Dealing with Morning Hangovers from High Output Ileostomy?

Andy, I found that taking a tablespoon of Metamucil before each meal slowed my output down a bunch. I also use Imodium and Gatorade.

Exactly as you described..... Lots of good stuff from everyone else. I'm in the UK so was prescribed Loperamide up to 8 daily (though nurse said they have a patient on 32 daily!) and also Dioralyte. Over a few years, I now rarely need these. I tend to wake around 4 am and make a point of taking on fluid then - usually water or coconut water, then again when I wake at 7 am I rehydrate thoroughly with a mug of tea, a mug of coffee plus water (my stoma is usually still asleep for about an hour after I wake so I get a shower, change, etc. at that time if needed). I do drink coffee.... but if I am dehydrated I find black coffee with a pinch of salt and a little sugar does the trick. If energy levels are low - particularly if the weather is hot and I am out for a wheelchair push or kayaking (either can be 5 to 8 miles!) then either oat flapjacks or Scottish oatcakes with cheese, peanut butter, and marmite plus regular sips of water does the trick in slowing things down for a few hours but keeping me fueled !!!

I have been struggling with dehydration for years as I have an ileostomy as well as a urostomy. One of my Cleveland Clinic doctors recently suggested I try a hydrating product called DripDrop. It has been life-changing for me. It's a bit pricey but well worth the convenience and benefit. I suggest you look into it. I still need my Imodium but I feel better.

Note: This is not advertising.

Regarding treatments for dehydration, a London hospital, St Mark's, puts out a recipe for their own solution as follows. Their website is also very helpful for tips: https://www.stmarkshospital.nhs.uk

St Mark's Solution: Ingredients for 1 litre batch Amount
Glucose powder 20g 6 teaspoons
Table salt (sodium chloride) 3.5g 1 level 5mL teaspoon
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium citrate 2.5g Heaped 2.5mL teaspoon

All ingredients can be bought from supermarkets or pharmacies for less than a single
prescription charge.
The ingredients need to be dissolved in 1 litre of cold tap water
The prescribed amount should be sipped throughout the day
The solution must be thrown away within 24 hours and a fresh solution should be prepared the following day.

Hi Andy,

Lots of good info, as usual... it's a great group of folks here, for sure. All the hydration stuff mentioned, Drip Drop, St. Marks, etc., are all oral rehydration solutions. Whether you buy them premixed or make your own is up to you; they're all doing the same thing. You basically only need the electrolyte sodium for hydration. The other electrolytes contained in the formulations are for other body functions that use those electrolytes. It doesn't hurt to take them, but that's why the price is so high for the commercial stuff. The key to all of them is the ratio of sodium to glucose (sugar) to water. It doesn't matter what you use to flavor it, as long as you keep the ratio the same. The commercial products are very convenient to use, but expensive. You can make your own for pennies, but you have to actually make it. So, your call. I've discussed this a few times on here, so just search 'oral rehydration' and you should easily find all the info you need to make them.

But before we put the cart before the horse... are you sure you're dehydrated? Simple checks include the color of your urine and the amount you pee each day. Darker than a pale yellow indicates moderate dehydration, and the darker it is, the more dehydrated you are. You should be peeing around a liter to a liter and a half each day. At some point, you should check that. You can also check the skin on your hand right behind your thumb. Pinch it with your thumb and forefinger from your other hand, pull it out, and see how quickly it snaps back. If it does so quickly and leaves no line where you pinched... your hydration is fine. If it takes a couple of seconds to fully snap back... you're dehydrated to some extent.

You said you were high output... so when is the last time you ate at night? Being high output, your digestive system will have expelled whatever you ate pretty quickly, and you could be without any nutrients in your gut for some time during the night. When you wake up, is your output all bile... or is there still some remnants of what you ate last? You want to time your last meal so there's always something for your digestive system to be working on. Of course, that means you need to get into a rhythm, so you know when to empty your bag and not have a blowout while sleeping. Depriving your body of any nutrients for any given amount of time will surely make you feel like crap.

On the supplement subject... ultimately, you should be working with a dietician to determine exactly which supplements you need and be tested to confirm that. Most supplements you take that you don't really need will simply be expelled, but they're expensive, as you noted... so you don't want to throw good money away.

So if I were you, the first thing I would do is confirm I was dehydrated. If so, you need to take an oral rehydration solution of your choosing or your making. Second, I'd make sure to eat late enough that there's something in your gut all night and you're not malnourishing yourself (and feeling like crap because of it). And third, I'd get help from a dietician to determine what supplements you need to be taking (easily done by fasting bloodwork) and then verify with testing after a bit to make sure you're getting the proper levels of each and either not missing something or taking too much of something. With all that, you should be feeling chipper in the morning... and if not, you need to look elsewhere to find the issue. Hope that helps!

Regards,

Bob

I'm the same. I live on a 14-hour drip at night, which makes me feel lousy every morning! Bloods done every 2 weeks! I still feel dehydrated, but I'm only supposed to have 500 ml of liquids every day, which is fairly impossible to quench my thirst. I drink decaf coffee or decaf tea, horrible way to live. Not allowed fruit, vegetables, or salad either. I have 2 ostomies as well, which is a nightmare. I used to have Imodium, but it never worked for me. Good luck!

Yes, you're right. I unfortunately have kidney failure, that's why I'm on a two and a half litre drip every night.

The reason I was given is that advertising for companies is against the rules and they inquired if I worked for the company offering the discount. Other than that, I was just trying to save people a little money and especially to those on fixed incomes as some of the ostomy products are fairly pricey.

Hi Fred's mum, just reading one of your comments when you say you are a walker in the UK with an ileostomy. Me too! I had my ileostomy only a few months though.

How much fluid do you drink daily and do you use St. Mark's ORS? Best wishes.