Stoma bag leaking during the night

[Brian1977]

I just got home from hospital after a 2 and a half week nitemare stay in hospital after very complicated surgery to remove my whole colon. I was OK in hospital because I couldn't get any sleep but the past 2 nights I'm that tired I've woke up and my bag has leaked all over the place my poor wife is shattered too. They said i would need to wake up during the night to empty the bag but I'm that tired I've not woke up. Just looking for some advice for tonight as I won't be able to speak to my stoma nurse until Monday thankyou

[Butcharts]

Try changing your eating habits. Have your main meal at lunchtime, and eat much lighter food later in afternoon.

[MyStar86]

I am nearly a year into having my stoma and I still have to get up multiple times in the night to empty it however I don’t sleep so I am able to but maybe you could try setting and alarm for half way through the night that’s how I got through the initial phase of the vicious high output I would set one alarm for 3am empty my bag then go back to bed and that helped a lot so it’s worth a try or you can take an Imodium at bedtime if it’s a watery nighttime output as that will slow it down. Sorry you are going through this but it does get better and easier to manage. Take care and I’m always here because I know how horrible it is at the start you basically have to learn to eat and live again but soon it will get into a pattern xx

[mhoam in reply to MyStar86]

I found the active ingredient in Immodium, called Loperamide, is better for thickening the output. Over the counter Immodium is in a capsule which is designed to stop the ingredient being absorbed in the small intestine so it works in the colon, for "normal" diarrhoea.

Brian1977 please talk to your stoma nurse and GP regarding the use of Loperamide to slow down the ileum and thicken your output. I still have to get up a couple of times in the night. It does get easier over time.

Good Luck

[MyStar86 in reply to mhoam]

I never had any issues with the Imodium instants they always worked for me and my stoma nurse said they were fine to use but to be fair the other are a lot cheaper and you can get them on prescription too.

I find codeine helps me as I’m still in a lot of pain waiting for further surgery but taking codeine slows my output down a lot I take it 2/3 times a day xx