Pancaking

Hi The plant fairy and welcome to our group.

I’m glad to hear that your recovery is going well-I also have a permanent colostomy but no barbie butt as I had a different type of surgery. Your stoma will still be healing and settling down in these early days, so please don’t be disheartened. Are you sure your bag is being re measured regularly to ensure a snug fit? 

I’ve had my stomas for almost 5 years and still do get pancaking, but others don’t. I choose to use a very small and neat bag as I prefer it, but for me the trade off is pancaking on occasion and the bag being pushed off.

The stoma nurse has given the usual standard advice to you-most of us would probably suggest something which helps output to slip into the bag-maybe some baby oil? You just need to be careful not to get oil on the seal round the bag or it won’t stick. 

Different types of bags might help, and around my urostomy bag, I  also use strips which go around the base plate to ensure everything sticks extra well-you can also use these around colostomy bags and they are called Brava Elastic Strips which are made by Coloplast. I get them on my prescription as I was having issues with urostomy leaks and they are excellent for reassurance. 

I hope some others will come along and give their hints and tips and good luck with your continuing recovery!

Sarah xx

Thanks Sarah. I'm finding that the key jelly works IF the stoma is active a couple of hours after a bag change. However, if I have changed the bag in the evening and the stoma is not active until the afternoon the following day, all the lubrication have slid down to the bottom and the air is gone, even with the filter covered. Will perhaps try the baby oil and see if that works better. 

My stoma has shrunk a little so perhaps that is a factor - worth checking, though I have a month's supply of bags already cut to size to use up!

I did get some strips (about 10) in my first order so I will try them and see if that helps too.

Thank you for your suggestions!  

The size of the hole is critical to how the bag will work for you-was it recommended that your bags be pre cut? For a long time after my surgery I cut my own, and the size changed fairly often, but after all these years I do have precut bags now because it’s been a long time since anything changed for me.  

If the pancaking becomes a big issue for you, I’d make sure the template is correctly measuring the hole size and then order new supplies if you can-I’d not order pre cut at this point in case there are still changes, but just get the bags and cut them yourself. 

I love the strips, so hope you might find them helpful too. 

Sarah xx

I had the same problems with pancaking. This is what has helped me;

1) watch what you eat... make sure to get enough fiber and stay hydrated. 

2) I use cooking spray inside the bag and some vasoline near the opening. Vasoline tends to "stay" better and not all end up in the bottom of the bag. 

3) I noticed my stoma tends to retract and move into my body just as it starts spewing output. This was causing output to get under my wafer. We switched to a convex wafer which helped a lot. 

4) i use a 2-piece appliance so when I feel it start to stick and not fall into the bag, I will remove the bag and clean the wafer and stoma with water and toilet paper. Much easier than replacing the whole thing. 

At 4 weeks, my stoma size was still changing, so your precut bags may be too large. You might try barrier rings which are like putty and can be molded right up to your stoma. I have a small gap between my stoma and the hole because I'm a bit more oval shaped and the hole is round. The barrier ring fills the gap and prevents leaks. 

Good luck! I hope this helps. 

As an aside, I use the wadded up toilet paper in my bag too. I've never had much luck keeping air in the bag but I keep trying! I've only had my ostomy about 5 months so maybe someone more experienced would know why. 

Hi Susan,

Thanks for that, a few things for me to try there. I know it takes time to find the right products and for things to settle down so I'm not too disheartened. My stoma nurses are great but stoma users can have other tips too, so I find these forums very valuable.