Ostomy Support Forum

I'm a mother of a 5 and 6-year-old, and I got my ileostomy two years ago. They are starting to wonder why mommy goes to poop in a bag. I don't know how I would tell them or if I should show them my stoma because I think they would get scared. I tell them mama needs a bag because my body doesn't work right and I have a disease, but then my 6-year-old asked how the poop comes out. All I say is, ...

Hi! I'm Jonny. I live in Maryland. It's difficult to find people with ostomy bags who are open. I am looking for a good lady to share my life with.

Hello,
Many greetings from me. My name is Ciska and I am 58 years old. In March 2011, it was known that I had colon cancer. In April 2011, I received a colostomy. And several operations, chemo treatments, and radiation later, it is now 2025!!! I am aware that all my so-called "friends" have vanished. And that hurts. A LOT.... Sometimes you want to just say hello or have a nice phone call. Or j ...

Well, after a double-length stay and two operations, I'm finally home. Well, I got home yesterday, but I was so tired that I didn't post.
Hopefully, after being rushed back into surgery, I'm finally now on the mend and can look forward to getting on with Sylvester Stalloma and moving on from all this.
The recovery from this Ken bum surgery has been brutal so far, but I guess the only way is u ...

It held up fine in the heated pool, I didn’t do a lot, basically floated around & then got out, but no issues with it holding. I even did a shower afterward without issue. Changing the bag that evening was a bear though, as the adhesive was one big gooey mess! I went through a bunch of adhesive remover wipes & still ended up just pulling it off & getting it everywhere. I think the extra piec ...

Ok, so I'm new to all of this - I was told that giving your stoma a name can make things easier and can break the ice when talking about it with others who don't have an ostomy. My stoma's name is Jamal. My question is, does anyone else talk to their stoma, or am I the only crazy person who has conversations with their stoma?

Have had my ileostomy since 1998, Barbie butt surgery in 2014, so multiple issues. Medical check-up last week showed a loss of 6 pounds since the March check-up, and for the past couple of weeks, my output has been very liquid. I have not eaten anything unusual; I have to be careful of fiber because of adhesions making the intestine very narrow in one section, which is also unfortunately near ...

The bottom of my stoma has blood coming out of it, not the hole where the urine comes out. It is getting hard to stop it. It's been bleeding almost 24 hours now, off and on. I've used pressure, ice cubes, and it stops for a bit but starts back. It fills my bag full. What can I do to stop it? My kids say they see a raised bump on it.

Happy Saturday and 4th of July week!
Anyone have recurrent bowel perforations?
Backstory: I got my permanent ileostomy in December of 2021. Everything went great healing from the surgery, learning to take care of it, and no complications until last April.
Last April, I ended up in the ER from severe dehydration due to an increasingly uncontrolled high output. Of course, the hospital didn't fol ...

I'm not tall by any means, but I'm trying to get my point across. I recently had a hernia removal, and my ileostomy was relocated over 4 inches higher than my previous one. I'm having problems finding a bag longer than 12 inches. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm at my wit's end. Thank you.

Hello. I am new here and have what may seem like a silly question. I would like to find a belt that can be worn between the flange and the pouch so I do not have to be so reliant on the flange adhesive.