Gastrografin enema questions

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving, I know that I did!  I am having a gastrografin (spelling?) enema done this Tuesday morning.  For those of you who don't know what this is, it is the test that is done for patients with temporary ileostomies to see how their insides have healed before having the reversal (take down) surgery.  My hospital sent a 2 day prep for this exam.  Today is day 1 of the prep.  The diet I followed was VERY restrictive.  I pretty much only had eggs all day with clear liquids.  I also had 10 oz of magnesium citrate which is burning my skin as it is coming out of my stoma.  Tomorrow, day 2, I am only allowed 8 oz of water at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9pm along with another bottle of mag citrate at 8pm.  On the day of the exam (Tuesday), I am supposed to take a Dulcolax 10mg suppository at 6am.  So, these are my questions:

1) How do I stop the burning that is coming out of me?  The liquid is leaking on my skin and I just changed my bag this morning so there was a good seal already.

2) Is the 2 day prep necessary?  It seems like all that is coming out of me is already pure liquid so I feel "cleaned" out?

3) What is the point of the suppository?  I don't understand why I need it because no food has gotten past my stoma since surgery?  I am starting to wonder if this is a generic prep that the hospital sends that is not specific for people with ileostomies. 

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks,

Darlene (Nutz)

i was under the impression that people with ileos should never take those preps. just a day of clear liquids should be fine, since we clean out so fast anyway. i had heard that those were dangerous for us. If i go a day and dont eat much, i have just a liquidy mess that you can smell the bile in, which is probably part of what is burnign you, your stomach is empty so on top of the prep which probably burns too you have that coming out. You need to be very careful that you dont get dehydrated, only being allowed 32 oz of water for a whole day, when we actually need about 100oz just to keep up. You should call your dr first thing tomorrow! Even my preps for scopes werent that restrictive with the amount of water.
good luck!

Thank you guys so much for the responses! I called the hospital and my doctors office this morning only to find out that there is NO prep whatsover! I basically starved myself yesterday and had to empty my bag every 10 minutes after drinking the magnesium citrate b/c it filled like a water balloon:( You guys are so helpful on this site. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. I can't believe the poor communication between our health systems and doctors offices. That was ridiculous. I had a slight suspicion that the prep was simply a generic form for everyone! Once again, people are so ill informed about ostomies...it's too bad:(

Yikes! That sound like a horrible time. I've gotten the 'generic' information before, too, and just laugh I used to confirm with my doc's assistant not to take it...but I don't anymore.

It's so true that the regular doctors don't know much about ostomies. Regular NURSES don't either. It's too bizarre to me that RN's have little knowledge about ostomies or even ostomy care. Most don't even know the basics. I was in the hospital for a minor problem and I had my very first leak. I needed a bit of help putting on a fresh wafer. The nurse told me it had been years since she had to deal with an ostomy!

I mean seriously, is having an ileostomy or colostomy that rare? You would think that doctors and nurses would have at least basic knowledge of ostomies. But when I had my ileostomy surgery, I had to wait six hours beyond my discharge time just so I could talk to an "ostomy nurse". I was thinking to myself, "why can't I just talk to a regular RN"? Crazy!

And when I had my pre-reversal gastrograin, I had more ignorance to deal with. The radiology people looked intimidated by it. I had all that barium coming out of my stoma and filling the bag and they looked sort of weirded out by it. You would think they have seen this type of situation before.

I'm a Registered Nurse. We get around 3 hours teaching in nursing school on Ostomies, and Ostomy care. IF we're lucky. i'm considered the "expert" on ostomies on the night shift where I work. Only because i've had an ostomy, and have a clue what's going on. I've got a friend who works with me, that i'm teaching what I know. Do I always get a perfect stick? Heck no! but I usually get a better one than the so called wound care nurses where I work.