Struggling with Gastro and Ostomy Bag Leaks

Hey, I know I haven't been on here in a long time, but I have recently got gastro and everything I do seems to make it worse. I'm not sleeping at night because I am scared that I will wake up to a leaking bag, and need to change all my sheets and wake my husband up, etc. I am still experiencing leaking bags throughout the day and in the last 24 hours I have needed to change it 7 times, with emptying every half hour or so. I am trying to find things to settle the acid down and the cramps I am getting. If anyone has experienced this, please let me know what you have done to help it. I'm almost at the point of going to the hospital as I am so weak...

Thanks
Brooke

Maybe if you're that weak, then a trip to the hospital becomes a must.

Emptying the bag that often has got to get you dehydrated - it did me!!!!! Try Gatorade; it helped me a lot - I drank the G2 "rain".

I lost my bag several times throughout the day. Have you tried a Marlin bag with shallow convexity? This helped me a lot!! My skin was totally shredded from the bag falling off so many times.

Sinful is right - make that trip to the ER for hydration if you feel you need to. That is nothing to play around with. Get an appointment with a GOOD ostomy nurse.

Will keep you in my thoughts!

Melissa

I had similar symptoms and ended up in the hospital four times after my ileostomy surgery for dehydration. I now take up to 18 Imodiums a day, and I drink Metamucil and have a prescription for a powder to drink to bulk up my output. I am just considered a "high output" patient, and I have to take very special care of myself. I also have an ostomy nurse, and when I was leaking as much as you are leaking, she finally measured my stoma over and over again, and it had shrunk. I have pre-cut appliances now because I could not cut the hole properly. I just kept leaking. It has finally toned down, but I could not have done these things without all the professional help I got. Try and get some help asap, especially the gastro docs and the stoma nurses. They helped me so much.

Good luck,
Betty