LARS. Any tips?

[taexali]

For males 60+ with LARS here’s what I did:

Cut back on food and reduce it to the absolute minimum to survive.

If that fixes it, then slowly add back foodstuffs gradually to find the food that causes LARS problems and simply avoid eating it.

I cannot overeat no matter what my diet is: I must always be slightly hungry.

To disobey and even slightly overeat is taking a risk: welcome to the latrine!

If cutting back doesn’t fix the problem, and you end up living on Ensures, or an equivalent nutritional drink, then you’ll have to talk to a gastroenterologist.

I feel you pain.

[sfok09]

Can I ask how a bidet give enema? Does it get water into the rectum/ colon? I thought bidet only irrigates the outside surface of the rectum...

Hi Bianca, I hope you had a great time in France! It's now been a year since DH's reversal, so what it is is likely to be what it will be.
He's eating and drinking what he wants, because food and wine are such a joy for him, and there doesn't seem to be anything specific that will trigger bad episodes. If you don't already have one, I would HIGHLY recommend a bidet. We installed a rather fancy one and DH can do warm water enemas daily; it's been working really well for him.
Another thing: his rectal surgeon recommended that he takes 20-25mg of soluble fibers daily, so for months, DH gobbled Metamucil gummies. But while we were in France this summer, he reached a point where he just couldn't fathom eating one more, so he completely stopped, and... His LARS suddenly got way better! He's always got Imodium with him, just in case, but overall I'd say he's able to live a fairly normal life, and people who do not pay close attention don't notice anything

[claudine]

So sorry sfok09, I'm only seeing your post now. Well, I can't tell for sure because it's my husband who's using it (and it's a very private topic), but from what I can read online, some bidets have that function, and I believe ours does. I'm sorry I can't be more precise!

[Bianca10]

So sorry sfok09, I'm only seeing your post now. Well, I can't tell for sure because it's my husband who's using it (and it's a very private topic), but from what I can read online, some bidets have that function, and I believe ours does. I'm sorry I can't be more precise!

Claudine! Long time! How is everything going?
How is your husband doing? Is he still on maintenance. Chemo? Xx

[claudine]

Hi Bianca! Yes, still on maintenance Xeloda/Avastin, still stable. Actually his most recent scan showed that the one iliac lymph node that lit up a year ago appears to be "resolved", which is good news. There's still a mix of necrotic/lytic tissue in his vertebrae, but that hasn't changed for a while. He's tolerating treatment reasonably well - fatigue (not enough to keep him from working too hard), and hand-foot disease (I massage his feet with a moisturizing cream every night). He turned 58 in November, and he was diagnosed when he was 51, so we can count our blessings
Thanks for asking! I hope things are good for you, too XXX