Drink sports drinks (such as Gatorade or Powerade) and oral rehydration solutions (such as Pedialyte). These drinks will help replace your fluid loss quickly, especially if your ostomy output is high. A high output is more than 1000 milliliters (about 34 ounces) per day.
Keeping hydrated is an important aspect of living with a stoma. For many people it is just making sure you are drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day. You should try to drink 6-8 glasses of water each day along with any other drinks such as tea or coffee.
It is important to avoid carbonated and caffeinated beverages, which tend to cause irritation, gas, and bloating, leading to discomfort. Decaffeinated tea and coffee are both safe to drink.
Sip on Fluids
Drink beverages 30 minutes before or after your meals. Drinking more than 1/2 cup of fluid during meals can cause food to move too fast through your digestive tract. Sip on drinks slowly. Sip on oral rehydration solutions to replace fluid and electrolyte losses.
Stoma dietary tips for the early days
It is important to increase your intake of calories, fat and protein to aid your body's healing process. In addition to your normal diet, you should look to include the following foods: Full fat milk and cheese.
Coffee and tea are fine, but as with anything else be aware of any reactions in your digestive system. Carbonated drinks in general can cause gas. Beer can cause the output from the ostomy to become more liquid.
Choosing the right fluid is also an important part of staying hydrated and your dietitian/stoma nurse will discuss this with you. Fluids such as water, coffee, tea and juice are generally fine.
Drink oral rehydration solutions throughout the day. (recipes for oral rehydration solutions are below) • Water, tea and coffee can increase your output. Oral rehydration solutions will help to replace the fluid and minerals (sodium and potassium) lost in high outputs to prevent dehydration and help absorb the fluid.
It's best to eat mostly bland, low-fiber foods for the first few weeks after your surgery. Bland foods are cooked, easy-to-digest foods that aren't spicy, heavy, or fried. Eating bland foods will help you avoid uncomfortable symptoms, such as: Diarrhea (loose or watery bowel movements)
* For the first 3 to 4 weeks after your surgery, don't eat more than 1 small ripe banana per day. Eating too much banana may cause an ileostomy blockage.
Stoma Pouches with Medical Grade Manuka Honey
The inclusion of medical grade Manuka honey in the flange may help to promote healthy skin around the stoma.
Foods that are reported to help thicken the stoma output include apple sauce, bananas, buttermilk, cheese, marshmallows, jelly babies, (boiled) milk, noodles, smooth creamy peanut butter, rice, tapioca pudding, toast, potatoes and yoghurt.
Fizzy drinks will increase the amount of wind that you pass in your ileostomy or colostomy pouch. It is likely to make your stoma more vocal and can cause ballooning of the pouch. To reduce this avoid fizzy drinks or drink them in moderation.
Coffee and tea are fine, but just like other foods, be aware of any reactions in your digestive system. Carbonated drinks may cause gas. Beer can cause the output from the ostomy to become more liquid. You can drink alcohol.
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.
It's especially important to keep the skin around your stoma—called peristomal skin—clean and healthy. This helps avoid irritation, infection and potential complications. You'll need to clean around your stoma whenever you change your pouch. The key is to be gentle.
What does this mean? If your stoma output is loose and watery for more than 24 hours nutrients, electrolytes (eg. Salt) and fluid are not absorbed properly.
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.
Raw vegetables, including salad e.g. lettuce, celery, raw bell-peppers and spring onions. Hard to digest vegetables, including beans like butter beans or green/runner beans, sweetcorn, peas, mushrooms, cabbage, brussel sprouts, spinach, kale and spring greens.
Foods that are reported to help thicken the stoma output include apple sauce, bananas, buttermilk, cheese, marshmallows, jelly babies, (boiled) milk, noodles, smooth creamy peanut butter, rice, tapioca pudding, toast, potatoes and yoghurt.
Colostomy diet after surgery
Each person is different so no precise information is possible, but immediately after surgery it is normal to take sips of water (if there is no nausea). As this is tolerated, increase gradually to any type of fluid, including tea, coffee, soup and jelly.
Fibrous foods are difficult to digest and may cause a blockage if they are eaten in large quantities or are not properly chewed, so for the first 6 to 8 weeks after your operation you should avoid fibrous foods such as nuts, seeds, pips, pith, fruit and vegetable skins, raw vegetables, salad, peas, sweetcorn, mushrooms ...