Tips for tucking shirts with belts?

Great Lester, post the info and we can all benefit!! Sounds like an interesting solution.

Feeling like a slob is just a feeling. I am a slob, but I never feel like one. I never tuck my shirt in. I've been fat all my life and it was hell in elementary school when teachers almost always required that a shirt be tucked in, not to mention all the other tortures we went through as kids).

Here's a suggestion, though. Wear a bow tie and use suspenders (braces, if you will) and wear your trousers nice and loose! How's that? You do wear a sports coat or a suit coat, don't you? I've found that loose sweaters work better than anything, though. But not in the summer under any circumstances here in Arkansas.

Oh, and wear those pants like a real old man and put the waist up above your belly buckle (navel, for those of you who never read Walt Kelly -- Pogo).

NT

I found a wonderful company called ostomysecrets.com. They make a men's ostomy wrap, which is a wrap with a kangaroo-type pouch. The back goes inside the pouch, and it wears like a girdle. I wear mine over my men's briefs, and it has several advantages: it keeps the bag from skin contact, keeps it from moving, and looks good under your clothes. I wear mine 24/7. It is great to sleep in as the bag will not move when you turn. Also, when I am working out at the gym, people never know I have an ostomy unless I tell them. The only negative about this product is the cost - $30.00 for one, not covered by insurance. Hope this helps.

Those days are gone forever, dude. Get used to it. For 4 years, I have been wearing pants or shorts with expandable waistlines and shirts over them. Threw out all jeans and dress pants. My bag is right on my waistline. Face it...we ain't gonna be bangin' Britney Spears anytime soon with a sh*t bag hanging off our bellies!

would do me regardless...

I found wearing the support garments by Omnigon makes a real difference. It allows you to wear jeans and belts without people knowing you have a stoma.

Take a look at their products. I am not sure if your insurance in your countries covers these products though.

http://www.omnigon.com.au/uploads/documents/Omnigon-Website-Catalogue.pdf

I hope that helps.

I'm not a guy but I have had similar problems when I try to tuck in a shirt or wear close-fitting clothes. I got a tip from someone on this website a couple years ago and it has worked well for me. Fold the top part of your bag down and tape it to itself. This changes the shape of the bag and holds down the area that tends to "balloon" up from a belt or the waist of your jeans. I have an ileostomy so my bag is right at my waist and is pretty active and this has worked for me. No one sees it. I use paper medical tape. Give it a try!

Ok, this is so simple I must ask myself "Why didn't I think of that?" Excellent tip!!

Yeah, good idea. I do tape it up for short periods to get the bag out of the way. I don't know how well it will hold up to ballooning up like it does. LOL I wake up sometimes and I got this massive bulge under the blanket... I get that a lot. Thank you, I'm still learning to live.

I get that at night from gas and I honestly believe that one night I am going to wake up and find myself floating belly up about three inches over the bed!    LOL

Suze, that's funny, it might help if you find yourself falling in your dreams LOL.. I get up and try to get out of bed and find that I have trouble bending even just a little. I look down and think, I have a jellyfish latched on to my side!

This is a question I have been pondering since my wife drove me home from the hospital a year and a half ago. I went the suspenders route and it has been "OK". Actually, I hate wearing the things but they have been the best solution so far. I went online and bought expensive ones and I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest one. So far, the Walmart solution has been just as good as the high-price ones.
There is one site that offers all-plastic suspenders that will get you through airport security. This was a good solution until the technology shifted and now any kind of suspenders will give you an "anomaly" that counts against you, but that is a post on a different topic.
One thing I did that was a BIG help was to cut all of the adjusting hardware off of the suspenders. Once I had worn a pair a week or so to get the fit right, I just marked where the straps should be attached and sewed them to the buckles that attach to your pants. This eliminates all the bumpy stuff and makes them much more discreet.
I have also sent off for a Kevlar cover that is held on by a belt and fits over the stoma and pouch attachment point. The guy that makes them says that they will allow me to get back into my tucked-in tee and polo shirts. I have not received it yet but when I do and if they work as promised, you can bet I will be back here to tell the world about them. At least for me, being able to dress as I used is a big factor in how I feel about the world in general. It's not so much about what the world might think of how I look, but more about just "being me".
Again, I promise to let you know how it works out.

