Alternatives to Cipro for Pouchitis?

Hi there,

I'm a 40yo woman who grew up with UC. I underwent j-pouch surgery about seven years ago and have been prone to bouts of pouchitis since, typically closer to when my period is due. Sometimes I can head it off with rectal foam, but sometimes I have to go the antibiotic route and I just find Cipro and its potential multitudes of long-term side effects so terrifying. I know folks also use Flagyl and I remember using it as a teenager without issue; however, since losing my colon and rectum my tolerance for antibiotics has shifted dramatically. I can no longer tolerate amoxicillin, penicillin, or Augmentin and my docs are wary of the potential GI side effects of Flagyl so they always urge me back towards Cipro.

I'm wondering if anyone has had luck with any other courses of treatment for pouchitis? Or if anyone else with a generally poor tolerance for common antibiotics has tolerated Flagyl well? I would really love to have a better go-to when I start to notice pouchitis symptoms kicking up (pressure in my pouch/false feeling of needing to go, more active at night, what should be a fart becomes a Hershey squirt, the feeling of anal leakage as well as butt burn which I thankfully rarely experience).