Stoma Damange

Gizz

I am having problems with my stoma every since my surgery. It keeps getting worse. I am going to a wound care center for this, but it seems not to be clearing up. I hurt so bad and don't know if I will ever get this healed. I now go 2 times a week, I feel I need to change my flange every day and do a good cleaning of my stoma area, but the flanges are really expensive and my skin is so irritated where the flanges sit that I would be better off with nothing covering the stoma, if I had another way to contain the poop that comes out of the stoma. My question is: Has anyone had this experience of their stoma being eaten by their own poop and ever come out with it healing and getting under control. I am so afraid to eat anything that will cause me to make poop. I have been on kind of a liquid diet and a minor amount of solid food. What are your ideas to help me?

Skyemberr

I would try to keep the skin around the stoma as dry as possible using the cavilon skin barriers, and also check to make sure I was wearing the correct shape of bandage. I had to use a concave bandage or I would leak.
The other thing that seemed to help was using an Eakin seal inside the bandaging to keep it from leaking. The seal helped a lot with that but not every ostomy user has eakin seals. Definitely ask the wound care nurses about those if you do not have them.
Good luck!

Jayne

Agree with Skyemberr, if the wound clinic does not have an ostomy nurse, can you contact the hospital where you had the surgery? They are specifically trained to deal with the types of issues you are having. I developed a severe allergic reaction to the adhesive used to glue the pouch to my skin and had to go without it for a bit without it while the abcess healed, and the ostomy nurse helped me through that. I'm really sorry to hear the distress this is causing and fully empathize but don't give up, there are medical professionals who do this for a living who can help you!

cllinda

It took me almost a month before my nurse found the proper brand of products that I could use and would stay on my body. My skin was bleeding and I was getting so discouraged. The thing would leak in the middle of the night and I would be showering and changing it again. My belly had kind of a weird shape and it took the ostomy nurses quite a long time to figure out the right product for me. I really couldn't do much because I was always afraid of leakage or product failure. I think it took three different brands and lots of tears before we found a solution to help me. I even considered suicide because I was so distraught.
Talk to your team. Find a different nurse to help you find the right combo of products to use. Rings, puddy, powder, and so much more is available. But you have to keep trying. Keep asking the nurses. Keep going to get new products. Get help.

JaneA

You can also call Hollister, Convatec or Coloplast and ask to speak their wound care nurse. They are excellent. I had terrible burning of my skin when I began my mop-up chemo after my APR surgery. The Hollister nurse told me how to "crust" the area around my stoma with stoma powder to help protect and heal my skin. She also suggested switched to the CERA PLUS barrier which helps heal the skin. She sent me samples of that barrier, and my skin healed right up with that. We'll all here to help you through this.

Gizz

Thank-you all for your respond. I was just at my wits end. But I went to the wound center and had a different nurse this time who took the time to deal with my issues and she had come up with something that is working so much better. So far no pain for a whole day and it felt good to eat some stuff again without worrying what my poop will cause. I have also heard of the eakin seals and how they hold up better.