Learn with Comfizz
Stoma Tips

This for me is most important. Connecting with other ostomates is what got me through the first few months of ostomy life. I already had a son who’s ostomy I had been managing for 5 years. Despite this, I found having one myself completely different. When I woke from surgery I was almost repulsed by my stoma. That may sound extreme and believe me when I say I am not averse to stomas, they save lives and I asked for stoma surgery. Yet my initial reaction was to be horrified.

Welcome to our Day 7 of our "10 days of self-care" & thank you for putting you first & joining us. Today, we are going to be exploring nutrition and finding out the importance of nutrition with an ostomy, as well as sharing some links to existing blog posts we have on food & drink.

Christmas time can feel overwhelming for a lot of people at the best of times, then there's adding an ostomy into the mix! It's fair to say that you are not alone if you are worried about navigating Christmas, but thankfully, there are some top tips in this post from fellow ostomates...

Now the weather is getting colder, it can be handy to be aware of ways in which the colder weather can affect ostomy life.  See it as your self-efficient hot water bottle, if you like! Providing it isn't a leak and output stays in the bag, see it as your little winter warmer!

It is easy to assume when an ostomy is concerned that it is a messy, dirty situation for those involved! Unless you are not getting on with your ostomy appliance, that simply shouldn’t be the case at all (apart from a leak of course). Keeping your ostomy clean is not only best for you practically whilst you carry on with your day to day life, but as important as your daily hygiene. Your ostomy should be kept clean just as the rest of your body. Put simply, your ostomy is your anus that’s had a visit from Phil and Kirsty and relocated up north!

It is a comforting feeling when your ostomy supplies delivery arrives on your doorstep. After your door shuts, how do you go about organising your ostomy supplies? Do you store them all in one place or have some in different rooms? Are you super organised and label where everything is or do you put them in a drawer and hope for the best? However your organisation style may be, we are going to give you 5 ways to store your ostomy supplies below. 

Hot weather - you either love it or hate it! However, if you have an ostomy, it can cause problems. Hot weather can and does cause problems in ostomy life, but everybody is different and is affected to different extents. Knowing how to handle hot weather with an ostomy and how you may need to adapt your daily routine definitely helps and also enables you to feel more in control. Read on for some tips to help make the heat more bearable!

Having ostomy surgery can, naturally, be so daunting, then you've got all these life elements to think of that increasingly creep back in as you recover, including your sex life. Being concerned about intimacy is normal and you may have questions running through your head such as "will my partner find me attractive any more?", "will my sex life be the same as before surgery?" and "will having sex hurt me?"

If you are new to the ostomy community, one of the first questions that may be on your mind is ‘how long will my stoma bag last?’. Unfortunately there is no definite answer (annoying I know sorry!). It should be changed when needed, preferably before you have a leakage starting and not so long that you see your baseplate start to give way. As you get into a rhythm of your stoma routine, and you establish when it is safe and comfortable for you to change it, it will become as automatic as getting up and brushing your teeth in the morning.   

Travelling with an ostomy for the first time for any journey can be daunting, to say the least. It could be months since you've had your surgery or years, but it's safe to say that whenever it is, it's perfectly understandable to have many questions & worries.