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Marshmellow trick?

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Posted 4/25/2011 12:37 AM (GMT 0)
Just curious, had this statement in my book that was given to me at the hospital "....eat a marshmellow 30 minutes prior to changing your appliance (eg, wafer) to slow down your system.." And, then, one of the home health nurses that came by said one of her patients ate a couple of marshmellows the night before and that worked to slow their system down so they could change easier....

Anybody know about this? Does it work?
Posted 4/25/2011 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
We were told that as well to help slow things down... also a teaspoon or two of creamy peanut butter supposedly will do the same thing.
Posted 4/25/2011 2:28 AM (GMT 0)
I do this. If I eat them right before my change, it does help stop the flow for a short while... most of the time. As we all know, stomas are never exactly predictable. One marshmallow is not enough for me... I have to consume about 6. If I eat them too early it does nothing to stop the flow come pouch changing time.

Not only do they help during pouch changing times, they are also wonderful for thickening up output anytime.
Posted 4/25/2011 10:53 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, I used to do the marshmallow thing too. But then I started just changing when I hadn't eaten in a while and it's fine.

Also, for some reason, every time I eat syrup, I don't have output for HOURS after. It's seriously the weirdest thing! Totally scared me at first! But now I'm just curious why.
Posted 4/25/2011 1:04 PM (GMT 0)
Syrup for pancakes and waffles???? I'll have to ask my husband if there is a lag after consuming that which is not very often though.
Posted 4/25/2011 9:40 PM (GMT 0)
Marhsmallows have a binding agent in them so that thickens the flow and slows it down, in marshmallows it is normally geletine but can also be pectin. I never worry about doing anything to reduce flow before changing, once you have become comfortable with changing the bag it is surprising hpw quickly you can do it. I've got mine down to about 3 mins now as use the mouldable wafers so don't have to cut the hole anymore, much quicker.
Posted 4/26/2011 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
     Not sure about slowing the output but I know it thickens it.

     When I change my appliance I do so first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything.  Seems like my stoma is still asleep then and gives me a chance to get it done. :-)

Posted 4/26/2011 7:03 PM (GMT 0)
Dillon always used to eat 3 or 4 about a half hour before changing and it worked very well.
Posted 4/28/2011 7:46 AM (GMT 0)
I was told to eat marshmallows, or bread prior to changing my ileostomy. I never could tell that it made any difference. the only thing I could tell that helped was taking Immodium. I wont reveal how much, other than to say, WAY more than is recommended. Otherwise, i was emptying all the time. I had enough problems with leakage, without being two minutes late emptying.
Posted 4/30/2011 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
For me, the Marshmallows work like a CHARM. I eat 3-4 about 20 minutes to a half hour before changing. Peanut butter and/or bread does nothing. And I take Immodium (6-8) a day, so that doesn't really help with changing the ostomy so much, more for general help.
I also find that changing my ileostomy works best in the evening, or several hours after I've eaten. In the morning my ostomy is really active, so that doesn't work so well.
Good luck!
Posted 5/1/2011 1:17 AM (GMT 0)
I change in the evening too. My stoma is too active first thing in the morning. I have no idea where all that output comes from. Whether I eat at 4 p.m. or 9 p.m it is still outputting in the morning. It is quiet from about 9 am to noon, but that does me no good on the days I work. So, I change after work around 5 p.m. Just try to eat an early, light lunch and things generally go okay in the evening. I eat the marshmallows right when I walk in the door, and usually they are taking effect by the time I get my stuff set up and ready to change. My stoma does sometimes spew while I am changing, which is the main frustrating thing about having an ostomy for me, but I have learned some things that help me deal. One is simply wrapping paper towel strips around my stoma like a little hat to catch anything. That, combined with slowing the output with marshmallows seems to work best for me. I do take an Imodium on an empty stomach in the afternoon too, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Perhaps need to try more than one tablet.
Posted 5/1/2011 4:28 PM (GMT 0)

Blueheron:

Yeah, I can't seem to do any morning things....there is output when I wake up..then I have to eat breakfast, and assuming (for arguements sake) that I would be off to work, I would have no time to change in the morning...I have done most (if not all of my changes) in mid-to-late afternoon...when I'm back at work, I guess I will be doing them at 5PM as well....I always thought I was a "night person" anyway.....

