Has anyone had a colostomy because you couldn't expel stool through the ano-rectal passage due to your pelvic floor muscles contracting rather than relaxing when you wanted to poop? If so, has it worked out for you? Any challenges or complications? Did you get it reversed at some point or do you hope to get it reversed? What are you doing to see if you can reverse it? I know it's a lot of ques ...

I had written about a month or so ago asking what people eat to try to lose weight with an ileostomy/J pouch. I've had several suggestions, and I thank everyone for their input. I decided to try the Carnivore diet, but not full meat; I have included vegetables as well. I had the issue where everything was running through me because the things that help me keep it together are things that put w ...

I'd just like to get on a soapbox for a minute. I would like to encourage anyone and everyone who has an issue with their product (leakage, whatever) to please get the lot number and report it to the company. I think a lot of us have come to believe that all products will have issues, and why bother. But it is important, for you and for others. I recently had an issue with a Hollister bag, and ...

New member/colostomy recipient (5/25/21) here. Hi!
My doc said that my remaining 4" of rectum would collect mucus. Shortly after I got home from the hospital, a blob of mucus landed in the toilet, but only that once.
Frequently, I have a powerful urge to eliminate normally from the rectum, but no means to do so. It feels like I'm going to soil my drawers, but nothing ever happens. Is this norm ...

So right after I posted my one-year check-in, I ended up in the ER with an obstruction that night. I was in excruciating pain and vomiting. Again, I escaped the NG tube, thank goodness, but the treating physician said that my CT scan showed that the obstruction was in the small intestine and most likely due to scar tissue. The location of the obstruction was where the small intestine got sucke ...

Hi all, just got my 2nd/3rd opinion today and really liked this doc a lot. She said if she were younger (like the 1st doc I saw) she too would say let's take this down tomorrow, but she is 20 years older and has been doing this awhile, so she is extremely cautious with cancer patients. She even had one that had no evidence of disease, did the reversal, and cancer showed up. Reversals are prett ...

Since we can't be like "able-anal-ed" folks and "take a dump," we need a saying of our own. "Draining the bag" just doesn't cut it. Some candidates to consider:
Trapshooting. Has a nice ring to it. Imagine: "Hey Sally, back in a jiffy... gotta do a little trapshooting."
Turboturd. For the ostomate in a hurry.
Dash-of-splash. Similar to turboturd, but with some recoil.
Easysqueeze. When you kno ...

GRATITUDE.
The worst of times has got to bewhen first you find your ostomy.You can no longer hide awayit’s on your side and there to stay.
It shakes you to the very coreand makes you feel that you deplorethe very thing that helped you toavoid the brink and then pull through.
In those early days you’re stressedand easily become depressed.After your stoma comes along you start to ...

I recently got a sigmoid colectomy. It's been a week and I still feel kind of in the dark (knowledge-wise). Anyone that wouldn't mind being bothered by what may seem like dumb or annoying questions? I would like to make more friends through this as well. Thank you

NORMALITY IS A MYTH. We’re all of us outsiders, struggling to get through life as best we are able, given our unique circumstances. Having an ostomy only accentuates the individuality each of us brings to the struggle. The all-encompassing concept of being ‘normal’ is much too general a term to be applicable to people because it means ‘average’ which is a statistical model that co ...

Hi all! I'm 27 and looking for other young ostomates. I'm in the United States, Georgia to be specific. I'm looking for both local and virtual connections with others in the young adult stage. I have a great local support group, but everyone is over 50 and relatively inactive. When I go through members here local to me, I don't find anyone in my age group. Does anyone have tips on meeting youn ...