Irrigation and Gas: Seeking Advice

This is my first post, so hi guys!!!

I've read a lot of fantastic advice over the last 6 months and felt compelled to become a full member.

Basically, I've started irrigating early morning (for 4 days) and I'm finding it very beneficial as I've just started a new job - rebuilding my life after bowel cancer, anyway - all is going well with the irrigating - but I'm finding I get quite a bit of gas throughout the day (sometimes audible) and definitely towards the evening/end of the day? Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the site and congrats on starting irrigation. It will make life so much closer to "normal" for you. If you decide to continue with irrigation, you may want to consider changing your diet to maximize your results. I eat a high protein, low fiber/residue diet. This will mean cutting way down on carbs....breads, cereals, and grains. This diet change, for me anyhow, seems to reduce gas to almost zero. The small amount I get is rarely audible and takes so much stress out of social situations. Please keep us informed of your progress. Good luck.

Thank you so much for the advice, at the moment I'm eating too much bread, so immediately I can see where that change could make an impact!

Thanks again!

Hello Pabs72.  There is a lot you can do with regard to diet to lower your gas output but I'll leave it to others to advise on that aspect. My contribution would be to say that I find it much more convenient in this regard to irrigate in the evening. The advantage is that after the irrigation I can either leave the sleeve on or change it for a smaller bag for overnight. Not that I have any significant output but you never know when passing wind and it's just a safeguard.

Secondly, I don't worry about gas output during the day because it's never noticeable as I wear a stoma plug. The plug is of a material which allows wind to pass through it unnoticed, without sound or smell, which means that I can go about my day unperturbed by wind output.

If you want to know what a stoma plug looks like, you can either go into 'photos' - 'latest' or click on my name and have a look on my profile where there is a photo of a Coloplast stoma plug.

I always think it's best to ask for samples and see if it works for you by practical experimentation.

I hope this is helpful

Best wishes

Bill 

Hi Bill, thank you for your advice, I will definitely look into plugs. As regards the times of irrigation - I have considered the evening as a potential time, but some evenings I have to be at my daughter's swimming club pretty much all evening, do you have to be religious about the exact time to proceed or can it differ here than there depending on your schedule?

Paul

Hello Pabs72. I choose early evening every night because it suits my schedule of writing and doing other things. However, I would never let irrigation interfere  with whatever else I want to do. Thus, If I want to go out for the evening, I would simply defer irigation until I get back - sometimes quite late. If I get in too late, I leave it until the morning.

With most things to do with stomas, I experiment to see what I can and cannot get away with. Some people have said that they can go 2- 3 days between irrigating. I tried  and could only manage about 36 hours. This was not suitable for me because the output started mid-day, which somewhat defeated the reason for doing it. However, it is very useful to know that 36 hours is my limit because it doesn't bother me to leave it overnight and irrigate the next morning as and when that becomes necessary. The change in routine doesn't seem to have any adverse effect and that's probably because the timing is not that much different. I just calculate my time according to when I last irrigated so if I irrigate in the morning, I still irrigate in the evening to get back to the routine I prefer.

It will be interesting to hear from people who can go a lot longer between irrigations, to see what they do when tnheir routine is disrupted.

Best wishes

Bill  

Hi Bill, thank you so much for taking the time to respond and give me some very useful advice. I really appreciate it.

Paul

Helo Paul. Thanks must go to you for asking the questions - I feel privileged to be able to contribute to the discussion. 

Best wishes

Bill

Well, I appreciate it, Bill!

Paul

Hi Pabs,

I wrote a note several days ago but something happened to it! I guess it got lost in the issues with the site! It disappeared before I had finished it! Lol

I, too, irrigate and found it to be life-changing! I am not as health-conscious as I should be and eat so much bad stuff but, even with that, I still irrigate! You said you still ate a lot of bread, but even with that, irrigation is still great! Not sure you will be able to graduate to a plug or cap with that diet! I have not because I choose to irrigate every two days, and continue to have output in between irrigation days. Sometimes I make it but most not because I sabotage myself. But even with that said, it led to much more freedom and confidence! I continue to wear a two-piece pouch system that because of irrigation, lasts at least 6 days each!

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress!

Puppyluv

Thank you very much for your reply. I too get some output in between irrigation, but obviously nowhere near as much as before and nothing to worry about - I'm starting to find the process easier and can see it will help a lot with working in an office etc.

P

Pabs,

Good that irrigation is working out for you! Certainly allows you to be "normal again"! I am hoping I will be able to adjust my diet and have better results but I am good with it like it is as well. Every other day is soooo much better than every day! Even more on occasion. I have always been told to be consistent in irrigating, but sometimes, I either wait until nighttime or the morning where I should have done it or even the third day. Sometimes your schedule dictates the change but I get right back on the mornings though! I am retired so my morning time is the most leisure as a rule! Not today! Gotta run for a Dr. Appt!

Take care!

puppyluv