To keep a stoma clean, wash hands thoroughly, gently clean the stoma and surrounding skin with warm water and a soft cloth (avoiding oils/fragrances), pat completely dry, and then apply a new pouching system, ensuring the skin is dry for good adhesion; always wash hands after handling.
How often should a stoma be cleaned? A stoma should be cleaned each time the stoma bag or pouch is changed.
Don't use baby wipes, oils, and lotions on the skin around your stoma. These can make it hard to attach the pouch to your skin.
It is fine to have a bath or shower with your stoma bag on, if you prefer. Remember that the adhesive is designed to actually stick more tightly when exposed to water, so it may be better to change your bag before you bathe or shower.
You may want to avoid certain foods that are difficult to digest and may cause blockages, such as nuts, fruit and vegetable skins and corn. Most people can return to their normal diet. If you have any concerns, speak with your doctor or stomal therapy nurse and they can refer you to a dietitian.
Most people with an ileostomy use drainable stoma bags that you empty down the toilet. You empty them when they are less than half full. This is usually around 4 to 6 times a day.
Always change or empty your bag before going to sleep. If your bag overfills at night you are at risk of a leak.
What are the Most Common Stoma Complications?
supplied with soft dry wipes to clean the stoma and the surrounding skin. If you obtain your prescription from other sources, you may choose to use toilet paper or kitchen towel to clean around the stoma. If you do use either of these, make sure you only use white, not coloured, paper or kitchen towel.
Wiping Front to Back
If you don't have any physical limitations preventing you from reaching around your body to wipe from front to back, it's generally considered the safer route to go. You'll be moving feces away from your more delicate parts, lowering the risk of infection.
The most common signs of a peristomal skin infection include:
It can help to try different sexual positions that shift weight away from your stoma, supporting yourself with a pillow, or using lubricants. Some men experience difficulties keeping their erection after their ostomy surgery due to damages to the nerves.
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.
Achieve a secure seal:
If your stoma is level with your skin, located in a skin crease or fold, or is still healing after surgery, you may need to use a convex skin barrier to help prevent leakage. There are different formulations of convex skin barriers to suit your skin type and stoma output.
Aim: Anecdotally, many ostomates believe that eating marshmallows can reduce ileostomy effluent. There is a plausible mechanism for this, as the gelatine contained in marshmallows may thicken small bowel fluid, but there is currently no evidence that this is effective.
Disability is not about whether you can walk a certain distance or have fully functioning limbs. Whether or not you feel disabled or class yourself as disabled, in the eyes of the law living with a stoma does class you as having a disability.
Most stoma bags have a filter which incorporates a deodoriser, so odour shouldn't be a problem.
Medical studies show that for many people, life expectancy with colostomy bag use is nearly identical to those without one, particularly when the underlying cause is non-fatal or successfully treated. Survival rates vary when cancer is involved. But many individuals live for decades post-surgery.
Adele Roberts. A well-known BBC presenter and former star of Big Brother, Adele Roberts got a stoma bag after having surgery for bowel cancer.
You may choose to avoid foods if you notice an issue. You may choose to try pro-biotic yoghurts or adding a drop of peppermint oil or charcoal tablets to reduce wind. There are many air fresheners that you can use in your bathroom to keep it fresh after a change. These range from sprays to aromatic oils.
You can try eating these foods to reduce your faecal stoma output: Starchy food such as white bread (white sourdough can be a healthier choice), white rice, pasta, noodles or peeled potatoes. Easy to digest fruit such as ripe banana, melon, peaches, mangoes or tinned pears.
Having diarrhoea will often mean that the stoma bag needs to be changed much more regularly than usual. This can mean that you go through supplies much quicker and also lead to irritation of the peristomal skin.
There is no reason why you can't eat pizza with a stoma. Just consider what toppings you are having on your pizza and their potential to cause odour, for example cheese.