Diet with Stoma

Hi @SH123 and welcome to the board. I’m sorry to hear that your mum is struggling. A stoma can take a few weeks to settle down and the output can be quite erm pungent early on. There are a couple of types of stoma - a Colostomy is formed from the large Bowel and the output can be quite thick. An Ileostomy is formed from the small bowel and the output can be quite runny. 

Hopefully your mum has been allocated a stoma nurse who should be on hand to support her? To start with try plain, high calorie food. It’s easy to lose weight after surgery so add some butter to her mash potato, try full fat yoghurts, jacket potato’s - whatever she fancies really but remember to chew, chew, chew so whatever she eats passes through into the bag easily. The stoma will settle down over time and shrink in size so it’s important to make sure the hole in the bags is a good fit otherwise her skin will get sore. I used to see the nurse fortnightly, get her to measure the stoma and cut a couple of bags and then use the plastic peel off bit as a template. She may find that certain foods can be introduced over time so it’s worth keeping a food diary to see how her stoma reacts to different foods. 

Your mum will be set up with a company to supply her with all her stoma needs and you often find that they have lots of information about diet on their websites. There is also a board on here for Colostomy, Ileostomy and stoma Support. It is a bit quiet at the minute but it might be worth you copy and pasting your post on there or typing diet into the search box and look at previous posts. I’ve attach a link below and also one to the Bowel Cancer uk booklet on eating which has some pages relating to stoma foods. 

I tried a milkshake once with my stoma and it went through almost instantly as did tuna and cups of tea. If her output is very loose then she may to ask the nurse about using immodium. Other more enjoyable ways of thickening the output are marshmallows, jelly babies, wine gums and apple crumble!

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/EatingWell_BowelCancerUK.pdf

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_experiences/ileostomy-and-colostomy-discussions-forum

Hope this helps. If there’s something specific that you’d like some advice on then please don’t hesitate to ask

Take care

Karen x

Hi SH132  I had no warning that I was going to get 3\4 of my bowls removed and had to learn  what to eat .My surgeon told me to eat only easy digestible food as now the food doesn't have as far to tvel any more I was told to stay away from any type of food with fibre in it even brown bread. 6 weeks before I had brown bread .So everything was white only chicken . I cheated a bit a small tin of Cambell condense Mushrooms Soup Over chicken on a bed of white rice. Stay away from any type of food with a skin on it even grapes.  It's amazing what you can make ,no fizzy drinks a little bit more salt than you normally use.. Remember that a Stoma had no nerves so that means that you have no pain  Just phoned my surgeon secretary and she was a great help Hope that this helps you.I had my emergency Operation on the 20\Oct 2020  so far the twins are behaving themselves  (My Stoma Names)

Thank you for this Karen! Those links are really helpful. She does have a stoma nurse but for 1. they've all been off sick with covid recently, they're very lovely but also so busy and 2. I think she is still a bit dazed about the whole thing, it all came so quickly, so sometimes it seems like she hasn't necessarily got her head around whatever they've said. Once its caught up with her a bit hopefully she will be able to have a good understanding of what she's been told but in the mean time, I was thinking it might be good for me to go over the links and make a list of things for her to ask her nutritionist about when they speak next. A food diary is a great shout! And also I don't know how many people need to tell her this about cups of tea before it sinks in but hopefully one more go should do it haha.

Thanks again! x

This is brilliant info, thanks to you and the twins! I think you have a similar situation to my mum because she has been warned against fibre but it's great to hear this might ease off over time. She also didn't have any time to get to grips with it so I think she's doing well considering, just hard to keep someone's spirits up when they're only eating potato and can't go outside! Thanks again! 

Aldan

Just to be clear your twins are called Boris and Nicola??? .

Really makes me smile ! 

Hi SH123 How's your mum getting on? I forgot to say fish as well.At first it was hard as when I made my husband his dinner I felt sick so I had a anti sick pill a day that worked for me. My surgeon d 2 tips for me 1 eat little often my favourite is crackers with cream cheese and a bit of salmon on the top . Now my husband has that as well If the bag is full of liquid get her a bag of jelly babs  they help to thicken things up. You both could get a name for the Stoma (it helps strange enough)  Best wishes from Bonny Scotland .  And the twins Boris and Nicola

They are  not sure which one is in charge at the moment ? My husband keeps asking me what I'm saying in the toilet   I'm taking to the twins Boris and Nicola  ok is his reply .Everyone tells me that you would never know how bad things were  I feel such a fraud not feeling any pain it's so strange..My surgeon remed it and that's why .Thanks to this page it's great that we can talk to people who are going through the same thing as my self  .only thing is that they don't follow-up on their posts

. Glad you are coping well with it all . It’s funny how some people post and you sometimes wonder if they come back and read it or forget ! 
The forum was a real life line to me when my mum was in treatment. It was good to know others understood what you were  facing as a family .

take care ,

Court 

It's been hard some times Court as it is with the majority.,but I have to get on with it.I'm one of the lucky ones .with this horrendous vivcovid we all thought nothing could be worse and then  It changed my outlook on life love to everyone 

Hi Court think I was to quick saying that I was coping well I've now got a Prolapse in one of my twins   It's not been easy  .( It'''s Nicola) hope you are getting there .