Preventing Blowouts: Tips and Advice Needed

Greetings from Oregon, everybody,

I have recently had a few blowouts, which, as many of you know, are difficult to deal with. I am wondering how to handle them via diet or other methods?

I will be going to see two colostomy experts next week to find out what I might do to stop them from occurring. It seems that as soon as I begin eating a meal, my stoma starts to perform! Stella (the stoma) puts out an abundance of stool and therefore the blowout! OY!

Any comments will be welcomed.

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying your summer.

🙏Namaste

Gaia

Hi,

When you say blowouts, does your bag come off completely?

How often do you change your bag?

Do you wear loose clothes while eating?

What size bag do you use?

Do you empty it before you start the meal?

I empty my bag before eating.

I also stop whatever I'm doing and empty it when my bag starts filling very quickly. It doesn't always fill like that, but when it does, I know it's asking for trouble to ignore it or delay dealing with it.

As an ileo for 8 years, my blowouts were from sleeping. Laying on my back... maybe a semi-roll.

I didn't know then, but now I do that there's a golden rule or two

to follow, especially before bedtime...

However, daily blowouts seem to be your concern.

1- from gas - diet. Foods.

2- bad adhesion. Defective product. Uneven surface.

3- recessed, retracted stoma.

You said blowout... not leak... but it's the same thing, totally dependent on fecal matter and pressure filling a full bag.

4- C-strips won't prevent blowouts or leaks, but they will give you a visual that your seal broke. It buys you time to get it fixed.

5- a better barrier ring. Cera Adapt for me was a game changer. Best decision I made switching to it.

Others will chime in about the golden rule. Hope this helped a bit.

A blowout while traveling? Even Triple A can't help you😁

Kaisa hai Gala,

Can you describe in more detail what you mean by blowouts?

Regards, IGGIE

How to Get Back to Fitness After Ostomy Surgery with Ryan | Hollister

Do those two colostomy experts have colostomies themselves? If not, they aren't experts.

If it only happens while you eat, then the only thing to blame is yourself for not getting up and emptying before you have an issue.

By blowouts, do you mean your bag comes off totally? Do you empty it when it starts to get full? Maybe you need to eat more binding things like bananas, peanut butter, and bread. Things that thicken up output. Or eat marshmallows before your meal or after your meal. Marshmallows slow down output. Taking Imodium might also help, taken a half hour before your meal. I used to do that all the time. I have an ileostomy and have output all the time. When I eat, when I drink, when I don't, I just have output. So I know what it is like to have output coming and coming. I empty my bag about six times a day and twice at night.

I learned the hard lesson to make sure my bag is completely empty before eating. The dumping effect can be forceful. Lucky for me, I was at home, but getting my clothes off without touching my face was hard. I went directly into the shower. I did look into EZ-vents, so at least the gas can escape when you decide.

Thank you, isn't that the truth?

Thank you, Iggie.

My blowouts seemed to be due to using peppermint oil pills before eating. It caused a very soft and profuse bowel movement and pushed my stomach further into my belly. And the profusion of bowel leaked out the sides of my bag.

I have now stopped the use of the peppermint pills and have firm bowel movements which, for the past four days, have been easy to deal with… I can push them out of the bag easily.

🙏Namaste

Gaia

Hi Maried,

I change my bag every 4 days and empty it several times a day.
After thinking more about the blowouts that seeped to the edges of my bag and recognizing the consistency of the bowel movements, I realized they were sodden and very sticky, not easily pushed out of my bag. Then I made a decision not to use a peppermint pill before my meals. After I stopped the peppermint pills, my stool became formed and was easily pushed out of my bag. For now, it has worked for four days. I think it will be okay now.

Thank you for your reply.

Gaia

I'm glad you've found the source of your problem! Well done!