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Stoma Tips

 hopefully won’t have to use this either ever again (wishful thinking) or very rarely but I have spent a good chunk of my life in and out of hospital and I have learnt a thing or two that was helpful for admissions. So I thought for those who may be new to chronic illness I would do a little post on what I do for those just in case moments. I always have a bag packed because if I am in a lot of pain I really don’t want to be faffing about packing a bag, plus since having my ostomy 00Steve doesn’t know what I use – now don’t get me wrong he would definitely grab me some bags but...

Christmas with an ostomy can be a scary thing what with potential visitors, visiting others and the Christmas feast to contend with. However it isn’t something to worry too much over and after your first festive season under your (ostomy) belt you may think to yourself what is all the fuss was about. This is my third Christmas with my ileostomy although the first doesn’t really count as i was three months pregnant and completely off my food. I wanted to share my top tips for “surviving” the festive season with you all – now bare in mind I have an ileostomy so these may not affect you but hopefully at least something is of use! I have in my...

We often worry about what to take for ourselves in a hospital bag for surgery but what should or could we do for those we love that maybe going in for surgery or frequent hospital stays? Last month two of my fellow co hosts of The IBD and Ostomy Support Show have gone in for surgery and even though it is not their first surgery or admission by a long shot it got me thinking what are things YOU can do for someone else? For starters don’t take in grapes! Skins or peel tends not to be so good as you may know for ostomates (except urostomates you lucky devils) but you can get your friend to look into a sort of...

Do you have an ileostomy or a colostomy? Have you come across your ostomy appliance filling up with air during the day but mainly through the night and on waking? You probably have it is where your body omits gas and it collects in your appliance and is often referred to as ballooning. It is pretty much my nemesis along with pancaking as both of these are the only reasons I ever suffer leaks anymore since changing to the Peak Medical Varimate bags. But there are different things can increase or reduce the amount of gas you produce. Now at the end of the day before our ostomy surgery we passed gas the normal way and during the night none of us...

The brains at Comfizz HQ came up with the wonderful idea of running a stoma care clinic right in the the offices where you can not only see a specialist stoma care nurse BUT you can ask all the nitty gritty questions about hernia prevention and support wear from those who know it best! These clinics are such a great idea because so many of us wanting to prevent hernia’s have ostomies. You may not be able to see your stoma care nurse easily or prefer to not be in a hospital setting. The staff at Comfizz are really nice and easy to talk too and I’m not just saying that because when I first had my ileostomy I started...

No matter how far along in your ostomy journey you are I fully believe it is a good idea to have what I call a “go bag” for different situations or reasons. You may have found the perfect routine which leaves you with next to no leaks now which is fantastic but there is always the small possibility something may change be it what you have eaten, the weather or something else. I have a few different bags of varying sizes dotted around the place which mainly gives me the reassurance that I can carry on my day with a clean appliance. So I have in my work bag one full bag change and that includes some underwear! One in...

I more often than not sing the praises of my ileostomy and how it has given me a third chance at life, third time’s a charm so they say right? It really has improved my life and although I have other diagnosis’s to deal with that means I am not as healthy as I had hoped that isn’t entirely to do with having an ileostomy (scar tissue anyone?) So this time I thought I would let people know about the times during the little over two years I have had my red blob and why I get annoyed with it; because I on occasional get really annoyed with it and that is okay. Like I said for the most part...

This is one for the ladies! As we all know our time of the month can cause more hassle than it’s worth, what with the cramps and hormones to name a few. I conducted a poll to see if it was just me that found I suffered a lot since my ileostomy (I got sick before my menstrual cycle started so I know no different with my Ulcerative Colitis and didn’t find it got worse after my jpouch surgery) I broadened the result options as I wanted to see if having an auto immune disease or having something else affected it too. Like I said I was sick before my menstrual cycle started so I don’t know if mine were...

I thought I would talk about how I came to the decision of having a Barbie bum over a temporary ostomy. Now this isn’t as far as I’m aware for urostomates but it is an option for those going for a colostomy or an ileostomy. The first time having an ileostomy was brought up I was 14 and I felt at the time that I had plenty more things I could try before resigning myself to surgery at such a young age, the surgeon was fantastic and accepted that was a fair point but allowed me to keep the option of surgery open. When I decided in 2015 that I needed to do something to get rid of the Pouchitis...