Same old!

hi Moria, bananas and boiled eggs ( not together) helped me. Special fried rice also good. Jellies, crisps and marshmellows also help thicken although I know it's an overload of sugar. All root vegetables are good and don't cause issues. Fish is easy on the stomach- and doesn't cause me grief. Coleslaw made with finely sliced turnip instead of cabbage go well with salads. Sounds horrible but in fact is really nice. Stick to the other ingredients for the coleslaw.

Hello Moira - and Ann and KathH2,

Ann, shoulldn't that be 'babbling' Brooke ;-)

Moira, Sorry to see you're having such difficuties; I do know what you mean about sorting it yourself.

Please bear with me if my analogy seems a bit gross but here goes; I hope it helps.

When trying to deal with a blocked soil pipe from loo to sewer one of the big worries is that the pipe has become blocked by a collapse or something that shouldn't be there, like builders' rubble (truly).  If the blockage is 'normal' the rodding will break it up and then you need to be quick with your bucket!  But the relief that you're not faced with sorting a hard blockage makes up for any spills.

Once you know it's flowing it's a case of working out why it got blocked, usually trial and error for different theories.  What gets put into the pipe in the first place is the place to start.

Anyway, enough of that - what I'm trying to say is that given that our systems are 'normal' to the point of the stoma we can treat them that way.  I see Artsie and KathH2 have already set out some great ideas to try, and they are ideas that apply to people without stomas, too - which stops us feeling abnormal.  And that, in turn, adds to the relaxation of knowing that the 'pipe' is OK and should take tension out of our fickle bowels.

The other thing about all this, for me, is that until my system played up then stopped altogether (colostomy two days later as first operation on a Monday) I hadn't paid any great attention to 'what and how much' just 'when'.  Our circumstances force us to take an unusual interest which can itself upset us, in my view- a vicious circle.

I'm really pleased to see that your system has got going again and there are so many ideas for you to try - good luck!          

Hi Ann, Kath and Bagpuss,

Thank you all for your advice and I'm going to try them all! I certainly get the anology about the soil pipe and I'm definitely at the stage where I'm obsessing about the stoma! It's taking my life over! After an episode like last night, the nurses always tell me to eat bland food, which I'd honestly happily do, if it helped! All that does is make me constipated again and then the whole blasted cycled starts again! At the moment I'd settle for just a normal(ISH) bowel movement every few days! Not this endless  worry! 

One thing the nurses have said, is to send a stool sample into GP surgery, incase there's any infection! 

Thank you for all of your help,

Moira x

Trying doing that with a telephone consultation!  (Sorry!)

That's the plan, fingers crossed

Moira x

Hi Three,

I think my husbands problem might have sorted itself out. (fingers crossed!) And, we are thinking more and more that it was fish and chips and all the grease that upset matters. A carer friend suggested he took Movical until things settled down. He only took one sachet and then the stoma worked itself. We find banana and stewed apple (separately) make it work, and until recently have had no trouble with diarrhoea. I wish someone had warned us about rich food. We would never have touched it if we had known. Hope you get sorted.

Hi Ann. 

You mentioned that your output after beetroot was a shock. I find the same, but weirdly only with fresh homegrown. The same with sweetcorn. Only whole corn on the cob caused an issue. I still eat it though coz you need to live dangerously sometimes.

Take care.

Kim

I guess crimson output makes a change from the usual dull brown.   xx

Blackstuff

You EAT sweetcorn?

oh how I miss that. I know most don’t. 
 
Im an Ileostomy and thought the kernels would put me in hospital

I am curious 

Yes. Thats what I think.

Try a blueberry isotonic drink  
The output! …….It’s green 

It shocked me the first week after my operation. 
Blue and yellow make green. Thank goodness I did an art Diploma and I’d learned about colour mixing. 

Gotta see the funny side dealing with this.