Practical Tips for Ostomy Bag Management

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bikerboy
Jun 17, 2010 10:47 pm

Okay, BikerBoy here. In my brief 22 months, I learned a few do's and don'ts of draining my bag. For the faint of heart, don't read any further. These are for home or away. At home, my R.V. is nice; the toilet is like an outhouse. Open the seat, unclip, swing out, and drop. Nice, no mess, wipe, drop, and flush. But in public, there are some different rules. I do a test flush, and if the water keeps flushing, great, same as home, but keep the handle flushing and use one hand to drop. But if the toilet has a tank, you only have a few seconds to drain your bag before the flush stops. Several times the flush stopped before I could drain and got some splash back. Now, when I was a farmer and milking cows, I would occasionally get a tail with crap on it right across the mouth. It didn't taste good then, and it doesn't taste good now either, and it's MY crap.
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So I'm careful to get the timing down now. When out in the wilderness, there are problems too. I drained on a bush once; the wind blew, and the bush, well, let's just say I won't do that again. One time the toilet had a line while at a bar, but there was a urinal open, well, I won't get into that one either. Let's just say the laws of physics change when you have an ostomy.
I have a lady friend who has a drain that hangs down from her bag about a foot. She told me one time while doing business, she flushed the toilet while sitting down, and it yanked her bag clean off. She didn't have a spare (it was in her car), so she took the bag out of the waste basket in the restroom, walked out of the casino, right to her car. Ya do what ya gotta do.
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BikerBoy Greg

Past Member
Jun 18, 2010 12:07 am
Great stories — it's fantastic that you embrace the simplicity of getting on with the enjoyment of this life.
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weewee
Jun 18, 2010 9:59 am

If you look up on YouTube, they have some good ideas, and I liked the one where you put toilet paper down on the water so you don't get splashback of toilet water, and it has worked for me. Since we sit on the pot a little differently because we still have our pants up while doing our number 2, it doesn't splash back unless you don't use enough paper.

beatrice
Jun 18, 2010 7:19 pm

LOL - Bikerboy!

The way I always do it is to sit on the toilet -- as far back as I can sit and then proceed to empty my bag. There's not a lot of height between the end of the bag and the toilet water, so minimal/no splashback.

If I'm out and the toilet looks less than appetizing
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-- I'll stand in front of it, put some paper in the bowl, and bend down a bit.

The lady with the ferocious toilet water ... I've been on toilets like that ... sure it makes for a good flush, but yowsa! I make sure I'm all done up before I flush. Some are automatic though.

bepositive
Jun 19, 2010 12:54 pm
You have been straight and honest in describing you experiences. Most ostomates are faced with such situations and have to resort to all kind of tricks to solve the problems.
 

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shitzengiggles
Jun 25, 2010 12:52 am

Snort... I too am a farmer and have milked cows... Just a word of advice when milking: keep your mouth shut.
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When draining your bag to avoid splashback, don't look down!
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Snort giggle. Also, sitting backwards on the potty makes things a little easier. I've learned to put a little baby oil in the tail of the bag and roll the tail a couple of times around the clip instead of just folding it over. Makes emptying and cleaning a whole lot easier!