 

Regardless, one thing I can say, I will be able to get to work much earlier....as opposed to UC days when I had to get up and use bathroom 2-3 times in 1-1.5 hours..waiting on that final bathroom trip before I could go out the door....now, even though I won't be at work probably for another 4 weeks, I will probably get up when I have to empty....eat a little breakfast, do the usual morning routine, then head off to work and get in way before 8AM...which, will allow me to leave way earlier than 4:30.....so,  Iwould change bag after getting home.....weekends of course would be much easier.....and, I will try the marshmellows after hearing so much about them...

As far as immodium.....I'm not really enthused to take that unless I really need it.....

Thanks!

 

Blueheron said...
I change in the evening too. My stoma is too active first thing in the morning. I have no idea where all that output comes from. Whether I eat at 4 p.m. or 9 p.m it is still outputting in the morning. It is quiet from about 9 am to noon, but that does me no good on the days I work. So, I change after work around 5 p.m. Just try to eat an early, light lunch and things generally go okay in the evening. I eat the marshmallows right when I walk in the door, and usually they are taking effect by the time I get my stuff set up and ready to change. My stoma does sometimes spew while I am changing, which is the main frustrating thing about having an ostomy for me, but I have learned some things that help me deal. One is simply wrapping paper towel strips around my stoma like a little hat to catch anything. That, combined with slowing the output with marshmallows seems to work best for me. I do take an Imodium on an empty stomach in the afternoon too, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Perhaps need to try more than one tablet.

Posted 5/1/2011 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
It's a strange transition for me.... my stoma is very quiet in the morning, and my disease used to be very active in the morning.... and now my stoma is most active late afternoon/evening.... sometimes I need to empty every hour then for two or three or four times, and now I need to learn to plan to take lomotil or immodium if I'm out in the evening (of course, I never used to have energy to go out in the evening... so it's a happy problem to have).
Posted 5/1/2011 7:14 PM (GMT 0)
Mine is more active in evenings but can still change it without usually having a problem. I have got my changes down to about 3 minutes once I had all stuff out. I use the mouldable wafers so no need to cut to fit and much easier to use.

Until last week I was having to take 8 immodium and 6 codeine a day to slow output down due to bad CD flare but the azathioprine and humira have kicked in and output now nearly back to normal so have cut down on the codeine to twice a day which I have to take for neck injury and immodium just at night before bed. If I'm going out I take the immodium earlier and maybe one codeine as well just to get it to behave as still quite haven't got my coinfidence back with it yet, that wil take time as it flared so badly and took so long to get it under control.
Posted 5/1/2011 7:36 PM (GMT 0)
My husband's is not active at all in the morning as long as he doesn't drink or eat anything on the morning he is doing a wafer change. Did a full change today and it took a few minutes....he loves when it cooperates like that...lol.
Posted 9/11/2019 12:33 AM (GMT 0)
I still haven’t managed to learn how to change my pouch by myself. Which means I have to have my bag changed when my mom or my sister can help me. Which means I have a hard time doing it on my body’s schedule. Which I still don’t understand anyways. But I was wondering if eating marshmallows would help slow down or stop output long enough to change my bag. How many should I eat and how long should I wait before changing my bag? That is my main question.
Posted 9/3/2020 8:05 PM (GMT 0)
Yep, marshmallows work great...3 of them half a hour
before you change a pouch or whole appliance...
amazed how quiet your stoma gets🙃
Posted 1/8/2021 7:00 AM (GMT 0)
Does eating marshmallows not cause anyone gas from all the sugars??
Posted 1/8/2021 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
They don't cause gas for me. They do stop the flow of output. When I eat 3....they completely stop everything for 24 hours.
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