Hello Archerb55.

Thanks for this question which is obviously of interest to many people.

I had this concern for a while and as I have a hernia behind my stoma it seemed like there might not be a solution.  At first I wore full length working overalls which are both comfortable and eliminate any of the waistline problems.

I note from one of your posts that you are a machinist so do you not wear such overalls for work?   I like wearing these because it makes me look as though I work for a living and am a productive member of society rather than a writer & 'poet' - which some people feel is not productive or worthwhile in the same practical sense.

Long after the operation when my waistline started getting back to near it's 'normal' size I started experimenting with devices that would surround my stoma and compress my hernia.

After dozens of tries I've now shaped a couple of devices that work well for that and simultaneously act as a hernia prevention belt. Because they pull the whole waistline in slightly I have no trouble in wearing shirts tucked in. All the clothes that I had before the operation can now be worn with confidence.  This includes suits, shorts, pants etc.

My stoma is right on the belt-line but this doesn't seem to matter as the devices are solid and the belt simply lodges itself right over it and acts as another form of additional hernia belt as well as holding up my trousers.

It should be said that I irrigate and wear a plug, so it is easier for me to make devices that don't bother with the problems of drainage.  However, I have seen a very similar device to that which I made, which does allow for drainage into a bag.  ( Sorry, but I can't remember now where I saw it.)



I hope these remarks are useful

Best wishes

Bill

I have taken to using the Phoenix ostomy support system. It is a fabric belt that goes around your abdomen and you turn your bag sideways to tuck it into the belt. Their website is www.ostomysupportsystem.com. They are $50 but some insurance companies will pay for them. They have made it comfortable for me to tuck in my shirt when working and people don't notice them.

Ok, what is a Kevlar cover? I googled it but got army helmet stuff, lol, not what I am thinking would work.
So, did you get it yet? It's October 30th, how is it working for you?

At first I wore suspenders. An advantage of old age, you don't care much about how you look.
After a while I went back to regular clothes, although I stopped wearing lighter pants (guess why?)
I recently found:


Which is a new product of the website "innovationbyyou" managed by Coloplast and is available free of charge to members of the website (no charge for membership).
The caveat is that it currently is only available to a few countries in Europe. Luckily my family still lives there so I had it sent to her, and she forwarded it to me.
I have used it with every wafer and bag and it prevents the jeans from crushing the bag and the stoma.
Ed

Hi Ed, now this is an idea that seems to be too good to be true but I suppose in time we will see them in Canada but I am not that big an optimist that it will be in my lifetime. Great idea though, take care, Ed

I think the problem is the same as to why you can't order ostomy supplies (medical) from the US. No wafers, but you can order the bags, no paste, etc. which is frustrating because those suppliers that handle both sides of the border charge almost twice as much in Cdn$ to Canadian customers. With some ingenuity, you should be able to make something similar out of reasonably tough plastic.
BTW, the three pieces in one of the pictures are filled with rare earth magnets and the idea is to put one inside the bag. It comes with a bit of glue already attached, and then there are a couple of magnets that you attach to the inside of the curved plastic. But I haven't bothered with those.
Ed

The only way I can see this working would be to have the plastic separator inside the pouch, and when its time to change, here is where I get a bit squeamish, removing it from the bag, or am I missing something? Ed

I was thinking the same thing, Ed, and then I thought perhaps there's adhesive under that arch for the outside of the bag to stick to, or Velcro and you stick a disposable, adhesive-backed strip of Velcro-mating material to the outside of the bag.

