Traveling with a Stoma: Tips for Irrigation on the Go

Hi all,

I'm curious if anyone who regularly irrigates with their stoma can share how they've managed to continue when traveling, especially over long distances (i.e., flying). Or do you revert back to just using your bags?

I irrigated the first 10 years of my colostomy. And it never worked on vacation or a work trip, so I would revert back to bags and restart irrigation when I returned home.

Maybe because of the different time zone or the excitement of a new place, the water would never come back or enter my stoma well.

I irrigated for about 27 years, just recently stopped because with irritable bowel it really only worked maybe half of the time.

I always took along my irrigation supplies whenever away from home for more than 4 or 5 days. I kept up my routine as best I could despite circumstances being less than ideal. Sometimes the added stress, change in diet, change in water, etc. did not yield the desired results. Always plan to make exceptions, deviate a bit, and just go with it. The idea is to enjoy your time away and not add stress trying to stay rigid with a routine. But it also depends on your body and how you generally react to the change in routine, diet, water, stress, etc. At any rate, it doesn't hurt to ditch it completely for a week or several days if you're comfortable with that.

I did have to get very creative with my setup, though, while traveling. Mine was gravity-fed, so I took along a hanger to hang from the shower rod or backs of doors if they are close enough. And having a large cup or bottle of water is helpful to rinse the irrigation bag out after. If the sink isn't close enough, using the bath faucet.

Hope that helps!

Hello WhiteYarrow.
Thanks for asking such a relevant question, which I can contribute to.
I used to travel from the UK to New Zealand every year & sometimes it took upwards of 30+ hours.
At first I used a battery operated camping shower as an input device. That worked fine until it suddenly stopped working, which was inconvenient and annoying. I then decided to use a manual device made from a handpump for spraying in the garden and I have continued to use that for the subsequent years after.
The device that I have has extra benefits in that I can store other things inside it when it's not in use.
I have never had any trouble with carrying this and other stoma equipment on the planes even though the first edition had 'weed killer' stamped prominently over it. 
When travelling those distances I irrigated just before leaving the UK and allowed for another irrigation session half way into the journey. However, this was rarely ever needed and on the odd occasion when it was, I had no problems irrigating in the airports.
Don't let your stoma stop you doing anything you want. Just plan an execute whatever is needed to get you by.
Enjoy your trips & Best wishes

Bill