Today I am experiencing pain in the area near my stoma.
It is sharp when i sit in certain positions. At first it felt like my pouch was cutting into my stoma so I changed it.
That was not the problem.
I discovered the painful area is beyond the wafer.
Anyone able to tell me more about this kind of pain ?
Hey, Chippy,
i Am so sorry you are having so much pain. Have you talked to your Ostomy Care Nurse or Doctor? I have had not pain to relate to this but would not take any chances if I did. I am sure they can direct you to lessen the pain or take a look.
It is the weekend so not sure of your resources especially with it being the long Holiday weekend! It doesn’t seem that Urgent cares have the ability to handle anything more than cuts and colds so if need be, your Dr. surely has a physician on call from the practice you use. Keep us posted! Hope this resolves quickly!
Puppyluv
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Mike
Hello chippy. I would endorse what Puppyluv says about seeing a medic about this problem. The fact that it comes when you sit in certain positions might indicate that you probably don't need to worry too much unless the pain becomes unbearable. Very often, this sort of pain comes when something like a nerve gets trapped and the particular position you get in will indicate to the medics what is amiss. However, there are several other causes for this type of pain, one of which is trapped wind, (or faeces which is often called a 'blockage') which can be very painful.
I have a colostomy which means there is more colon left to absorb the moisture from my output and, although I irrigate, there is sometimes a small residue of output that does not get expelled but lodges as little hard lumps in and round the stoma area, This can cause the type of pain you describe and it goes away the next time I irrigate.
When I first had my stoma, the nurse showed me how to digitally (finger) feel inside the stoma to see if there were any blockages. This has proved invaluable over the years as it allowes me to envisage what is going on just inside the stoma. Quite often it is something as simple as these small amounts of hard faeces. However, it has also meant that I can keep an eye on my parastomal hernia which completely closes the hole and wont allow wind or faeces to exit. This is a different problem altogether and I have resolved that by wearing a stoma plug, which keeps the hole open and lets the wind escape. I have also made a similar device which allows the faeces to escape but that is a different story.
Very often, I can more or less work out for myself what any problems are with my stoma and associated pains, However, once I think I've identified the problem, I usually share it with the stoma nurse, even if I have resolved it. This is because I believe that stoma nurses should have as much information as possible to help others in their work. They are alway grateful for my input and have been very helpful to me in supplying materials for my experimentation.
I hope you manage to resolve your problem soon and when you do, perhaps you could feedback to this group as to how it was resolved.
Best wishes
Bill
How far out are you from your surgery? I suffered with horrible pain for 7 months after my first surgery. Finally, when I made my umteenth trip to the ER, it was found that my first ileostomy surgery had strictured and there was 7 months of backup in my intestines that I had left after losing my colon. I agree with the other's, see your doctor and have the pain examined. Hopefully, it will be corrected so that you can relax. Good luck to you!
Hi Chippy
I also had the same problem. The pain was mainly on the right side and above the stoma. I also felt like something was cutting through my stomach. I use an urostomy convex pouch and a belt. I thought it was the pouch that it was causing the pain, but it was not. This happened at night. After 6 hours the pain went away. Next day, I felt sick; very high fewer, nausea.. I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. The doctor said that "our stoma is a pool of urine/feces", perfect for bacteria growth. The bacteria travels through the ilea conduit to the kydneys. He also said that with RC/IC is hard to detect an UTI as we do not have a bladder anymore, do not feel burning, urgency, frequency. It takes time for the kydneys symptoms to show.
