Learn with Comfizz
Ileostomy

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.

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. 

Did you know that GP’s in the UK get less than 2 hours training on eating disorders in their medical degree (sourced here)? It’s simply inconceivable. The topic of eating disorders was something I never had to give much thought about until I had my son, yet now it consumes most of my thoughts. Eating disorders awareness week is a chance to share our stories and connect with like minded people.

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...

Tomorrow (Saturday 2nd October) is World Ostomy Day. This post, I thought I'd share with you some stoma facts (thanks to many great resources & my experience). What better time to share some facts than around World Ostomy Day?!

September 4th is #NationalWildlifeDay so I thought I would take this opportunity to talk to you about how my relationship with the outdoors has changed since my stoma surgery in 2011. Rewind to pre 2011 & pre surgery Especially when flaring with Crohn's Disease, I experienced...

For many people with Crohn's, chocolate can irritate the the lining of their bowels. If in doubt, I'd say it's best to avoid it in my experience, especially if you aren't in remission (flaring). Chocolate usually contains caffeine as it's contained in cocoa beans. Foods rich in caffeine can often cause Crohn's to become aggravated. Compared to a standard cup of coffee...

Hey! My name is Charlie, I am 28 and have been part of the Comfizz Team for over 10 years and this is my J-pouch story. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) in 2009 which resulted in me having my colon removed and having a temporary ileostomy (for about 18 months) I will not go into too much detail about this as I am here to speak about my J-pouch. I had three surgeries in total, first one to remove my colon, second one to create the J-pouch and the third one to connect everything together. It was not a difficult decision for me to agree to the J-pouch surgery. I was only 16 at the time and felt...