Stoma blockage bloating and swelling in your tummy. tummy cramps. a swollen stoma. nausea or vomiting, or both.
Speak to your stoma nurse if you have cramps, feel nauseous or notice swelling around your stoma. They may recommend avoiding solid foods, massaging your tummy or having a hot bath. In more serious cases, your bowel could burst (rupture), and you may need further surgery.
Some common complications of stoma include poor siting, parastomal hernia (PH), prolapse, retraction, ischemia/necrosis, peristomal dermatologic problems, mucocutaneous separation, and pyoderma gangrenosum. Each will be discussed separately in further detail.
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.
Loperamide (Gastro-Stop) capsules can be used to further slow ileostomy output. If you see unopened capsules in your stoma output, try opening the capsules and taking the granules with food or fluid.
For people with a stoma there is the same chance of catching a tummy bug like anyone else. If you are experiencing a profuse amount of loose, offensive smelling stools and are experiencing tummy cramps try to keep well hydrated and rest.
If there is no output from your stoma, and you are not nauseated or vomiting, stop eating solid food and only consume liquids such as juices, warm broth or tea. Take a warm bath or shower to relax the abdominal muscles. A heating pad placed on a low setting may be helpful to relax the abdominal muscles.
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.
Your stoma output will decrease, stop altogether or may contain large amounts of watery fluid. You may experience pain. You may feel or be sick.
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.
Aside from physical impact (a hard fall, etc.) your bag bursts because of excessive gas accumulation.
Living with a stoma is a challenging situation for various reasons including uncontrolled gas passage through it, odor, diarrhea, and leakage around the stoma or appliance. It would take several months for the patients to adjust to this difficult time.
The first sign of a stoma infection may be a pus-like discharge, unusual swelling, increasing redness, or color changes. Some may notice an abscess or an ulcer. A Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse (WOCN) or your doctor will be the best source for medical advice on this issue.
When the skin becomes infected it can start to look inflamed and the infection tends to cause some swelling around your stoma. The skin colour often changes from a healthy pink/reddish colour, to pale, bluish purple or even black. If there is any discharge of blood or pus this is often a definitive sign of infection.
Get medical help right away if: Your stoma has turned purple, brown, black, or dark red. Your stoma won't stop bleeding. You haven't pooped into the pouch for several hours and you have nausea, belly pain, or you're vomiting.
You must still include fibre in your diet. Choose some foods from the following list daily: Wholemeal bread. High fibre cereal e.g. Weetabix, porridge.
Ballooning occurs when your stoma bag blows up with wind. This is usually due to the filter becoming wet or blocked from stoma output. This can cause the bag to come away from the body. Please note: Stoma ballooning can happen with a colostomy or occasionally with an ileostomy.
Stoma blockage
bloating and swelling in your tummy. tummy cramps. a swollen stoma. nausea or vomiting, or both.
When the skin barrier isn't properly adhered to the skin to create a seal, your ostomy can leak odor, gas, and even stool or urine under the barrier.
Taking a Skin Break
Many people enjoy leaving their skin uncovered for 15 to 30 minutes after taking their pouching system off. This is called a skin break. Taking a skin break can help with irritation or keep it from happening. You can decide if you want to take a skin break.
It occurs when the blood supply to/ from the stoma is impaired or interrupted, resulting in partial or complete stoma tissue death. As blood flow and tissue perfusion are essential for stoma health, deficient blood flow to the stoma will lead to necrosis.
Eating and drinking directly before bed can cause your stoma to be more active overnight and will result in a full bag. If you find that, regardless of what you do, your stoma is very active at night, you can try taking something like Imodium to slow down your output.
After ileoanal pouch surgery is complete, the temporary stoma is closed. Stool and gas will leave your body through your anus, as they did before surgery. At first, you will have more frequent bowel movements, up to 15 per day. You may have mild bowel control problems and may need to wake up from sleep to pass stool.