Ileostomy Output: Color and Consistency Variations

So... I'm sure it's been discussed about 64,827,294 times already, but I cannot be bothered to go looking down the entire forum for a post, lol. But output colors...

Most frequently, it's a brownish-orange color the majority of the time.

It's never consistent... sometimes it's bright green and sludgy and looks like it's got little ball-shaped bits in it, sometimes it's dark green and looks like it's got lots of flaky-like bits in it, sometimes it's completely clear in color and spurts out little greenish/gray colored bits in it... I'm at a point now that because the color is never the same for two days in a row, no matter my diet, no matter my fluid intake, etc., I've come to the conclusion that I just don't care what color it is, lol.

The consistency of the output is the same... sometimes it is literally like water, sometimes it's as thick as toothpaste... it's never the same and sometimes changes as the day goes on.

I've told you 6,400,758,000 times not to exaggerate.

That's cute iggy.

With my stoma and its output, I have always thought that it should be green output for some reason, but that isn't the case... Brown usually, black sometimes green, and it's all dependent on what you were eating... Liquids usually occur during the night for me, and first thing in the morning.... Like you said, sometimes toothpaste, sometimes watery. I think what you're experiencing is perfectly normal, but you mentioned something about flakes? I would just watch my diet, and as long as you're feeling well, I would not give it a second thought about your output.

Hello Luke.

Thanks for sharing your thought on the colour concept. It puts me in mind of when I contemplated the issue a few years back and, as you have indicated that you don't look at past posts this gives me the opportunity/excuse to resurrect my rhyme of the time.

Best wishes

Bill

IN MY COLOUR-FULL RAG-TAG BAG.

Right from the start. 
I sensed there was art.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

I’ve so often said 
The cherries stay red.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

And to my delight.
All nuts stay white.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

There in my sack
The currants stay black
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

I tell you my fellow 
The sweet corn stays yellow.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

Blueberries too 
Will keep their dark hue.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

Those carrots stand out.
Bright orange they shout. 
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

I perplex and frown 
As I ponder the brown
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

A vortex soup of colours blend 
A pot of gold at rainbows end.
In my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

Were I an artist like Matisse 
I would paint a masterpiece.
From my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

But I am just a simple poet.
Rhyming words is how I show it.
From my colour-full rag-tag bag.

I use the rhythms and the rhymes 
To tell of smell and raw enzymes.
From my colour-full rag-tag-bag.

The subject matter won’t get worse.
By placing it within a verse. 
The ostomate as graduand.
Will be the one to understand.
My colour-full rag-tag-bag.             

                                           B. Withers 2011 

(In:  ‘My Colourful Rag-Tag-bag’ 2012)

Hi Luke, I guess the main thing is you're having output and it's not bloody.

How to Adjust to Life with an Ostomy with Bruce | Hollister

Hi Luke,

You didn't mention what type of ostomy you have, why, or if what caused it is under control, still prevalent, or completely cured. But the color (and texture) of your output can actually tell you quite a lot about what's going on in your bowels, liver, gallbladder, etc, as well as how well your digestive system is functioning. Just FYI.

Regards,

Bob

But it's good to be alive!

Hi Bob

Really helpful post, as a newbie too. Could you please expand a little to help give me, Luke, and other newbies a better idea regarding what different colors and consistencies relate to, please?

Dark green usually means a lot of bile. I could never get my consistency to applesauce-like. I had about 6 weeks of good appetite after my colectomy and then I was back to no appetite. So I wasn't a poster child for textbook or the way things should be ‍

My husband's behavior is always different, and as they say, it depends on what you've eaten.

Bob, I'm just a simple minded person. However, when the title says ileostomy, I just presume that's what he has. &zwj

Apologies, I didn’t realise that until I’d already posted haha. I have a loop ileostomy

It seems like every single ostomate's output, etc., is extremely varied but also the same at the same time, if that makes sense. As two people with an ileostomy could eat the exact same meal, same preparations such as taking your norimode/loperamide or similar medication, but both people will have a different outcome. (Outcome in this instance I'm referring to the output). I find that no matter what I eat, no matter what I drink, my output color, consistency will always be different from the last time I ate the exact same food or the same drink. It's crazy, really. I'm currently taking the best part of 9-12 loperamide [norimode] per day on an average day, and sometimes more depending on how active the little inconvenient thing wants to behave. It's like a learning curve that resets and updates on a daily basis. I really do pour my heart and soul out to those who have to live with an ileostomy indefinitely. Luckily, mine is a loop ileostomy with hopes of a reversal in the future. But as 99% of hospital care and cases go, it's never as easy as "take your medications religiously and take the right precautions, attend every appointment, every operation" (I'm still undergoing outpatient surgeries every so often in the form of an EUA, examination under anesthesia). I was told when I had my bowel diversion that it would only be a 6-12 month case, but it's been 2.5 years now, lol.