Hi, I'm new and my situation may be unique

I'm just gonna start from the beginning. In 1998 when I was 18 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I lived with it for years not being able to eat many things i loved and having at least one major flare up each year - major meaning hospitilization and steroids (I hate steroids-they kill me with the side effects). In 2004 after I finally changed to a new specialist because of new insurance at work I brought up the surgery question to him (the previous dr. I was seeing was a total schmuck and laughed and told me that surgery was a little "drastic". I think he just didn't want me to get any better) Anyways, the new dr took my question very seriously and actually sat me up an appointment to talk to a surgeon about the procedure. In October 2004 I had my entire colon removed and they made me a "new colon" called a j pouch out of my small intestines. It was a two part procedure and I had to have an external illeostomy bag in between the procedures (hell on earth for me personally). So for three years after that I was all better, I ate what I wanted finally, I had more energy, I lost weight, I looked and felt great. Then in late 2007 I started having real problems in my marriage (real meaning I had had enough and it was time to get out of that nightmare - divorce). Along with the personal problems I started feeling sick again too and it felt just like a colitis flare up, I was devistated and confused. Come to finally find out after months of being sick I was finally diagnosed with pouchitis and a flare up of Crohn's disease ( also at the time I had pnumonia, a broken tooth that required a root canal and a raging bladder infection - I felt like I was gonna die). So, after I was diagnosed ( this was 2008) I lost my job of 6 years with the county which resulted in me not having any insurance and my husband (with whom I was trying to patch things up with) told me to leave later to find out that he and his best friends wife were getting together secretly and she left her husband for mine (that's alright now, they deserve eachother and I ended up with the best friend - very soap-opera-like, I know). So now I'm living with Crohn's and trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat again, this time I have found that certain dairy messes with me when others do not ( I can eat cheese of any kind, sour cream and cream cheese but absolutley no milk or ice cream- I haven't been brave enough to try yogurt yet) I have been drinking and using rice milk, soy milk doesn't taste as good to me but I'll drink it. I really miss my milk though, I drank it alot and my poor family still offers me ice cream at parties - it's heart breaking. I have recently been gaining weight like crazy, My mom says that it's because I'm happy but I weigh more now that I ever have in my whole life, I'm not loving it one bit. I take birth control, prozac (a throw back from my nightmare relationship and all of the illness leading to my Crohn's diagnosis) and one Crohn's med that is not a steroid, I also have problems staying anemic so I take iron in small amounts, iron messes me up bad if I take too strong a dose. So that's my situation, I am curious to see if anyone else here also has a j pouch and Crohn's like I do.
Thanks. (I think I have typer's cramp)

Hey Bethie Glad you found us here. I can't say that i have experienced what you have but with the ammount of people here i am sure a few have. I hope you can find any info you need and find the help you are looking for. Just a side note, might want to check with your doctor about the birth control thing, make sure some of your meds don't adversly affect the birth control. I have had several friends get pregnet while on bc because the other meds basically made the bc not work... so just might want to look into it. But once again Glad you are here now.

Hi bethie! Welcome to the boards! I've not had any personal experience with a j-pouch, so I can't really be of any help there...But like Mark said...someone on here likely has...it seems like every case of crohn's or colitis is unique in it's own way...

Sounds like you've been through alot in life without having to deal with the Crohn's and colitis, I hope things start to look up for you!

Hi Bethie and welcome!
Wow - partner swap - that's like a movie!
Typers cramp isn't a Crohn's symptom, just a Crohn's forum symptom. I get it a lot now, haha. You might want to give yogurt a try, a lot of us on here seem to have no problem with it. Babies can even eat it before they are allowed to have milk.
I drink soy milk with carnation instant breakfast mixed in it, and the taste is not bad at all. I was never a milk drinker unless it has chocolate in it, so I need it flavored, but the soy is fine. Maybe you can bring your own ice cream to parties? (Tofutti or whatever.)
Welcome again!

Hi, I've never herd of a J pouch so I can't help you there but I can tell you that yogurt has never done anything bad for me, in fact yogurt is my main weapon against flares. May not work for everyone but if you like yogurt and you find that the stuff from the store isn't agreeing with you, make your own, It what I do . You can find them online and just use stevia or honey as a sweetener. I'm sorry about the whole relationship thing, stress seems to bring out the worst in this disease so I try to steer clear of it. I can help you with what you can eat though, though I can't fix the milk thing, milk doesn't like me and I don't like it =P

This is the book where i make all my food from and has kept me off medications for almost 7 years, I hope it helps you

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/beginners_guide/the_intro_diet2.htm