Learn with Comfizz

I get asked by a lot of people about exercising with a stoma, especially yoga. In this post, I will be speaking about my experience from starting yoga altogether post-surgery, so if you have had to step off the yoga mat to have surgery, getting back into yoga isn’t something I have experience of. First things first, yoga is not something I know loads about so what you are going to read is merely from my understanding and experience only. As always, it is best to consult a medical/trained professional before attempting yoga as everyone’s needs and limitations are different.   What are the benefits of yoga? Yoga is said to have many health benefits & what these benefits are can vary from...

So I thought I would do something a little different this week and I have written a few poems on life with an ostomy which you can find here, here and here. Often writing a particular theme can give you writers block especially on poems; this was certainly no different even though I used the acrostic style. Do you remember writing poems in this style as a child in primary schools often around harvest or Christmas?   O – opportunities to be experienced S – support from others T – travelling can become easier O – optimism for the future M – medical marvels Y – years to look forward too   L – less trips to the loo! I – independence regained F – fitness can be achieved once more E – events...

A year or so ago I decided to raise awareness for ostomies (for World IBD Day) by sticking ostomy bags to statues around where I live which you can read about here. The same year I believe I stuck a bag on my carved pumpkin which made for a good talking point for people when they came to our house; this is something easy we could all do and create awareness whilst having a bit of fun. I am going to do that again this year too with some of the bag samples that I didn’t get on with. I also aim to “osto bomb” some of our local places of interest with some decorated bags with ghosts and maybe even a pumpkin...

Having stoma surgery is definitely a big deal, whether for a temporary stoma or a permanent one. There is a lot of information out there that we all get bombarded with pre-surgery especially, leaving a lot of us feeling very overwhelmed and wondering where to start first when it comes to learning all about the stoma world! However, some people feel before surgery especially that they were not provided with enough support/information to prepare them for life with a stoma. Some people also have their surgery as an emergency, so may not have ever heard of a stoma before or actually had that time to prepare! It’s safe to say that you can read up all you like about having...

Many people think once you have an ostomy of any type that you can’t do much afterwards for the risk of hernias. Whilst to an extent that is true the extent being once you have an ostomy you are at risk of a hernia as long as you wear the correct type of support wear (see any of the Comfizz range!) for what you are wanting to do you can do anything even things people would deem as extreme just as these ostomates will show you! For me my extreme since having an ileostomy is going for hikes and hikes where I live consist of miles of moorland and hills! One hill we all call a mountain as it is definitely looks more...

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...

Back in May Comfizz launched their competition to be in with a chance of being selected as a Comfizz Style Ambassador. Having relied on their ostomy support wear since after my surgery, I knew straight away that I just had to enter! To enter the competition, Comfizz wanted you to send in your images of Comfizz “in style”. You could send in as many as you wanted (which I felt helped bring out my creative side more!) so long as you made sure the photos were tasteful, focused & interesting. I sent in a selection of photos showing off different Comfizz garments and enjoyed composing them such as in the photo above. The one I really enjoyed putting together was a “before...

World Ostomy Day is technically every 4 years but I don’t think a single ostomate acknowledges that since we are proud of our ostomies and the life it allows us to have again after being so poorly before them. We should be acknowledged every year just like cancers are and even food days! I just wanted to share a bit about my back story and how I came to get my ileostomy.   I have had my ileostomy for 3.5 years and it seriously is one of the best choices I have ever made because my life has never been better! I have quality of life back, very little pain and of course my beautiful baby Button. I had to fight...

This can be quite a controversial topic for many ostomates (bowel ostomates anyway) whether you can eat nuts or not! I have in fact seen many heated debates on Facebook groups and have even had people arguing with me over the fact I can eat them! Which I have to admit I found absolutely laughable as our ostomies and the diseases that lead us to have them are just as individual as we are!  For as long as I can remember I have had struggles with foods either being trigger foods (yet that took 20 years for anyone to tell me what foods to pay attention too) intolerances, the odd allergy and now foods that affect either my output or...

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...