Poop in bag

hi Beniciam, I squirt baby oil and lemon scented oil ( which your stoma suppliers should send you for free. Rub the oils in the bag so all the insides are coated in oil. This helps me. Also pushing the poo down the bag to the exit helps stop pancaking. X.

Hi Beniciam

Great advice from Kath.

I use baby oil too and lavender oil. 
I flatten and smooth the bag before opening I find this helps gravity. If it’s really stuck a little squirt of oil slips it out. 
I also wash out the opening with a little water , not up to the stoma. This works well for me.  Not sure others do it. Most of the time now I’m oil free  but early days I bought bottles of the stuff I used to use a little of it then empty a good quality lavender oil in and viola I had scented oil  two birds one stone and cheap

Hi Beniciam.

Do you have a colostomy or an ileostomy? This is known as 'pancaking'. As the others have said  baby oil is recommended. Are you drinking enough water? It's important to keep hydrated. If you have a colostomy, your output will be thicker than with an ileostomy, therefore you would probably use closed pouches as the output is too solid to be emptied from a drainable one. Or you might need a different kind of pouch with a different wafer. Maybe contact your stoma nurse for advice.

Good luck.

Kim x

Hi Beniciam

ive just read your back story and you’ve been through a lot. 
Can you tell us what Stoma you have?
You say Bladder and bowel or have I got that wrong. 
Sorry if I have. There’s friends here that have two stoma’s and will have advice on managing Colostomy or Ileostomy they’re different outputs. I don’t want to give you the wrong tips 
I hope that alls well with you 

Keep in touch if you’re having problems there’s lots of advice but they may not have picked you up yet 

You wrote about your concerns for your dog. 
How’s things? 
Take care 

Thanks. I had a radical hysterectomy, femoval of lymph nodes and partial bowel so I have a colostomy and I'm hating it. I feel so unprepared for the reality of living with a stoma particularly at the moment as I also have a catheter still.

My dog is doing okay but doesn't realise how restricted I am at the moment.

Any advice or tips gratefully received.

Hi Beniciam

Thanks.

I think SarahH2 may have some good advice. 
Hope you have good day 

Hi Beniciam

I’m so sorry to hear you are struggling with this, and especially as you still have a catheter which just adds to the stress.

Pancaking can be a real issue with a colostomy, but the ladies have given some good advice about oiling the bag to help it slide down. I do wonder if using a drainable bag is the best one for you as it’s very difficult to use them with a colostomy due to the thicker output. I started off with these because they are what I was given, but have since changed to closed bags which are much easier. Personally I never used to empty the bag via the drainable bottom as it was too difficult. 

I would definitely have a chat to your stoma nurse about trying different bags. The closed bags I changed to are very neat and small and I find them less intrusive than drainable bags. As I changed the drainable bags rather than trying to empty them, it made sense to move to a closed one. They stick better too! It’s extra stress trying to push poop down with a colostomy, so you might find a big improvement changing bags-ask your stoma nurse to get you some closed ones to try. 

Things are hard to begin with, but do get better, especially if you can be more confident about your bags. Do you know when you’ll get the catheter out? It seems a long time to still have one. 

Sarah xx

Hi Beniciam,

My husband had a bowel resection last October, but had to go back in again with adhesions. He was out again in February, and we are still trying to figure out his stoma!! After one bad weekend (after eating fish and chips) we've decided he needs help with constipation. We've tried laxatives which I think are too much, so after advice on here we are trying prune juice each morning. I don't think we have had as much pancaking, and the output seems a better consistency, so far!  I'm trying to ensure he has a sloppy meal and a drier one each day to try and get the consistency right. As everyone says its trial and error. 

He uses the baby oil, after reading on here. We now feel he needs to add a scent to disguise smell. (The very hot weather in the South hasn't helped that recently). We have also found that a convex bag works better on him than a flat one. The poo seems to slide down better. There seem to be all sorts of bags you can try to see which suit you best.

I have found this site invaluable with advice from others who have been there!!! All the best. xx