As you all know our diets with our ostomies are unique to us. Although diet usually only affects urostomates with colour and odour it can be a whole different ball game when it comes to colostomates and ileostomates. This means it is important to pay attention to what we eat and no that doesn’t just mean how much we chew; although that is very important in itself!
You may have had your stoma only a few weeks or it may be years before you notice that certain foods can cause you issues. Now as a rule most but in no way all ostomates tend to not eat sweetcorn or mushrooms for the risk of blockages. Now if they are chopped up small I will eat mushrooms but I can’t stand sweetcorn so that is the easiest excuse not to eat the horrid stuff! I learnt pretty quickly that onions cause me blockages, then I learnt on my first Christmas that seafood makes the odour neigh on unbearable (for me) when I was pregnant I learnt new potato skins were a no go (but crispy jacket skins are fine! Go figure!!) recently I have just learnt that potato in any form now causes the output to thicken so much it pancakes about three times in a row. Now this has many knock on negative effects:
- my skin gets sore
- I get tired from lack of sleep
- I use more bags than I normally would
You may find you can eat anything in moderation and be fine or you could limit yourself massively with food out of fear. I suggest trying a little and I mean a little of everything and see how you get on. Making a note either mentally or physically about anything new you have tried. It is like when you start feeding a baby you find out if there are any allergies one food at a time. It can be a slow process but it for many people is worth it as it increases their confidence which hopefully would have a positive knock on effect with the rest of their life.
I don’t know of an ostomate who eats everything and doesn’t suffer a single side effect regardless of how minor it just depends on if it is something you feel you can live with. There are many lists available stating what foods can do what to your output but in reality the only list that matters is the list of foods that change YOUR output! These things can also change in time, like I said it is only recently I can’t eat potato without disastrous effects and I have had my ileostomy over 2 years now, at one point I couldn’t eat raw carrot but now I can – I only learnt that because I forgot and ate it again!
Do you find certain foods affect you in different ways?
Leave a comment