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Ostomy Education

Endometriosis (pronounced en- doh – mee – tree – oh – sis) is the name given to the condition where cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb (uterus) are found elsewhere in the body. In the UK, around 1.5 million women and those assigned female at birth are currently living with the condition, regardless of race or ethnicity.

**Spoiler alert... You can! Read on for the things to consider...** It is completely normal to find the idea of sports a little daunting after ostomy surgery, but the good news is, if you played contact sports before surgery or want to give it a go, you should be able to do so without a problem. It goes without saying that you should take medical advice after stoma surgery about when to start doing sports again and exercise needs to be built up gradually with the right stoma support. It is essential to build up to be more strenuous exercise and sport.

After ostomy surgery, it can feel super overwhelming when it comes to what you should and shouldn't eat. It's important to remember that whilst following medical advice is vital, a lot of what we are told are general guidelines. No two people who have had ostomy surgery are the same and a lot of it comes to getting to know your body with an ostomy as time passes & a lot of the time, what affects your ostomy may not affect others and vice versa. In this blog post, we will mainly be referring to an ileostomy and colostomy when we use the term "ostomy", although we will briefly refer to a urostomy too and we will state this when...

Many ostomates, including Amy here at Comfizz, worry about eating fruit or vegetables, mainly down to its fibre contents. The same can be said for foods such as lentils, beans, tough skins. The idea of having a vegan diet often feels like swearing to ostomates, but there are ostomates out there who are vegan. A vegan diet isn't impossible with an ostomy, but it may take more time and energy to get it right and involve trial and error.

With Christmas being so close (it's Christmas Day in just a few days), it can be a time of anxiety and apprehension if you have an ostomy, especially if you're new to the ostomy world & this is your first ostomy Christmas. Daily routines change & everything gets mixed up, you forget what day it is & can find the changes hard, especially trying to navigate them with a stoma.

Whether you're new to ostomy life or whether you've had an ostomy for a few years, several years or more, it's normal to come across things that you may find a little more difficult to navigate. It's also normal to also find some things challenge. Not everyone experiences the same challenges but at the same time, no ostomy is the same from person to person. Everyone experiences ostomy life differently.

A stoma is considered to be prolapsed when the bowel protrudes to a larger extent than anticipated. This can vary for the individual, anything from a few centimetres to more than ten. Experiencing a stoma prolapse can be distressing and hard to come to terms with, however, it is usually not said to be serious. An ostomy prolapse must be looked at by a medical professional such as a stoma nurse. A larger bag or larger ostomy bag hole may be needed, for example, to account for the prolapse.

Having ostomy surgery can understandably be a daunting prospect and it's perfectly normal to feel scared & unsure.  Today, we would like to be myth-busters (move aside, Ghostbusters) and take you through some of the below myths to reassure you.

Hot weather - you either love it or hate it! However, if you have an ostomy, it can cause problems. Hot weather can and does cause problems in ostomy life, but everybody is different and is affected to different extents. Knowing how to handle hot weather with an ostomy and how you may need to adapt your daily routine definitely helps and also enables you to feel more in control. Read on for some tips to help make the heat more bearable!

If you are new to the ostomy community, one of the first questions that may be on your mind is ‘how long will my stoma bag last?’. Unfortunately there is no definite answer (annoying I know sorry!). It should be changed when needed, preferably before you have a leakage starting and not so long that you see your baseplate start to give way. As you get into a rhythm of your stoma routine, and you establish when it is safe and comfortable for you to change it, it will become as automatic as getting up and brushing your teeth in the morning.