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Body Confidence

It feels like it was only yesterday that my Instagram feed was glittered with beautiful photos of ostomates across the world, showing what World Ostomy Day means to them. For most of us who use the platform to document their journey living with an ostomy, its a daily occurrence, yet what is it about World Ostomy Day that makes it that much more special?

Men's Health Week has nearly come to an end (14th - 20th June). Obviously from my blog posts here with Comfizz, you read a lot about how life is for me as a female with IBD and a stoma. It's widely known that women often seem to be a lot more forthcoming in talking our their struggles & experiences in general, let alone with something so personal, so it's been really nice to hear from Neil, Andy, Lee, Sean & Keith about their experiences. Thank you so much guys for being so open & sharing your stories & tips.

Eating out for someone with a stoma can be a stressful or anxious time on it’s own; couple this with going out with someone who either doesn’t know about your stoma or even what one is! I mean until I was sat in a room hearing about surgery at 14 I had no idea what one was, and even then it was only because I was the person the stoma was being considered for! Then we have the current situation where there is the fear of; are you going to be questioned for just using the toilet as we weren’t allowed to just enter the restaurant! Roll on the 17th I can say!  I went out for tea with my...

There are lots and lots of posts on the tinterweb about dressing with a stoma but very few about dressing with a stoma and a bloated or swollen stomach. This is the single biggest thing that I struggle with and sets off my body dysmorphia the most. Hopefully in this post it might give you some ideas on how to help disguise it if it is something that also bothers you. Of course I would love to be the person that sits here and gives you the magic formula to love yourself in your entireity but sadly I haven’t got that far myself yet. However I am trying to gain body confidence one step at a time and I managed to...

Tuesday 19th May is World IBD Day. With this coming up, I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about Comfizz and the impact they have made on my stoma journey. How I got my stoma At age 7 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s Disease can be anywhere from your mouth to your bum, but a lot of people typically have it in the small intestine. This was where it was diagnosed with me. Being scared as a young child of having scopes (endoscopy/colonoscopy & I still am now, I can just push myself through it), I didn’t undergo tests to keep an eye on things as frequently as you maybe would with an adult with bowel...

It is nothing new to hear that I don’t have an issue with my ostomy or the bag or people knowing about it or even seeing it! However something has always stopped me from wearing itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikinis even long before having my first surgery and that is my confidence around my stomach. We all have parts of ourselves we aren’t keen on or society shakes fist have made you feel less than because you don’t look a certain way but it is taking little steps to change your mindest on your body that is often the hardest.  So my stomach always looked bloated and never slim because I was always impacted from being constipated thanks to the then undiagnosed...

Hi Comfizz readers! I’m Amy & I’m 27 from Yorkshire, UK. Today I am going to do a post on 5 ostomy fashion tips & tricks that work well for me. I hope you find some inspiration from this post, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch at hashtagstomabags@gmail.com if any IBD/ostomy questions spring to mind. 1. Comfizz, of course! Since having my ileostomy formed in 2011 I have sworn by Comfizz garments in everyday life. The trusty 10″ level 1 waistband is a staple garment in my underwear drawer & you can tell how much the product means to me by how many I own! The waistbands give me so much confidence to wear the clothes I love, alongside providing...

So most women who read this and possibly some men would associate the words “mini, midi and maxi” to be with the length of a skirt! Whilst you wouldn’t be wrong the words can also be associated with the size of ostomy appliances. Most of us would automatically think that when it comes to bag sizes there are adult and children sizes but that just isn’t the case. Pretty much all ostomy appliance companies do three sizes as standard for ileostomies at least. These are: mini – the smallest size midi – the medium size maxi – the largest size There are many different reasons why people would choose to wear different sizes at different times such as output frequency,...

This week has been Mental Health Awareness week and this years theme was body image so I thought I would talk a little about how your body image can change after ostomy surgery.  I ran a poll on Twitter to see if people’s view changed positively, negatively or was indifferent and I ran this for two days; at the beginning of the poll the majority was positive. This sadly soon changed with negative outlook on the voters body ultimately won. The poll received 73 votes and this is the results: It isn’t the end of the world if you dislike the way your body looks after having ostomy surgery but it is sad that people feel like this when it...

Clothes are pretty much essential for day to day life and they can change your appearance, make your feel more confident and can conceal all sorts of things! I am very open about my ostomy and will let people ask questions or even have a look depending on who they are. Yet I would rather not have it on show; now that is personal preference but also has a lot to do with how much I dislike my stomach and that goes back 20 years. People have often said that I hide my stoma well and they would never know that I had one until I mentioned it. We all have different needs and find things comfortable with our stoma’s...