Hi all,
I have had my stoma for about year and half now and was getting on okay, I will be honest and I have put lots of weight on and then secondary bowel to lung so had another major surgery January.
My stoma out put seems to be either normal or like runny lumpy consitancy but it comes out in such large amounts and fast I cannot get to toilet then bag splits, I end up in a right pickle and it's getting me down.
Could it be I need to see stoma nurse as weight gain may have changed the type of bag I have.
Any advice very welcome
Xxxxxx
Bud
Xxxxx
Welcome to the stoma support group, I'm sorry that your first post here is to tell us of your explosion.
Putting on weight can certainly contribute to pouch problems and leakages as the wafer may not be able to adjust to the contours of your body and be weakened.
Fortunately Salts new confidence range have pouches with larger diameter wafers 90 cm or more which means they cover a larger area of your peristomal skin but still allow you to cut out the hole to suit your stoma they also have slits near the edges which can fan out or tighten up for better adhesion and of course they come in multi size for greater capacity.
You don't say what type of stoma you have as both colostomy and ileostomy have different types of output.
With a colostomy, you can have fully formed stools. With an ileostomy, you have liquid or porridge consistency stools.
Is it a new thing that has changed your output with it coming out in large amounts
A normal, mature ileostomy should only make about 1200mL of output each day whilst a colostomy usually only put out 200-600mL/day.
Most ileostomates will empty their bag 4-10 times per day, but some may need to empty more often if they have liquid output.15
If you have a colostomy and wear a closed bag you will most likely change your pouch after every bowel movement – approximately between 1 to 3 times per day, if you use a drainable pouch you will probably empty when the pouch is â…“ to ½ full.
If it is a new thing you should think if you have changed your lifestyle, changed your diet or medication all can contribute towards a change in output.
It would be very wise to contact your stoma care nurse and have a body review to ascertain if a change of pouch with a larger wafer would be beneficial to you and help stop the leaks and also discuss the output amount and frequency with her.
If you are not taking imodium at this time you should consider and discuss with the nurse about starting them, if you buy over the counter you can take up to 6 tablets per day but if your GP prescribes them he can give you a larger dose to start with.
I hope that you get the problem solved quickly and get back to normal. Perhaps you will be good enough to let us know in a few days/weeks what changes the stoma care nurse made and if they solved the problems.
Best wishes
Ian
CC
