Sticky Residue Issue with Ostomy Bag - Anyone Else Experiencing This?

Change in diet, medication, or supplements? Gallbladder issues? Currently, I have gastritis that's being being treated and the flare completely changed my output to dark, tarry, and thick.

No changes. I'm sorry to hear about the gastritis.

I'm being treated well with meds and diet. At least my situation finally has an answer after battling with my health insurance company to cover a couple of ultrasounds, an endoscopy, and an MRI but I got there. I feel for you and your perplexing issue. Hang in there, I'm sure someone will get to the bottom of it.

Thank you and yeah, I understand about the battling with health insurance. I have a case worker at my insurance co. She helps me get things through when it's a real health issue. I can't imagine fighting it on your own. I'm glad they finally ok'd things for you and you're on the mend. I can't imagine gastritis with an ostomy. You had to be really sick.

Hi hi,

Ok, going with the barrier adhesive thing......how long in between barrier changes do you go? And how do you sleep.......in what position? Do you have output while you sleep? Barriers and rings do degrade over time.......otherwise we wouldn't have to change them every couple of days. Do you wash out your bag with water when you empty it? I may have an idea what's going on........

;o)

Not so much sick, just in pain most of the time, especially after I ate. My ostomy worked fine but weird output. I knew the pain was coming when that would change to thick and dark. At least it alerted me!

Hello, I change daily because if I don't, it won't hold up. I do work a full-time job though and move around a lot.
I work third shift, so when I'm at work, I sleep sitting up on my client's couch basically, and when I'm home, I am lying in my bed. Usually on my side but sometimes on my back. Yes, I do rinse.

Oh wow, that sounds horrible. I'm glad you're being treated. Sending well wishes your way.

Hi hi,

Ok, I have a theory. I don't know what brand products you're using, if you already said so I apologize. When I first got my ostomy no one told me how to sleep or how long my barrier and ring would last. What I learned (the hard way) is that the output of an ileostomy is very different from the output of a colostomy. What comes out of the small bowel is very acidic and does very bad things to your skin if it touches it, and breaks down barrier rings fairly quickly. How quickly obviously depends on the person. The output of a colostomy is basically like regular folks' poop. It can get on your skin and not bother it much, as the acids have been re-absorbed by the colon.

I found if I wore my barrier too long it would turn into a white-ish goo, and stop sealing very well. And for me, being high output, too long was more than 2 days. The same thing happened if I flushed my bag with water to clean it out every time I dumped my bag. It would cause the ring to degrade rapidly. I know others on here flush their bags regularly and don't see what I saw.......and I say good for them. But for me that simply wasn't the case.

Another no-no is sleeping on your back if you're an ileostomate. Because when you have output it will simply pool around your stoma and attack your barrier ring and/or barrier if you don't use a ring. Laying on your side is better, assuming you have enough space in your bag for your output when your bag is horizontal and not vertical. Otherwise the same thing happens......your output stays around your stoma. The best way to sleep.........at least for me......is on my stomach with my right knee brought up. That puts a space under my bag and my output drains down and away from my stoma. When you said "whitish" I was thinking more along the lines of a fungus, not of barrier turned to goop.......but that is whitish too. And it's glue-like.

So I'm betting what you're experiencing is your barrier disintegrating from being in contact with your output. There's a pretty easy way to tell. Empty your bag into a plastic cup and then toss a new barrier ring in there and start the clock. See how long it takes to get gooey and gluey. If that lines up with your change interval.......you may have found the problem. Let us know what you find.

;o)

Bob

Hi, thank you! A lot of what you say here hits home. Like where others are saying it doesn't happen to them but you are experiencing it. I don't wear barrier rings anymore, and the funny thing is that it just started out of nowhere and took me quite a while to realize it was something in the pouch. At first, I thought I was transferring something to my pouch.
It does make sense what you say about ileostomy poop because one stoma nurse said the same thing. When it first started, I was using Convatec Active Life Durahesive Deep Convex pouches with a Hollister CeraRing. Things got way out of hand suddenly. Everything was sticky. My feet from the shower with the bag off and my hands from touching the bag to empty. I had been in these bags for months with no issues. After I realized it could be coming from my bag, I stopped using rings and found that yes, I can get by without them. The stickiness was still there, so we switched my bag to Sensura Mio. I'm still getting stickiness but not as much with the Convatec. Every sample that all the companies sent me were sticky problems too, so this Mio has at least to the minimum but still there.
Now I have a question for you... did the goo come out of your bag while emptying and did it make your hands sticky?
As for the test, since I don't use rings anymore, I can use the part of the pouch barrier, the little circle that I cut out.
What you're saying, your theory makes sense.

Bob,

I saw the doctor today and came home with a stool sample kit to take to the lab when I get the sample. Also, a referral to gastro and integrated medicine to see what maybe I've been exposed to from work. At least I can find out if it's a medical issue with my stool. I have yet to put the piece of barrier in the plastic cup because I got busy with work and that appointment, but I'm going to do it first thing in the AM and I'll get back with you on here to let you know the outcome.

Hi hi,

No, the goo never came out of my bag because I was changing my barrier every other day....so I never let it get too far gone. In the summer, I typically swim a lot. Back then, if I was going somewhere the next day, I'd change my barrier that next morning, just to be safe. And it was easy to see the difference a day made on how the ring degraded. We discussed this on here probably a few years ago now, and some had the same thing happen, but many did not. It was a discussion about should you wash your bag out when you empty it.....or not. Turned out many colostomates did, while many ileostomates didn't....which makes perfect sense. The output from an ileo is much more destructive than that of a colo. Sounds like you're gonna get to the bottom of this one pretty soon. Let us know what they find!!

;o)

Ok, so this morning I put the circle of the pouch barrier in the plastic cup with the poo. It just basically sat in there, no gummieness. I don't wear rings anymore because, yeah, they melt in me too, and I do rinse with my ileostomy. My output is usually on the thicker side, although lately I've been getting diarrhea.
See, my sticky does come out of the pouch, and if I don't use gloves to empty it, it gets stickiness on my hands that is hell to get off.