Stoma bag disposal

Hi Bev,

Welcome to the forums! Hope your Dad is making a good recovery from his surgery. We all have to discover what suits us best for the disposal of our waste, so I'm sure you will get several ideas! I originally went out to the bin outside each time I changed my pouch as I didn't want that in the house! But it wasn't long after doing that that it felt I was in and out to the bin all the time. Other folks gave me good ideas and I went with the nappy bin. After a while I found that using it just wasn't for me as I seemed to constantly be emptying the bin out into the bin outside. I bought a simplehuman bin for the bathroom, and as the pouches are disposed in de-odourising bags, I found that has been the best option for me. It also helped on a psychological level as the nappy bin was a constant reminder of my stoma, yet the simplehuman bin is so ordinary it makes me feel ordinary too!

Hope you find the ideal solution for your Dad - it will all be trial and error!

Linda :-)

Hi Bev

My welcome also to the stoma group.

Disposing of soiled bags can either be in the household waste or some local authorities would prefer that the bags are placed into a yellow bag which they supply and collect for incineration.

We all have our ways of disposing with the bags and my chosen method is to put all the waste into disposal bags that are supplied with my monthly order but my supplier also supplies me with thicker bags that I place the scented bag into and seal it up, everything goes into the domestic waste bin immediately and I must admit I've never been troubled with odour.

I am assuming here that your dad has a colostomy and is using a closed bag which means changing everytime it is full but this can be avoided by changing over to a drainable bag where he just empties the contents down the loo and reseals the bag,  under normal circumstances in a short while he might only change his bag once a day which could avoid using a simplehuman bin, as Linda suggests, indoors to keep everything ready to go in the domestic waste.

There is no right way or wrong way to get rid of the bags it is all individual preference and comes about by trial and error.

Again assuming that dad has a colostomy there is another option he might like to try Aura Flushable. It revolutionises disposal because he can flush the inner liner, flange and waste straight down the toilet, leaving only the clean, soft outer cover for disposing in the domestic waste at his convenience..

I am sure with trial and error he'll come up with solution that he is happy with but hopefully when he has his reversal the problem will be short lived.

Ian

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! My apologies for not replying sooner, but as you can imagine, things have been a little bit tricky at home for the last week or so, I'm absolutely exhausted! Still, Dad seems to be getting along with his stoma better than I think even he had thought he would. It's a loop Ileostomy, so he has open bags that he can empty several times a day, and then change every day or two. So far, so good, I think it may have been a knee-jerk reaction of mine to be panicky about how best to dispose of the bags, as they're just going into our normal bathroom bin at the moment (in their own disposal bags of course), and we'll be getting some kind of sanitary bin for long-term. Dad's stoma team have sent him some different bags to try, some transparent, others not, etc, and he'll work out what he likes best.

THank you SO much for your warm welcome, I dare say I'll have more questions as time goes on. For now though, I'm very proud of my Dad and how he's adapted to his new life.

Bev x

Hi Bev,

That is so good to hear that your Dad is getting along better - it's always such a daunting prospect at the beginning of life with your stoma! It's amazing how quickly we can adapt to this major change, but we do adapt!

Take care,

Linda x :-)