Make sure your clothes are not too tight around the bag. You may need to be careful that waistbands do not rest below the stoma restricting ability to drain into your pouch. Depending on stoma placement, you may feel more comfortable with high- or low-rise waistband items, like underwear, jeans, or activewear.
High-waisted pants, shorts, and skirts cover your stoma and provide full coverage over your pouch. Make sure your pants or skirts fit comfortably over the pouch, but aren't too snug. If the bottom is extremely tight, it may block outflow from filling the bag and cause a bulge or leak.
Wear a pair of low-rise denim jeans or khakis with your favorite patterned shirt! Your pants will support and hide your bag, while a nice patterned shirt will draw attention away from your stoma.
If your stoma is near your waist, avoid tight pants, skirts or belts that sit directly over the stoma. You may feel more comfortable wearing pants or skirts with a higher or looser waistband, or with an elastic waistband.
There are specialist stoma underwear, swimwear and clothing companies that produce clothing for people with stomas but this is not necessary to purchase or wear – your usual clothing should be suitable.
You might be entitled to some ostomy underwear, waistbands, and support belts on prescription, so do check with your stoma nurse. I mainly stuck to wearing tighter vest tops underneath whatever I was wearing in the colder months. During the summer I wore tights over my bag, or skater style dresses.
Wearing multiple layers of clothes can also help to minimize the visibility of a pouch. Swimming is often a concern, as those with ostomies feel that the pouch will be highly visible under snug bathing suits. Again, choosing a bathing suit with dark colors and/or a pattern will help to conceal the pouch.
Bending. It's near enough in possible to do gardening without having to bend down. This is fine, but you can bend down in a way that reduces the risk of injuring your stomach muscles and stoma area. For example, rather than bending over at your waist, try bending down slowly at your knees.
Sit-ups and crunches can be uncomfortable with an ostomy bag, also called a stoma bag. They also put strain on your belly area that could raise your risk for a hernia. Try gentle alternative ab exercises like pelvic tilts or knee rolls instead.
You can bathe or shower with or without wearing your pouching system. Normal exposure to air or water will not harm or enter your stoma. If you're showering without your pouch, remove the skin barrier too. Try to create a routine that coincides with when you're due for a pouch change.
Leggings and cosy jumpers
Top tip – high waisted black gym or yoga leggings are insanely comfortable, flattering and supportive. Pair them with a nice cosy top half that you can wear tucked in or baggy (for those comfier times or to disguise a filling bag).
Body contact during sex will usually not hurt the stoma.
For example, women may consider wearing open panties, “teddies,” intimacy wraps, or a short slip or nightie. Men may consider wearing a wrap or cummerbund around the midsection to secure the pouch. You can buy many types of pouch covers or you can make your own.
You empty the urine by opening a valve on the pouch and drain the urine into a toilet. At night, you can attach a piece of flexible tubing to the drain valve on your pouch to allow urine to flow into a night drainage unit while you sleep.
The best position to sleep in when you have a stoma is on your back, or on your side. If you prefer to sleep on your stomach, this will be fine at the beginning of the night but increases the chances of leaks as the night progresses and your bag fills.
Can I lift weights with an ostomy? The short answer is yes, but only with your doctor's approval. Even then, it's important to start back into physical activity slowly with a colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy.
Skin irritation around your stoma is usually caused by leakage from your ostomy pouch and the output from your stoma getting underneath the adhesive and onto your skin. It is uncomfortable and can stop your pouch from working well. The skin around your stoma should look similar to the skin on the rest of your body.
One major issue to watch out for with a stoma is the laxative effect of some chocolates. The caffeine and fibre within the chocolate can increase the rate of motility (which is the contraction of the muscles in the digestive tract that encourage bowel movements).
Once home, avoid strenuous activities that could place a strain on your abdomen, such as lifting heavy objects. Your stoma nurse will give you advice about how soon you can go back to normal activities. At first you will pass wind through your stoma and then, usually within 2 or 3 days, you poo through it.
You may wish to keep your clothing loose for the first couple of weeks, because your tummy may feel uncomfortable. But the good news is that in a few weeks, you should be able to wear your usual clothes. Wearing tight-fitting clothes will not affect your stoma.
It's always a good idea to empty or change your stoma bag before you go to bed as it will help to prevent your bag from filling up too much overnight and disturbing your sleep. A full stoma bag is always at risk of leaking and that's not something you want to experience during the night.
The recommended sleeping posture is either on your back or side. For side sleepers, resting on your ostomy side shouldn't be a problem. If you want to sleep on the opposite side, place your pouch on a pillow so the bag isn't weighed down and pulling away from your abdomen as it fills.
After having an ileostomy, you should avoid foods rich in insoluble fiber (bran-enriched breads and cereals, certain fruits and vegetables, legumes, and dried beans) and eat more foods rich in soluble fiber (oats, rye, barley, apples, bananas).