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Ostomy is a tried and tested way to manage your waste excretion in case you are unable to do it through the natural bodily mechanism. But for many years, #ostomates remained worried about what would follow the ostomy surgery. I am talking about carrying the bag which collects urine or stool. Concealing that bag under the clothes is not something very difficult, but leakage and odor had really been the real concerns.
An ostomy mainly involves collection of bodily wastes through a #stoma which appears through the opening made in the abdominal wall. This stoma has to be exposed to the bag’s inner chamber where the stool or urine has to go. Leakage, which can also result odor emanating from the person with ostomy, can be quite a concern here. Aside from the odor, this leakage can cause irritation in the peristomal skin, skin around the stoma. The immediate disadvantage of this irritation is continuous pain and the ostomate’s overall inability to ensure better adhesion between the pouching system and the skin where pouching system has to be attached.
Thankfully, modern technology has been able to address this issue in quite an effective manner. If you talk about the supplies that were available a decade ago, you may argue their about inability to help you with the better ostomy management in a post-surgery scenario. But it is not the case anymore. You can manage your ostomy in much better way today. Modern technology has surely been very helpful but it has only a partly contribution to make in a case of successful ostomy management. The other half that you are going to have to work on is to make sure that you stay in contact with your ostomy care nurses. They are people who are equipped with every bit of information which you can use not only to prevent any issues with your ostomy but also to bring back things to normal in case you have got affected by any problem that tends to make the ostomy management a difficult affair.
The big reason why you need to consult your ostomy care nurse to get your #ostomy related issues addresses is that there are too many supplies available out there; and you don’t really have an idea what works best for you. For instance, there can be different pouching systems available for colostomy management; and each of those systems works in a specific way to benefit a specific type of colostomy case. Surely you don’t want to get confused here. All you have to do is to call your nurse for an appointment and ask them what solution will be the most suitable for you.
A very important part of your ostomy management is to have good knowledge about the suppliers from whom you can get your supplies shipped at your doorstep. That’d be great if there is a physical store nearby your residence. You can walk into the store and look through different options to pick one that is suitable for you. But adequate information about the suppliers can be more useful for you because it can give you the peace of mind while traveling away from your home.
#health
Peristomal skin complications can be more than irritating. That is the reason that #ostomates need to take care of #peristomal skin to keep it from getting infected due to the contact of #stomal output. But that doesn’t mean that caring for this part fo the skin should be a full time job.
In this article, we are going to talk about the ways you can ensure better ostomy skin care without consuming too much of your time on this practice.
Keep it simple
No other cleaning agent is as effective as water when it comes to peristomal skin cleaning. Make sure that you wash your hands before and after the pouch change. If you must use soap, make sure that it is without any lotions or cream because such ingredient-rich soaps can leave residue on the skin. This residue can turn out to be counterproductive for your skin because it makes adhesion almost impossible.
Ostomy skin barrier with ceramide
Ceramide for the skin is just like mortar is for brick wall. The main purpose of ceramide is to keep the cells in outer layer of the skin together. In other words, ceramide is an effective product that can help you ensure better health of your skin. A layer of ceramide on the ostomy pouch barrier’s side that has to go against peristomal skin can help you make sure that your peristomal skin remains safe and healthy while the ostomy pouch is attached.
Be proactive about persitomal skin complications (PSCs)
It is quite unfortunate that most of the people do not consider peristomal skin complications something worth paying attention to. They consider it a part of the #ostomy they have. Well, the simply suggestion that we can state here is that no matter how meager the PSCs may look, you are going to have to take them seriously. These complications can cause longer hospital stays because they can impact the quality of life in the same way the severe health conditions like cancer and heart problems do.
Replace the bag when you feel itching
An itching sensation in the peristomal skin area might now show any visual signs of irritation in the area, but it can be really bad idea to let this itching turn into something painful. This itching may be a sign of minor leakage. The immediate action to resolve this problem is to quickly change your pouch. But before you put on a new pouch, ensure proper cleaning of the area.
Bloating or accumulation of gas in the ostomy bag can be one of the significant disturbances for ostomates. It doesn’t only put pressure back on the stoma and intestines but it can be a real cause of embarrassment.
The term bloating refers to the sensation of #abdominal pressure that can increase the size of the abdomen. Abdominal #distention also refers to the same sensation but it results in abdominal girth. About 50% of the patients who complain about bloating also report abdominal distention. We can describe bloating in simple terms as a sensation of fullness, heaviness, and discomfort. This condition can range from mild to severe. While the exact reason for bloating remains unknown, it commonly happens to the patients with IBS (Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome). However, it may be too early to treat IBS as a standardized reason for bloating.
Ballooning refers to the accumulation of gas through the stoma into the ostomy bag. This gas, or flatus, is a combination of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. These gasses produce as a result of colonic bacterial fermentation.
While normal gas release may not be an issue for both ostomates and non-ostomates, higher production of these gasses can be quite painful as well as embarrassing, especially for ostomates. Since the bag has to contain #stomal output, letting gasses accumulated in this bag to escape can have a ruining impact on the social life of an ostomate. And if the gasses are restricted from escaping, they can result in ballooning, excess of which can turn out to be significantly harmful to the stoma and the intestine behind it.
