Comfizz Blog
Ostomy Accessories

This week’s topic is on ostomy accessories. Have you ever heard of a flange or tape extender? Banana’s or boomerangs? They even go by the name of retention strips. No? Maybe? Or is it a hard and fast yes you have? Well this little bit of kit can help you in a multitude of tight spots whilst out and about and this post is here to tell you about how I have used them and other people have told me in the past! So what is a flange or tape extender? Well it is more often than not round and is a waterproof sealant or plaster if you will. So you pop them on top of your base plate to...

Ostomy belts! Do you know what they are for? Do you use them? They are something that my stoma nurses remind me about when my stoma is being flush or a bit awkward (which at the moment is more often than I’d like!) The general idea behind the belts is they that help create a sort of vacum which pulls your stoma further into the bag. Every convex bag I have ever tried which is a fair few as part of my ostomy bag roulette series; has some clips on the side which is for the belt to attach too. All of the belts are adjustable and come in varying widths – I personally prefer the wider ones as they cut into...

Have you ever been caught short with your usual product and had to use something different for instance a bag you no longer use but still have some in your stoma storage? This recently has happened to me regarding my ostomy bag and it stems from a little mix up with my delivery company. So we all know human error happens and that is basically what has created a knock on effect along with my hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome being a pain in my non existent ass. The way my hEDS affects my ostomy is basically the bowel (or in my case just the small bowel) uses peristalsis to move the poop through your body to be removed by going for a poo in...

To continue the posts about the different companies and the different products available we will look at Salts Healthcare. This company recently made waves in the ostomy community with their new look Confidence bags. Those waves were due to the colours of the ostomy bag being customisable (to an extent) with your outfit; as you may know many companies have the standard “medical” peachy coloured bags and then Coloplast have the grey coloured appliances but not Salts no they have gone for a skin tone they call stone, a white and a black. They in the last year have become available in a convex base plate which has opened up it’s availability to more ostomates. The bags from Salts have petals on the...

This month’s showcase of companies is Coloplast. This one of the larger companies and has such a large range of products that have the possibility of suiting everyone! I used to love these products until becoming pregnant and my hormones changed that! Darn hormones have a lot to answer for with me!   So Coloplast have a range of accessory products under the name of Brava and they have quite a variety in there such as barrier sprays to seals to ostomy powder. For many people they like these and even if they don’t use the bags they often like these little bits in their ostomy routine. Coloplast have a variety of bags in convex, flat and concave base plates and...

You may remember me moaning about the term accessory on this blog (and other platforms) in the past as we all have different needs when it comes to caring for our ostomies. I just wanted to talk a little about my favourite “accessory” and I would love to hear what yours are! These sorts of posts can often help someone suffering with something that could be easily remedied by adding another step into their bag changing routine.  Yes I have said it before and I will say it again the Peak Medical wedges are hands down the best thing I have in my supply kit. I used to like the Dansac seals before I found these little bad boys and...

I have decided that over the next few months I will talk about a different ostomy supply company and their main product. Sometimes we find that we are sent home with one brand after surgery and it may not be the perfect fit for you. It is completely normal to try other products and sometimes we don’t know about other products hence this mini series. So I am starting with Peak Medical because it is the products I use regularly and personally swear by. I was first introduced to this company the beginning of last year by my stoma care nurse because my stoma is so flush and it has dips and creases sometimes. We had tried a lot of different products and...

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,...

So I absolutely despise the term accessory when it comes to ostomy products, because it sounds as if they are items you don;t always need. Yet to some people certain items become essential to having a good seal or be the difference between their skin being health or sore. On Twitter recently a company tweeted about items being called dependable’s and I just shouted YES (internally of course because no-one else would understand in my house!) sadly I can’t remember the name of the company but when I find it I will update this post. I think the items other than your appliance itself come under four categories and what falls in each category is different for each person because...

Having an ostomy can feel like one thing after another and it isn’t always fun and games. We go through the possible minefields of finding out what foods agree with us and wont cause us blockages to trying to stay hydrated enough. The one thing new and old ostomates often find a struggle is getting the right appliance and routine that works for you. On my personal blog have reviewed all the different bags I have tried over the last three years and the main thing I have learnt is having the right items doesn’t always have to be from the same brand or even the same items each time; I have a bit of a pick and mix going...