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Stoma Tips

Looking for ostomy education & related topics, helpful hints & real life experiences? Look no further! Browse our blog for support!

Is an ostomy for life?

There is a lot of criteria based on each individual in question going into ostomy surgery, such as your condition/reason for needing surgery. Other factors will play a part in this such as likely quality of life outcomes of surgery, age, chances of complications in surgery and/or recovery, whether the body may just need a rest to heal such as with some Inflammatory Bowel Disease cases where an ostomy may be reversed and whether other health problems may not make a patient a good candidate for future surgery. Every case is different, just as each illness and/or need for surgery is very personal and unique to that patient.

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Can you pee with an ileostomy?

Unless you have had an operation to form a urostomy (where a stoma is formed to divert urine out of the body via the abdomen), you will pee as normal with an ileostomy & the same goes with a colostomy.  Both surgeries to form an ileostomy or colostomy divert bowel waste from the body, not urine. It is also possible for people to have stomas for both urine (urostomy) and bowel waste (ileostomy or colostomy) at once. 

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Sleeping with an ostomy

Through all the adaptions to life you will have to make during your recovery from ostomy surgery, learning how to get a good nights sleep is arguably one of the most important and difficult. Your body needs sleep to heal and mentally you need it to process the trauma of surgery. It may be difficult to start with if you are in some discomfort as things settle down. You have to learn to accept your body in its new state, this alone takes great courage and strength which in turn may be affecting your ability to shut off and get a good nights sleep. 

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Diets and stomas

What we eat before and after can change dramatically however for some people that just isn’t the case and they are most definitely the lucky ones! Over the past six years of having my ileostomy my diet has had to change a few times due to either intolerances or learning that certain foods I could eat now give me blockages or are more prone to allowing my stoma bag to leak. There sadly isn’t a one diet fits all which I often think is a particular shame because it would certainly make my life a heck of a lot easier.  Some people have the added issues of being diabetic, celiac or have a lactose intolerance then there are those who are...

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Get To Know Comfizz Customers - #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay

January 20th is #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay. As a long-standing Comfizz customer myself, I’m sure you have read by now how much I love Comfizz products. In this post, I wanted to talk to other Comfizz customers, get to know a bit about them & what their favourite Comfizz product is & why. Thank you to those of you who reached out to me over on Instagram to get involved in this blog post.

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Returning to Work

For some who have been living with a chronic illness that meant it impossible to continue in a chosen career, it’s simply heart breaking. In 2012 I graduated a Design Technology Teacher, and was excited to start sharing my passion and enthusiasm for teaching and building relationships with students, nurturing the next generation with creativity, and teaching practical skills they could use in the future. Teaching has always been a vocation, not just an occupation. I count myself lucky that I found it as many can go through life not knowing what they want to do. 

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How can colder weather affect my ileostomy?

Hi lovelies! It's Amy here, or as some of you may know me, ibdwarriorprincess on Instagram.  I hope you all enjoyed Halloween (if you celebrate). I decked our house out with some decorations, we had a pumpkin carving night & really enjoyed it!  Now the weather is getting colder, it can be handy to be aware of the ways that it can affect having an ileostomy, especially when it comes to your equipment and skin etc for your bag to adhere to. Before I get started, I'd like to just remind you that this isn't medical advice. This post is drawn from my own experiences of living with an ileostomy & my own research.  Warm output I'll start with this...

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Running With A Stoma - The Race Edition

October was a very special time for me as I entered my first 10K race in Cardiff, South Wales. Whatever possessed me to do it you ask? How many of you who are reading this with a chronic illness have found they can’t be as active as they once were? For me it was like a light switch was flicked and I couldn’t do anything without being in pain anymore. Its debilitating, demoralising and can lead you down a dark path mentally with the mental health benefits you loose over night. My health journey has been quite the fair ground ride.

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