shooting those horse pills out whole in 2-3 hours time....I felt like a pez dispenser. I was so depressed that I tried to make a game out of it by timing myself....pretty sad huh ?

Hope your feeling better soon Carrie! Have you tried Immodium or Lomotil to slow your system down ? - Kevin
 
When things are normal(as can be expected) probably 8-12 hrs. Have been known to go up to 10 days without a BN and other times within an hour. Those days are pretty much every hour on the hour. Of course I try to play a game and only do my pooping at work. I'm not a good game player. lol
 
On a testing aspect in relation to gastric transit time it is possible to have a test done.. Its called gastric emptying.

Before my crohns was found/diagnosed it was one of the nuclear medicine tests (along with the bile salts test I have mentioned before) that my GI put me through.

For this one I had to eat a small amount of scrambled eggs which were "tagged" with an isotope. Then I was up and down off the scanner table every 30mins for the next 3hrs. Also had a scan before I ate the eggs. You have to fast before the test, cannot eat during it apart from the eggs and can only drink water also.

My GI was able to tell me that things leave my stomach very fast into the first part of my small bowel. Then they slow down, and finally speed up again towards the end of my small bowel and colon.

Overall he said I was at the very fast end of "normal". He told me it was something to keep in mind in future if I felt anything changed as it could be impacting on my absorption of everything and to keep him posted.

I still feel the same. I know and can tell when something leaves my stomach as I get discomfort if its too fast. Also have pain and running to the loo within 1hr of eating. Can usually find that if I am generally not great on the transit time the food I have eaten reappears at the other end within a max of 3hrs on a really bad day. When I am in good health and stable I wont see it for 24hrs.

Just my tuppence worth..
 
Soup, I had that done a few times years ago. Makes it look like your intestines has a sparkle show going on. That is one of the ways they found out where my blockage was started. If I'm not mistaken, I was told that they don't do that anymore at the hospital I go to. They have a new procedure that I forget what they called it. At least they don't use the eggs anymore.
 
Thank you everyone for your input.......At this point, I really hate to go through anymore tests....I know part of my issues are related to the bile salts diarrhea, which I have been able to control with sequestrates. But, I really think I am starting to have deficiencies in many vitamins, other than the normal B12 and Iron....Your answers have given me some great information to ponder for my next GI visit. Thank you so much.

Carrie
 
Like a marble down a drainpipe.

Sorry, I just had to use that brilliant line coined by AgentX20.
 
Carrie - What are bilt salts diarrhea and sequestrates??

(What happened to your pretty profile pic?!?)
 
Hey Pirate,

Would be interested to know the new test - just out of curiosity. Had my test done Autumn 06. Things change all the time eh?

Carrie,

Having ileal crohn's myself I find that rather than my B12 going down its Vit D that drops. Have been told to keep a good eye on all my fat soluble Vits as a result.

Also due to the bile salts diahorrea my cholesterol was always in my boots and I now know that without decent cholesterol levels you cant convert Vit D from sunlight on your skin to use in your body.

Just an extra thought..
 
ameslouise said:
Carrie - What are bilt salts diarrhea and sequestrates??

(What happened to your pretty profile pic?!?)
Click to expand...

Hi Amelouise....Certain cholesterol meds, like Questran for one, bind your bile acid as a way to excrete excess cholesterol and lower your blood lipid levels....From what I understand our ileum reabsorbs our bile during digestion. I had my ileum resected and my gallbladder removed in 2008. As a result, I have this lovely stuff called called bile salts diarrhea. Many Crohnies have this problem...The meds are just referred to as "bile acid sequestrants".

Thank you Jan for the info you are a gem:)....I really need to have my Vit. D levels checked now...I live in such a warm sunny place I was hoping I would dodge that bullet, but now I am beginning to have doubts....I've noticed issues lately with my night vision especially when driving, so I am sure all my fat solubles are out of wack.
 
Hmmm, might also be worth having your thyroid function done too by the sounds of things Carrie.

I used to feel like my eyes werent open enough when night driving and spend my time checking only to find they were as wide open as possible! Turned out to be hypothyroidism and the results were either borderline or not enough to warrant medication they kept telling me. Then I was finally started on thyroxine it showed up my thyroid was barely functioning!

Better safe than sorry honey.

On the bile salts aspect my GI told me that we need to reabsorb something like 27% (dunno how they come up with that number in particular) and I was only reabsorbing 3%. OUCH.
 
Soup, I discussed it with Janis and she said that it is the same procedure. They just don't use the eggs. She can't remember what they said they use now.
 
Carrie, thanks fo the info on bile salts stuff.... Just one more thing we need to look out for!

- Amy
 
imisspopcorn said:
Hi Amelouise....Certain cholesterol meds, like Questran for one, bind your bile acid as a way to excrete excess cholesterol and lower your blood lipid levels....From what I understand our ileum reabsorbs our bile during digestion. I had my ileum resected and my gallbladder removed in 2008. As a result, I have this lovely stuff called called bile salts diarrhea. Many Crohnies have this problem...The meds are just referred to as "bile acid sequestrants"..
Click to expand...

Thanks for explaining it. That's my issue as well. I'm finding limited success using Questran though, primarily because of the frequency of bowel movements.
 
Hi Carrie... Im sorry you are not doing well at the moment.. hopefully you can get it sorted quickly.

As for food transit time Im really not 100% sure on how I go... I do know that sometime straight after I eat I can be running to the toilet a bit like Shaz but Im assuming that something I just ate has upset my tummy and then old food is coming out not what I just ate... then some days I struggle to do anything.
But when I did get my Small Bowel Follow Thru done last year it took like 4 hours for the stuff to go thru me.

Good luck Hun.
 
My body usually rejects entire sections of food within 2 hours if I eat foods I can't handle such as BBQ, Chinese, raw veggies or milk/ice cream. My GI never thought it was out of the ordinary for me.
 
I really couldn't answer this one, as b4 I went too hospital I was going literally every 10-15 mins (the nurses actually timed it an had a secret bet goin lol)

but now it's closer to every hour sometimes if I lucky 2

an the fact I eat the same thing every meal ATM kinda makes it hard too tell lol
 
Lol well like some of you I have problems with my doc and parents believing how quickly food can make it through. Mcpukes litterally 30mins tops, normal food on a normal day seems to take about 8-10 hours now which is amazing, during a flare I'd say 2 or 3 tops.
 
Big hugs for you Carrie

i hope you can get something sorted out soon to make things easier for you

then it's one less thing too stress over, and we all know how bad stress is for us

fingers crossed for you
 

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