Learn with Comfizz
Ostomy Life

Introduction:  Living with a stoma can be a life-changing experience, and finding the right support wear is crucial for comfort, confidence, and overall well-being. Whether you have a colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy, selecting the optimal stoma support wear can significantly enhance your quality of life. In this blog, we will explore the key factors to consider when choosing stoma support wear, along with example case studies that illustrate the benefits it can provide. Understanding Stoma Support Wear: Stoma support wear refers to specialized undergarments and accessories designed to support and protect the stoma, while also providing comfort and discretion. The right support wear can help prevent leakage, reduce the risk of skin irritation, reduce the risk of developing a hernia...

Feeling the Winter Blues? You're not alone. It's estimated that around 2 million people in the UK and more than 12 million across Northern Europe are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), often nicknamed 'the Winter Blues'.

Many ostomates, including Amy here at Comfizz, worry about eating fruit or vegetables, mainly down to its fibre contents. The same can be said for foods such as lentils, beans, tough skins. The idea of having a vegan diet often feels like swearing to ostomates, but there are ostomates out there who are vegan. A vegan diet isn't impossible with an ostomy, but it may take more time and energy to get it right and involve trial and error.

January is self-love month. Self-love means different things to different people but it's based around having a great appreciation for yourself and doing things in your life to nurture this and encourage physical, emotional and spiritual growth. I'm sure, if you're a social media user, that you frequently see social media channels flooded with self-love quotes, mantras and people telling you to "love yourself", but in reality, it often isn't that easy

You may worry about how life will change following surgery. For me I was in chronic pain, living off a ridiculous amount of painkillers, and trying to make it through each day wishing the surgery would come yesterday. I was hoping to be able to reduce the pain killers and be able to walk without being in pain. 

Whether you're new to ostomy life or whether you've had an ostomy for a few years, several years or more, it's normal to come across things that you may find a little more difficult to navigate. It's also normal to also find some things challenge. Not everyone experiences the same challenges but at the same time, no ostomy is the same from person to person. Everyone experiences ostomy life differently.

As Christmas draws near (where has that year gone?!), for a lot of people, it's not about wanting material things for Christmas. It's about time with loved ones, making memories and for some, it's even wishing for things that money can't buy or even wishing for things that don't exist. On that note, Amy is going to tell you what 5 things she would put on her Christmas list as an ostomate. 

Having ostomy surgery can understandably be a daunting prospect and it's perfectly normal to feel scared & unsure.  Today, we would like to be myth-busters (move aside, Ghostbusters) and take you through some of the below myths to reassure you.

You are sore and perhaps bloated from surgery, not feeling quite like yourself. You may be relying on medication, and testing your food tolerances with your new accessory to see what you can and can’t tolerate. With all this in mind, what seemed as simple as going out to catch up with a friend over coffee can bring up many questions: What toilet facilities are there? Do I need a radar key if I need disabled toilet facilities? Will I need to empty my bag there? (You may not have done this in public yet) What happens if my bag leaks and needs changing? Can I have caffeine?

One of the most common questions as you start to adapt to life with a stoma is "what is the best way to sleep with a stoma?" Especially if you were a stomach sleeper before your surgery, even doing something so natural as sleeping can seem quite the challenge! Add hospital nights with beeping machines and being woken up what seemed like a zillion times to get your blood pressure checked and even getting back into some sort of sleeping routine can often take a good while.