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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...

How do you feel when it comes to your stoma? Are you loud and proud about it? Do you have an issue with getting your stoma bag out in public? You can believe it or not be both for instance I am very open about my stoma but I haven’t yet got it out at the pool or the beach because I’m not sure how I feel about doing that yet. Which is really odd because I will happily get it out for people or take photo’s with it out but I haven’t had it on show in swimwear. I’m happy wearing crop tops or jeans where the top of the bag peaks out. Part of me thinks that as...

I remember being between a rock and a hard place after having my ileostomy on what to eat. I had next to no appetite and when I did I just wanted all the foods I was a bit worried about. For instance there wasn’t much information out there about eating vegetables with a stoma and I was worried I was going to have to change my diet! So I came up with this soup which I still have in my rotation; normally I wouldn’t share a soup in the summer but the weather has been a bit up and down so I didn’t think it was the end of the world! You know the seasonal veggie packs most supermarkets have?...

So most women who read this and possibly some men would associate the words “mini, midi and maxi” to be with the length of a skirt! Whilst you wouldn’t be wrong the words can also be associated with the size of ostomy appliances. Most of us would automatically think that when it comes to bag sizes there are adult and children sizes but that just isn’t the case. Pretty much all ostomy appliance companies do three sizes as standard for ileostomies at least. These are: mini – the smallest size midi – the medium size maxi – the largest size There are many different reasons why people would choose to wear different sizes at different times such as output frequency,...

We all need electrolytes to keep our body in tip tip condition but did you know that having an ostomy specifically an ileostomy can affect the levels of electrolytes you have? In this post we will have a little look into what they are and what they do! Electrolytes are salts and minerals that hold a type of electricity more specifically positive and negative ions once they are dissolved in liquid; in your body this is your blood, sweat and urine. Electrolytes found in your body include: Sodium Potassium Chloride Calcium Magnesium Phosphate Bicarbonate They help your body do a variety of things such as ensuring your nerve endings and muscles function properly and keeping you hydrated – which those...

Have you heard of the term ‘granuloma’? It is a common side effect of having an ostomy and can be easily dealt with by your stoma care nurse.  Basically a granuloma is your skin healing up on broken skin; they look like little red lumps around your stoma site and some can bleed or be uncomfortable. You can get them from friction caused by your bag or your peristomal skin being sore or damaged. Your stoma nurse can remove these with silver nitrate which can sting a bit but it shrinks them down to nothing over a short period of time. It is a very similar treatment to what they use for warts. I had a couple of granulomas when I...