While the product is made by Coloplast and is supposed to be specific to a particular Coloplast wafer, I use it with any wafer with belt tabs. I place the large part (left side) through the clip of the belt, then attach the belt clip to the tab of the wafer or belt. I then place the bag through the circular part and connect the belt clip to the white plastic oval hole. I recently added a twist tie from the white plastic oval hole to the wafer (or bag) belt tab.
I'll see if I can take a picture and post it later.
Ed

The bag goes inside the arch. If you look closely at the top of the pictures, you see a frontal picture of a bag inside the arch as well as a picture taken when you look down at your bag within the arch. When you start out, you place one magnet inside the bag (it has some glue to hold it) and you glue an opposite magnet inside the arch. I have not used the magnets, and the arch works great without them. The arch is stiff enough to prevent the arch from collapsing, and it also keeps the pants from sagging. In other words, it works really well, and it provides some additional security to keeping the bag attached to the wafer because the belt is attached to the arch as well as to the wafer or bag.
Hopefully, I made it clear and understandable.
Ed

I have never had this problem. I wear blue jeans and tuck in my shirt all of the time. When I had to have my ostomy relocated because of strangulation, I asked my surgeon if he could put it a little lower of my belt line.

Hi, look up http://www.ostomyarmor.com it's all there.

One thing I forgot to mention, the item comes with rare earth magnets (3) and small, same-sized metal disks. The metal disk is glued inside the bag, and the magnet is placed (two-sided tape) on the inside of the arch.
Unfortunately, the magnets didn't last very long (should have used crazy glue), but the idea is great. Unfortunately, the product is no longer available.
As far as tucking in my shirt... Nobody told me not to lift anything heavy after the operation, so now I have a hernia the size of a third of a grapefruit with my stoma on top. Glad I have the product.
I bought a 4" wide belt ($5 at Princess Auto) made of heavy material with a Velcro closure, cut a 3.5" circular hole. This seems to work fairly well, but really only for the Hollister two-piece appliance. Still working on making it more usable for all appliances and including a cover similar to the "arch," but probably made out of fiberglass (think car bodywork).

I noticed a company the other day called Stomaplex. I have no relationship with this company so this is not a sales effort. I am a vet and will be trying to get them to pay for this. You can go to stomaplex.com and check it out. I am interested but it costs about $100 so I want someone else to pay for it. Check it out, there is no obligation but they don't have samples.

I have had a colostomy since 2012. This has always been my biggest problem. My stoma is above my waist by a few inches and I have a little belly, therefore it shows on occasion. I wear the waist wrap from Ostomy Secrets. I have 9 or 10 of them in 3 colors. They keep my bag hugged tight on my belly, but there are problems with that as well, as you can imagine. When I feel movement, I try to pull the wrap down to let it happen freely and won't pancake. I wish there were a better solution to this dilemma. I don't tuck in unless I'm wearing a suit or sport jacket, and I keep it buttoned.

Cheers, Tom

I'm fairly new to this as well and have always worn my T's tucked into my jeans. My stoma is right on my belt line and I put my jeans on with a few pieces of thin foam between the jeans and pouch. I put the T on, close the jeans up and then gently tug a bit of the T out so it hangs over the belt line of the jeans. It looks like you have just been wearing the T for a few hours and haven't tucked it in lately.

Has anyone tried the products from Cymed? I have both a urostomy and colostomy. No worries of leaks, odors, breaks, etc. No, I am not a sales rep. They literally changed/saved my life! Hate Hollister/Coloplast, etc. Never will I switch back. Just curious. But then again, maybe we all do not have the same problems.

Hi Cappabarstar, I've tried samples of every brand except Cymed, but will try and get a sample of a urostomy pouch from them after reading your post :)

You wear two pouches with no issues so they must be good. I currently wear Hollister and it works the best for me, but have been having skin issues lately. Thanks for posting!