I've been using Hollister's new image, flat skin barriers for the better part of 15 years, and at least once a week, I would experience some leakage underneath the skin barrier between my skin and the barrier. This was always frustrating because it meant that the skin barrier only lasted for a few days.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try their convex skin barrier, and I am absolutely en ...

Hi! I hope everyone is doing well! Just wanted to check in and give an update. I do have daily pain where the hernia used to be when I apply pressure, and sometimes I will get this sharp pain under where the stoma used to be. It goes straight down to the side of my pubic area, but it is only sometimes, and I'm not sure what causes it. I also still have rectal pain, but only sometimes, when I p ...

Greetings..
Having spoken to Kas, we both have decided to purge our inventory of unused, mostly expired, donated from others, ostomy supplies.
She and I will be listing our inventory for you to decide if you'd like some spare supplies for those "oh shizt" moments you run out or can't stop leaking.
It pays to have extra supplies.
There should be no issue with expired supplies. Some...not all wi ...

Hi everyone,

I'm almost four months post-ileostomy surgery, and I'm looking to start rebuilding my core strength. I haven't been able to exercise for years, so I'm starting from scratch and want to be really careful.

One of my biggest concerns is overdoing it and increasing my risk of a hernia. I know core strength is important, but I'm not sure what exercises are safe to begin with. ...

About 3 months after my ileostomy and ureter repair surgery, I had to start working again and could not do anything strenuous. So, I took on a job working the midnight shift in retail (no customers), bathroom accessible any time I needed, light duty work (mostly). With that said, I'd been there over a year and took on a high volume, high stress position, thinking about higher pay and such. We ...

I have lost track of whom, but for the last year or two, I have been informing Canadians they are eligible to receive a disability tax credit if they have a stoma that is non-reversible. I have a stoma and need ostomy supplies, which qualified me. I get it, and so can you. See below for CRA info saying everyone with an irreversible stoma automatically gets this DTC (Disability Tax Credit).
I d ...

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 ...

First, thank you
I was able to read the latest issue of your Ostomate newsletter from a hospital bed. After not feeling very well on Thursday morning with a slight pain on my side and then 6 hours of throwing up I was able to get into a car and head to the hospital. The hospital I have had 15 surgeries at in 2 years. First an ileostomy and then eventually a reversal and then many ...

Got my samples yesterday and changed it this morning; already so much more comfortable! They bend with me when I bend, which the more convex products were not doing, which then led to leaks and a general mess. The video nurse told me that there was zero chance of any convex product ever pushing my stoma to being an ‘outie,' so it would be better to go with a smaller convex product that would ...

Sooooo, I've been dealing with this for a while and trying all sorts of things. The latest has been the Eakins circle thingie; I forget what it's called. I tried the marathon stuff, and it didn't really help and also created a very uneven surface by coating the injured skin and not coating the uninjured skin. It also did sting for me. I tried the flow assist thing, and that helped some, but mo ...

MY OSTOMY IS MY NORMAL. It follows, then, that my ostomy is normal. My dictionary says that normal is the usual, typical, expected. Precisely. It’s all I know. It’s there when I get up in the morning, it calls to me after every meal, and it lies down with me every night. The best day of my life was when, years and years ago, in some long-forgotten moment of my past, I came to regard ...