Managing High Output Ostomy: Tips and Advice

How do you handle it? I am drinking electrolyte drinks and my urine is a good color. But I feel I must be spilling a lot of nutrients.

Mine was high output also when new...

Pasta foods and crumpets help me

I too am drinking the drinks, and taking loperamide (or Imodium)

I think it's all about getting the balance of fluids. 1000 a day of electrolytes and I have another 1000 of other fluids and no more.

Every day's a challenge to thicken

Starchy foods will help with bulking up your output. Taking 2 mg loperamide twice a day helps a whole bunch with my ileostomy. I now empty my bag 4-6 times a day, rather than the 9-11 it was prior to starting loperamide. And output is lighter due to things being slowed long enough to allow more water to be absorbed in the journey.

Daniel

Hi Pat,

It's not a simple question, so neither is the answer. A lot depends on your specific condition, meaning how much bowel you have left, the condition it's in, how healthy your liver and gallbladder are, etc., etc. Depending on how much bowel was removed, you may have to pay very close attention to HOW and WHEN you eat and drink, not just WHAT, or you'll quickly be doing the one step forward and two steps back thing. We can get more specific if you let me know where you stand on that stuff, and if you'd rather not share with everyone, just PM me and we'll chat.

;O)

Thank you. Getting Imodium today!

You're going to find that Imodium is kind of expensive. I shopped around and found a generic at Safeway that was $5.00 for a box of 24, whereas Imodium is $20.00 for the same amount. Also, you can get a prescription for loperamide if it works for you.

Daniel

I had a similar situation with my ileostomy—I was very dehydrated and was told to drink more. I drank myself silly (and not with my favorite adult beverage either) and then was told I had washed mega amounts of sodium straight out doing this… in addition to flushing out nutrients. The answer for me was Psyllium powder (same as Metamucil). It is puzzling to me—after all, I thought Metamucil was for constipation and I certainly didn't have that. Now I find it can be for either constipation or diarrhea, which begs the question—HOW DOES IT KNOW? I guess the same way a thermos knows—if you put cold in, it'll stay cold; if you put hot in, it stays hot 🤪. Again I ask, “HOW DOES IT KNOW?” So, I did go ask Alice🎶Alex🎶🎶 and he didn't know either 🤭. And I do not have the answer, but Psyllium powder seems to have helped me a great deal! Just throwing that out there once again…. jb

The fiber I take is Psyllium Powder from Costco. WARNING THOUGH - it may not be for everyone. Just like all the cures we stuff into our bodies, some fight with each other, so check it out first. I take no medications, so this isn't an issue for me (right now), but even over-the-counter “innocent” drugs - now there's an oxymoron - can cause issues. jb

Walmart has loperamide (generic Equate brand) at the best price.

Found I can't private message since I don't have an advanced account. 18 months ago I had a sudden diverticula rupture which resulted in emergency surgery and a colostomy. Got reversed three months later. Two months after that, another rupture while in Mexico. Ended up in a dinky hospital with peritonitis and no ICU. "Don't worry, if you need ICU we'll transport you there." Me: "Well, I'm going to die." Still here! Was put on IV antibiotics for two days then surgery. They mistakenly diagnosed appendix but my new surgeon here in the States said, no, you had another diverticula rupture. The IV antibiotics masked that so when they opened me up, they said my appendix looked funky, and they took that out but the path report came back not so bad. When I read it, I said hmmm, translation error? No. Turns out my first (general) surgeon did not take enough bowel out and left me with a ton of diverticula in my sigmoid and descending colon. After several more bouts of diverticulitis, I was in agreement with my new colorectal surgeon that this bowel has to come out before I explode again. When he opened me up, he said I just had enough to connect and he was afraid that if it leaked or something went wrong that I would end up with a permanent colostomy. So, I woke up with an ileostomy to let my large intestine anastomosis heal. Mentally, I was really OK with it until I started having all these leaks and skin problems. Then I developed a stoma fistula, which is just making things worse. FYI, I had just retired from hospital healthcare a couple of months before my first rupture. I'm doing retirement all wrong! Haha

I think it was you that mentioned the Marathon product. I just ordered some but only a couple of vials. Were you the one that had a trick to save the vial for more than one use? If so, can you tell me the secret?

I paid $1.00 per box of 24 at Costco yesterday. Loperamide only, but that is what is needed. The other stuff for gas is useless, at least for me.

Daniel

The problem I have had with the psyllium powder from Costco is that it is all flavored. I add a teaspoon or two to my morning smoothie, but not that orange stuff from Costco. Have you found unflavored there? I really should have asked when I was there last.

Daniel

Wow - eye opener... I add to my smoothie along with dark chocolate almond milk and never noticed a difference - just read the label and sure enough, it's orange flavor! My kidney doc said to take a teaspoon in the afternoon as well, so I added it to an afternoon coffee a few days ago and said to hubby - this tastes terrible - well duh... no wonder... lol thanks for the heads up -

It is great with vanilla almond milk as well as the chocolate though... jb

Well, I have a bunch of flavored stuff from Costco that I bought, also not realizing that it was flavored. What you said makes sense. It's only a teaspoon or two. So, I dropped a teaspoonful into this morning's strawberry banana mango smoothie, and it was not really noticeable. Tomorrow is blueberry banana mango day, and we will see how that goes. 🥸

Daniel

Hi PS,

No, it wasn't me. I always needed a full tube of Marathon when I used it and it dries so fast when it contacts air... but I'm sure someone innovative on here has found a way! It does sound like your retirement plan took a left at Albuquerque! And they wonder why I no longer travel to Mexico...

;O)