Repeated rupture of colostomy bag

[Indujoshi]

Hi

Dear ladies

Its truely amazing the amount of knowledge you guys have my mom has a stoma currently she is on gem / carbo regiemn she has a peculiar problem her colostomy bag keeps rupturing leading to changing one almost every second day she says her stools are hard and they stick near the joint leading to rupture again and again she is drinking a lot of water and also taking loperamide as stool softner any advice regarding this peculiar problem would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Katmal-UK]

Hi. You say its changed almost every second day. When I was looking after my late mother I changed her bag for her every day, sometimes twice a day if it required. I take it you or someone changes it when it has anything in it? Maybe worth speaking with yr mums nurse xx

[Indujoshi in reply to Katmal-UK]

Yes

I or my dad does it is being done almost daily since past 2 -3 days

[gmc920]

I don’t have any experience with colostomy bags, but loperamide is actually an anti-diarrhea medication, not a stool softener, so it would cause her stool to become more solid, rather than the opposite. This may have another use for ostomy patients, to reduce drainage, though. Please check with her doctor or nurse to verify if they want her to use something to soften her stools, or maybe the loperamide dose just needs to be adjusted if it’s making the stools too hard. Best wishes!

xx Gina

[Indujoshi in reply to gmc920]

Thanks gmc920

Yes lopearamide is anti diarrhoea medicine she was on it sorry my mistake she is now on some anti constipation syrup comes by the name of zemido here once again sorry

[gmc920 in reply to Indujoshi]

She is fortunate to have you as a caregiver, we all have so much complexity to deal with.

[BeeWild]

Hi lovely I too have a colostomy and chemo really does play havoc with our bowels it’s either constipation or diarrhoea and doesn’t appear to be any in between! Sounds like your mum is having pancaking where stool is too soft to drop into the bag, gets under the sticky wafer bit and lifts it off! So it might be she just needs to make some changes to her diet and add in banana, white bread, white pasta, jelly babies, apple sauce etc to try and firm things up a little but not too much.

I’m a bit confused by your post though as if she is constipated then having harder poo shouldn’t cause issues with her bag it should just drop in there but might be uncomfy passing the stool ?

I know with first line I had carbo and it really constipated me which was really uncomfortable so I used to take movicol a couple of days before chemo to pre-empt the constipation.

I’d also speak to your mums stoma nurse tomorrow they’re great x

Hugs

Bev

[Lily-Anne]

I take my bag off before I shower and put on a clean one after. It sounds like pancaking to me. I had this a lot at the beginning. Your bag supplier will make a powder that you need to order put some in the bag it helps the poo slide down to the bottom

Also drink more water and try laxido or movicol one a day to soften everything

LA xx

[Indujoshi]

Thanks dear

I will talk to him too

[Eriksendi]

I have a Stoma too. My tips - keep the stools soft otherwise if they get too hard it lifts the bag off. Put a small squirt of baby oil into the bag - it helps to stop pancaking. I change my bag at least 3 times a day, sometimes 4. Contact her stoma nurse - they are brilliant. There are lots of different types of bags and products that can help that they can advise you About and make it much easier to manage. I’ve had mine over a year now and luckily have only had one accident and that was due to constipation that lifted the bag off. Hope you get it sorted x x

[PhillipandBettykid]

You might try putting some baby oil in the bag rubbing it around the top and the back of where it sticks to the body. I also use the filter covers but that means that you trap your gas and end up with a balloon on your belly. 😆 As others have said this is pancaking. All of us with stomas struggle with it. Others have given you great advice below. I agree that you need to keep an eye on it and change it more often. That is the way I stop mine from bursting.