That said, preventing gas from accumulating in the pouch can be the best thing an #ostomate can consider. However, this prevention doesn’t refer to allowing the gas to release for the bag. Instead, it involves working on the root cause of it. For instance, a healthy and balanced diet does not result in the production of more gasses in the GI tract. Moreover, the way you eat and your exercising routine also contribute to how your GI tract produces, or not produces, gasses.
One of the most common bad habits that result in the production of gasses in the GI tract is swallowing more air. Several foods and beverages and the way people eat and drink them end up producing gasses, which can fill an ostomy bag like a balloon. Several activities such as smoking, drinking through a straw and chewing gum can also result in gas accumulation.
It means that the food intake and the method of that food intake are the primary contributors to whether or not your GI tract ends up producing gasses. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the food and beverage intake. Furthermore, you need to talk to your ostomy care nurse to get proper guidance regarding how to avoid gas accumulation in your gut.
One of the bigger concerns of #ostomates is the passing of gas or emission of bad odors in public. But the good thing is that the bags available now days prevent the emission of odors thanks to the modern technology. The only time an individual notices an odor is when the pouch is emptied.
Living with ostomy is nothing less than a challenge but then challenges are made to be overcome. All you have to do is to know what to expect and be prepared. In this article, we are going to share a few tips that will help you deal with the bad odor emitting out of the #ostomy bags.
Empty the bag more often
It’s a no brainer. You need to empty the bad when it is one-third to half full. Waiting for the bag to get completely filled with the wastes results in the extra pressure on your stoma and the skin around it. And this pressure can lead to the loosening of seal, making way for the leakage of odor as well as wastes.
You can get help from your ET nurse in learning about the way to change and empty the pouching system. It is worth mentioning that location of your stoma also dictates how often you need to empty the ostomy bag.
Avoid certain foods and beverages
Your diet is another factor that plays an important role in the emission of odors from your ostomy bag. Therefore, you are going to have to keep track of what you are eating or drinking.
One of the most important things to ensure is avoiding the consumption of #foods and #beverages that can result in the emission of odor. The foods that can result in the production of smelly gases in digestive tract are usually the ones that contain soluble fiber and sugars.
Another very important thing that you have to take into consideration here is the proper avoidance of swallowing air. Certain actions such as chewing gum, drinking through straw, drinking carbonated beverages, eating or drinking too quickly, and smoking can result in bad odors coming out of the ostomy pouches.
Use of filer in/on the ostomy pouches
Since stoma is going to be the point of waste excretion, it also becomes the point from where the gases are released. So you can expect your ostomy bag to get filled with the gases which can cause the bag to inflate. It can result in the leakage of gas, causing an odor to be noticed around the ostomate. You can use odor-reduction filter with the ostomy bag to get the gas released in safer and more convenient way.
Ostomate: an individual who has undergone an ostomy.
Ostomy: any of various surgical procedures, as a colostomy, in which an artificial opening is made so as to permit the drainage of waste products either into an appropriate organ or to the outside of the body.
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For the ostomates or potential ostomates out there, swimming with my pouch is super easy. I use a little bit of waterproof tape around the edges to make sure I have a fool proof seal, and that's the last I think about it. I don't know how many hours we were on that river, but I was in and out of the water a dozen times. Had a BLAST. Before my surgery, I would have been a nervous wreck with a fake smile. That smile is for realz.
Ostomy surgery is one of the treatments that tend to change life afterward. Now, it is entirely up the #ostomate whether or not to let that change affect the quality of life. There is indeed a set of things that an ostomate has to take care of after surgery, but this shouldn’t be a reason to turn away from charms of life. Even if you have to carry an #ostomy bag all the time, you can live your life to the fullest.
However, most people think of carrying an ostomy bag as a liability from the perspective of both management and cost. But the answer within this question is that the right management of ostomy, which almost entirely involves timely and correctly using the ostomy supplies, can not only improve the quality of life but also help save costs.
That said, it is worth talking about a few things that you and the people around you should know if you have an ostomy to manage.
Life after recovery
The instant postoperative period might be a difficult one. That is partly due to the immediate change in routine, and partly due to #intestinal diversions significantly disrupting the normal excretory process. But once you recover from that initial phase, you will find it rather easy adapting to the change. This adaptation is what can help you to get back to your normal life.
Costs of ostomy bags
The next big thing ostomates think of is the cost of ostomy supplies, especially bags. It all comes down to the right kind of pouch being used. If you are using a disposable bag, whereas what you need is a drainable pouch, you might end up spending an extra amount of cash. Similarly, the costs of high-quality items may seem high when you are ordering your supplies, but low-quality supplies run out faster, costing you more than what you would spend on high-quality #supplies.
Don’t be shy about your bag
While you do not need to tell everyone that you have got an ostomy, you shouldn’t be shy about telling the people closest to you. That includes your family members and friends because they should understand the dietary adjustments you need to make.
You can always conceal the bag
Most of the new ostomates wonder if they can continue wearing fitting clothes without letting others know about the bag they carry. Modern ostomy appliances tend to remain flat against the abdomen, reducing prospects of the bag getting evident under tight clothes. Moreover, the use of an ostomy belt can help in even better concealment of the ostomy bag.
FOW sent 3 palettes to Haiti and badly need their warehouse replenished, These are from 4 ostomates that have recently passed, Jason and I boxed and labeled it all for shipment today.