Is vigorous tennis a nuisance with ostomy bag?

Check out the stealth belt: http://stealthbelt.com/

I think without something like that or a snug wrap (Ostomy Secrets sells one) to support your bag it might be uncomfortable. Also there is the unlikely risk of a ball hitting your stoma... which is why I would lean strongly towards the stealth belt...

But all that said, you can definitely play tennis with an ostomy, you just need to invest a little upfront to find the solution that works for you in terms of pouch support and stoma protection. Can you still play tennis vigorously during a UC flare?!

totally possible. I do all kinds of extremely active sports with my ileostomy. And I definitely don't bother with any of those wraps or anything of that sort.

I also like the lycra shorts. I found core stretches to be very helpful before playing long matches.

Ah supporting underwear... Something tells me I am going to be learning about all this stuff real soon and fast- thanks.

@aaesomeame- by making sure it stays nearly empty, do you mean you time your diet and so on before a tennis match so that you kind of know it wont be very active? Or you just take a lot of potty breaks during play?

I have played squash (rigorous) on a few occasions without issues. I played in a charity softball tournament last fall and as the pitcher I took a hard line drive to the belly from a very big guy. Everyone that knew I had an ostomy took a deep breath including me....fortunately it hit on the opposite side of my stoma and I had a nasty bruise for a week or so. I can't imagine what might have happened had it hit my stoma.....just be careful as I imagine a hard hit tennis ball might hurt also....

Ok, copy that. The hour though? I sometimes play for 2 or 3 hours. I am assuming that if you emoty a bag shortly before play that isnt going to be an issue (nit needing a potty break), assuming one hasn't just wolf down a heavy meal just before play, which wouldnt make much sense anyway.

Matt- I am using tennis as an example of anything in a way- though at public courts where no reservation is required, some are not busy and one can play hours without having to give up a court, and there is no restroom, just bushes at best. So, if you say you'd have to take a potty break during 2-3 hours of play, you mean because you have to pee? Or because the bag is filling up? That's what I am getting at- outside of meals, does the bag really fill up in 2-3 hours? I assume and hope it is more like 4,5, 6 hours? Because 2-3 would sound a bit nerve wrecking when out and about, kind of like UC flare days of always having to keep a restroom in close range, but 4-5 hours is a lot more relaxed. Eg if sitting in back of a plane, it can sometimes be two hours just taxiing out at NY LaGuardia on some days and then say for a short flight the seat belt sign might stay on throughout the flight (say a bumpy one hour flight) so that's 3+ hours right there for no chance at the potty. That's why I posted the other thread too, to get a handle on what the real number is if one needs to push it but without any tension or worry.

Post Edited (Probiotic) : 3/24/2013 6:09:52 AM (GMT-6)

Once you are fully recovered from surgery, your body has adjusted, and you have learned how to manage your new plumbing, you should definitely be able to play any vigorous sports for 2-3 hours without worries or bathroom trips. I even ran three half marathons with clinically classified high output ileo without bathroom stops. And yours should not be a high output ileo because you are going straight to the ileo.

Only word of caution is that vigorous exercise seems to pretty much halt my system. So hardly any output at all. But when I stop. Beware. The pipes are on full force. So for me, after a half marathon, within about one hour I have to empty my bag maybe three times.

Keep in mind that you will be drinking way more than you did pre-surgery. Your questions are all very good and I hope you are getting the information you need but as you can see, everyone is so different and varied. It's much like UC or Crohn's, what works for one, isn't going to work for someone else. Most of it is wait and see how YOU want to do it. So what if you have to pee and empty every hour. Who is going to care??? No one knows that when I go to the bathroom, I am peeing and emptying at the same time. I have flown across the country and overseas since my surgery, I can still comfortably empty in the airplane bathroom. I have emptied behind a coffee bean tree, in public restrooms, on the train to Paris, in other people's washrooms......no big deal.

I play sports, do yoga, have sex, take baths, sit on hottubs, go swimming, lay on my stomach, lay on my side, work full time, eat in restaurants, play with my daughter, ski, snowshoe, skate, lay on the beach in a bathing suit, cook 5 course meals.

You will adjust and enjoy life just as you do now. You will probably wonder why you didn't have the surgery long ago.

I hear ya, awesomeame. Hey, as an aside, since you like to drink- and pee- like a racehorse - which I agree is generally very healthy, does most of it go to your bladder and not the stoma if you sip and don't guzzle? I too like to stay very hydrated, and I realize that takes more discipline without the colon.