Hello first time here,
I have had the ostomy bag for 1 and a half months now, and it seems that late at night is when I start having problems with the blockage. My question is, I'm getting big pieces of debris that look like thin plastic and/or paper. Maybe an inch long, and it will stretch. Is this normal?
The past couple of days, I'm getting very little feces to come out and swelling up. Can anyone tell me the best way to clear my blockage?
Your First Time Rookie
Hello D&M. You do not say what sort of ostomy you have and without that information it is more difficult to guess what might be the cause of the problem.
The drebris you describe is possibly the mucus created by the intestines/colon, which would normally coat the faeces to enable a smoother exit. I get it stuck to my plugs so that when I pull them out it does look just as you describe. This is normal and should not be a cause for concern.
If you have a colostomy, then the chances are that the feaces is hardening in the lower secion of the colon where the moisture is extracted. This can sometimes cause a blockage. One obvious solution is to irrigate but this isn't always possible for everyone. Another method is to drink a lot more liquids, which might help to get the output less hard. Some people use suppositories to help the passage of output.
What I would say is that one and a half months is no time at all to be getting worried about this sort of thing as it all takes time to settle down into a routine. At that stage in my stoma career, I spoke to the stoma nurse about the blockage and she showed me how to digitally extract the blockage-- not a technique that everybody would relish, but it did work until I started to irrigate.
I hope you manage to find a solution to your problem and let us all know how you get on
Best wishes
Bill
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Welcome D M,
I agree with Bill that it sounds like you should incorporate more liquids into your daily diet. If you're concerned, give your doctor a call and see what he/she thinks.
Hi, D M!
Very little feces coming out? Get that flow going, drink some prune juice.
I think your readers are focusing on the debris, not the fact that you are facing blockage.
Prune juice.
And if you stop moving completely, check into a hospital, ASAP, and THERE, chew gum. Chew chew chew gets your insides working.
And walk, walk all you can to keep things moving.
6 hours with no flow, get serious. 12 hours with no flow, get super-serious and fix it before you go into the hospital. At about 36 hours, I get admitted for colon blockage. You REALLY don't want to go there...
Hi Luv2day,
Thanks for your suggestion of massaging the area with Rosemary oil. I like to use essential oils whenever possible. It's true, blockages are not to be blown off... they can be miserable. I'm experiencing something now that bothers me. I thought it might be a blockage but my output is normal... I just flat feel like I'm constipated. I had an ileostomy in February, diverting the bowel so there should be nothing but mucus. Maybe the Rosemary oil would relieve some of the pressure, do you think?
Thanks for the questions and all the great advice.
Vicki