Stoma Information

patients are very apprehensive and or very distressed by the thought of having a stoma and and I try to reiterate that most patients do get to tolerate it. Some certainly don't mind it but even if they do mind it they get to tolerate it, get used to looking after it themselves and caring for it and changing the bag. For some people sorry it's very rare though that people reject it outright and won't look at it. Occasionally patients are like that initially but then with the care of the stoma nurses and the support of all the medical staff patients do get to tolerate it on the whole. There may be some restrictions activities but I know patients who are very active can even scuba dive with their stoma for example. Some restrictions may be in terms of diet so patients who have a stoma formed from their small bowel the output can be more liquid and therefore they may need to avoid too much fiber in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables and may need anti-diarrheal medication such as Imodium or codeine to thicken the stool and make it more solid in effect constipating them and may need to restrict themselves and what type of fluid they drink and how much they drink but with the help of Imodium after a period of time even the ileostomy output can settle down and patients can slowly introduce more fibre into their diet without any problems. Occasionally people can get dehydrated with Nileostamine and they may need to come back into hospital to be rehydrated and have various medications such as Imodium codeine, instigated and special drinks given to see if it reduces the output to avoid dehydration recurring. People with colostomies, it's more solid, they don't get those same sorts of issues but the bowels can be variable, can be more unpredictable when it works and therefore but because it tends to be more solid often patients rather than emptying the bag can change the bag when the bowel functions. Some patients feel unable to, are concerned about perhaps the odour that can be given off by the stomas particularly if they're unable to tell you know friends that they do have a stoma bag. My experience of looking after patients with this is that they don't have any issues with their friends once they get to know people are very tolerant of patients stoma bags and actually the vast majority of time because it's hidden under the clothes people won't know that someone may have a stoma bag at all. So obviously you know patients will be apprehensive but I don't know of any occasions where there has been any issues from friends, family or members of the public. When accidents occur with the stoma bag, there has by a patient user group a card being produced for patients with bad bowel, with troubles with their bowels or with stomas so that they can show the card at for example restaurants and pubs and it will allow them to gain access to the toilets if let's say they have to empty their bag at short notice or they have a problem with leakage from the bag or if they haven't even got a colostomy bag and they just have trouble with their bowel control then they can have easy access to toilets. It also includes a map of local public conveniences as well for patients to use to help direct them so they can feel more confident of getting out and about rather than feeling tied to their home, to their own bathroom facilities.