Hi Carrie, as Tim said, welcome... I have a colostomy too but am booked in to have a go at reversing it in March.
I use the dansac novalife mini pouches. I get one box of closed and one of the drainable ones. They are small and discreet and fit well. I have tried most other bags and just keep coming back to these.
I seem to use the drainable ones the opposite way round to others. The doctor says oh do you use them when you have diarrhoea? I don't. Too messy but if I am the opposite way, it saves changing a bag by just opening it up and the poo plopping in the loo. Fasten up and off you go. The dansac have a sort of velcro thing so no clips etc.
Oakmed have a new bag out that has the sticky bit so so thin it's like clingfilm. Its good if you have a funny shape or hernia or anything as it moulds over your shape. I was quite impressed with it and the bag but the adhesive irritated me.
I also tried these new 2 piece bags that stuck on so they were close tou your body and another one that I think was coloplast... instead of cutting a hole out, it was a rubbery sort of stuff that you rolled back and it then moulded itself to your stoma exactly. Great for ileostomists with sore skin I would have thought.
Anyway, I said I would write these down sometime after going to a stoma coffee morning. My stoma nurse arranges them once a year at the local hospital. All the reps from the companies go there and you get goody bags and new things to try. So well worth a visit I reckon as you don't know what is out there until you look. Also the colostomy association have lots of adverts in their magazines and free samples to send off for. Your suppliers should send you free samples too if you ask them.
I think I have tried nearly every bag going now and have come full circle back to my original bag.
Hope you are all doing well... and Carrie, ask anything you like here, we are not shy. Well, me and Tim aren't (we are rather silly though)
Thats interesting Little My, perhaps I should try ordering samples as I have never had the oportunity to try anything else. Do you cut your own holes out. This is where I have a problem as I have bad arthritis so I have my holes cut for me by my suppliers. I understand exactly what you mean about using them the wrong way round Little My. LOL
This might be a daft question but can you get different makes of bag from one supplier? My supplier Charter only seems to do Coloplast bags.
I would try out some samples, you never know you might find something better. I am not very tall, so some of the bags are huge and half way down my legs! so I use the mini ones. If I hadn't asked for a few samples, I would still be wearing huge ones! ask your stoma nurse if they have coffee mornings or anything like that where the suppliers are there, otherwise, get on the internet and have a look. If you are not so good browsing, join the colostomy society and their magazines are full of adverts and free offfers to try things.
Most suppliers do supply all the different makes. I had a look at Charter's website and it does look like they are only a coloplast supplier which is odd as i have not come across that before. Some of them make deals with the hospital. My hospital sign everyone up to Filttleworths. Mind you they are great and I have found no need to change suppliers. They supply any make you want and send you complimentary bags and wipes etc but there are other good suppliers out there too. They are all keen for you custom so ask around. You can go on their websites and ask for free samples.
You can change supplier anytime you want, most of them are pretty much the same, the only down side is that you need to set up your prescription again.
I do cut my own holes but that is beacause my stoma prolaspes and so changes shape. Most companies cut holes for you. Some of them send you a template so you can draw an exact shape for them to cut but all the companies offer a cutting service think.
Do you know you can get spray adhesive remover free? It helps the bags just drop off.
Anything you want to know.. do ask. I'm not shy about all this
