Ileostomy Output: Dark Green and High Volume - Need Advice

This is the only place I thought I could ask and describe the bizarre experience of this afternoon, help please?

My ileostomy, (8.5 weeks post op), suddenly started producing lots (and I mean a lot!!) of dark green watery output, with intermittent squirting! This last for an hour, thankfully it seems to now be slowing although still producing and I have managed to get a bag on.

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary in the last 24 hours, have eaten my usual today and normal fluids..... No pain around stoma or in tummy.

What on earth is going on and should I be concerned? Would now be the kind of situation where I should take a dose of loperamide??

Thank you x

Have you eaten any types of lettuce or other greens? That will cause a lot of watery output.

Dark green is also what bile looks like.

My ileostomy is 4 years old. Sometimes I have green output, usually because I skipped meals (busy, nauseous, or flu). When you don't eat, mucus, saliva, and green bile will come splashing out - all liquids. As you have short bowel syndrome, you must eat several times a day to keep your nutrition up. Drink at least 8 glasses a day to avoid dehydration and too thick an output. Certain medicines can cause a watery output (Nyquil). Another ostomate taught me about marshmallows. Eat a few 30+ minutes before changing your appliance. Do it in the morning. It will stop or reduce the squirting. It infuriates me when I'm all done crusting and then SQUIRT/squirt (peristalsis)! Eating thickening foods slows your output. Rice, potatoes, bread, and pretzels work for me. Love beer pretzels and stay away from beer and carbonation. (sigh). Good luck

Don't freak out! It's pretty common and can happen when stool moves through your intestines very quickly. Your stool starts out green and turns brown during the process of digestion, so particularly with ileostomies, it can go through you so quickly that it's still green when it comes out. Nothing to be concerned about.

Terry

Hi there

For me, green is bile and can occur when my system is empty, as in not having eaten for some time, would typically be in the morning after not eating much the night/arvo before.

Let me introduce myself, I'm your friendly neighborhood ostomy nurse and I was doing that job for 8 years before I finally needed an ileostomy high output myself. I would love to be able to help you. First, everything that was posted prior to this was correct. Second, did you recently stop opiate-based pain medicine? For post-operative pain, chances are that's what's causing the squirting and the very high output. Your body gets very slow down by opiates or synthetic opiates so Norco or Percocet or Tylenol with codeine, all of those have this possibility. Even things like a lot of them morphine can cause this problem, but when you suddenly stop taking them because you're paying this less, your bowels don't know what to do and they start getting rid of everything super fast because they think that they haven't been doing their job while they were working too slow.

Apologies if your stoma nurses have already told you, but in case they haven't, or you overlooked it as the period between advice of surgery to the operation is a worrying time and your head may well be full of things of greater importance. There are two organizations in the UK that provide a great deal of advice and information for ostomates and their families: the Ileostomy and Internal Pouch Association, more commonly known as Ileostomy Association (IA) https://iasupport.org and Colonoscopy UK, more commonly known by Colonoscopy Association (CA) https://colonoscopyuk.org. While each organization caters for their respective group of patients, there is a lot of information that is beneficial for all. I find the CA site an easier read for those who are new to "the club", while the IA site can be a bit heavy on medical terminology on occasions. However, as good as these organizations are, contact your stoma nurses in the first instance if you have urgent medical concerns.