Learn with Comfizz

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...

Hi Comfizz readers! I’m Amy & I’m 27 from Yorkshire, UK. Today I am going to do a post on 5 ostomy fashion tips & tricks that work well for me. I hope you find some inspiration from this post, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch at hashtagstomabags@gmail.com if any IBD/ostomy questions spring to mind. 1. Comfizz, of course! Since having my ileostomy formed in 2011 I have sworn by Comfizz garments in everyday life. The trusty 10″ level 1 waistband is a staple garment in my underwear drawer & you can tell how much the product means to me by how many I own! The waistbands give me so much confidence to wear the clothes I love, alongside providing...

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...

*Trigger warning* naked stoma in post. September in the awareness calendar is Urology one of the biggies; yet not many people know much about our waterworks and related organs – often this includes me! What I love about the way awareness is raised in this instance is that people affected share black and white photos relating to their specific urological condition. So obviously urostomies are mentioned a lot as well as nephrostomies and catheters. Then there is the range of conditions from cancers to kidney failure. I think the choice of it being black and white makes it stand out from the crowd and I find myself pausing and reading the captions as I’m scrolling through social media. So what is urology and what...

We all have days where our ostomy drives us barmy and we have days where we *hopefully* barely notice it at all, but what things do you know now about your ostomy that you would have like to have known before you went down for surgery? One of my main ones was incredibly vain well to an extent it was and that was I didn’t think I could wear tight fitting clothes anymore. I literally tried on everything in my wardrobe with a bag stuck to my stomach and binned all the clothes I could see the outline in. I wish I hadn’t done that because some of those clothes wouldn’t have mattered with support wear or high waisted knickers....

This is something I have noticed when looking at photos of other ostomates we all have different ways of angling our pouches when we change our bags. I have tried it a couple of different ways and for me personally I like mine straight down or with a slight angling to my groin. It may seem odd for this sort of thing to intrigue me but it really does! Some people wear theirs horizontally which personally completely baffles me and when I tried it I hated it! Whether it was because it made me feel like more attention was drawn to my stomach which heightened my body dysmorphia I don’t know. Also the emptying just doesn’t seem very straight forward! However there...

This is something that a lot of people have mentioned thinking about but haven’t always been comfortable bringing it up. For instance when I had my ostomy training at work someone asked if you could feel it as it produced output. My stoma nurse said no you can’t feel it. Now I guess for the most part that is true because well there are plenty of times I knock my back or look down and think oh! when did you fill up? Yet more often than not I am very aware of my output being produced. Whether that is because it goes from being incredibly thick or being so high frequency I am always on high alert for leaks. I...

So this is my first summer holidays where having both kids at home all the time isn’t the norm as Ra-Ra started school last September. It is also difficult for me because I have become more fatigued than normal due to mental health which is now affecting my ostomy. Being a chronically ill or mentally ill parent or even just a parent (I have plenty of healthy friends who struggle just as much) comes with it’s problems as well as the joy that kiddliwinks can bring. So I thought I would write a little post offering some solidarity. Children don’t amount value to things so they can often want things or do things that you simply just can’t afford at...

Like with most things in life moderation is definitely key and it is even more important in my mind after ostomy surgery. Not just in the healing period but for the rest of your life with an ostomy. I’m not trying to be preachy when I say don’t gorge yourself on certain food or drink but more from experience! When I started to feel myself again after my surgery and for the first time in a really long time I wasn’t in pain any more and food were no longer triggers I literally ate everything I could and as much of it as I could stomach. This wasn’t the best idea in hindsight but allowed me to pinpoint some very specific areas...