r/LARSyndrome

Hey everyone,

My best friend had her ileostomy reversal about 5 months ago, and she’s been having a really hard time with LARS symptoms. It’s completely messed up her daily routine and normal life. She takes Loperamide, but then she gets constipated. If she doesn’t take it, she has to run to the bathroom around 6 times a day. So either way, she’s struggling.

She’s become really weak and still hasn’t been able to go back to work since the surgery. Mentally it’s been very hard on her too. She’s feeling depressed, disappointed, and honestly starting to lose hope that things will ever get better.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here has been through something similar. Did things improve over time, or did it stay like this long term? Any advice, experiences, or hopeful stories would really help.

I've had it for about 5 years. I don't take that much Imodium anymore, sometimes I do, sometimes I do warm water enemas in the morning. I take a sitz bath in the tub after everytime I go to the RR, even if it's not painful, at least to clean.

I usually have a pile of clothes in my bathroom, because I know I'm going to take a sitz bath. I live alone. I dont travel too far from home, I'd like to do road trips, or camping trips, but that might b painful. Things like going on a boat, or to the beach, or music festivals seems like an out of the question activity for the condition. I dont even know about dating/ getting married because of possibly feeling lik a burden. This even causes me to not seek new friends. I would absolutely love a dog. Just need to figure out how to fit it into my lifestyle.

The biggest thing I struggle with, (because I have struggled with orginization/ planning and consistency my whole life). Is just not procrastinating. I'm extremely disorganized, messy, and have put all my wonderful goals on hold.

While we know our struggles arent easy. I'll personally never give up... (i'd say, the phrase "down but not out" accuratly describes m right now).

Some of my goals are - begin a strict diet to lower symptoms, - have a better perspective/ outlook, - overcome the "I cant do this activity" fear, -prioritize/ overcome my struggles with schedule/ consistency/organization, - get to the point where i'm satisfied.

I know there is a lot to improve. And it takes work and a good mindset. I see or hear a few people with LARS who are able to overcome a lot of struggles with consistency, good life management, and just the ability to keep moving forward.

I unfortunately was not raised with those awesome skills. I'm extremely overwhelmed and always feel like i'm not making progress or being efficient. For example, I can wake up early, plan the day and just feel like there's no logic and hard for me to even think of tasks/ in what order to do.

Any tips? Thanks