Homemade solidifying agent!

Is this supposed to have some practical use for us?

I think this is very cool, and thanks. Just a few questions --

Are you sure it's safe? I.e. could there be something in the alternatives that could be harmful to the skin .... are they exactly identical or just close?

What's an occular estimate?

Are you a chemist?

I learned here about using hydrogen peroxide instead of M9 drops, for odor, which is another cheaper alternative. I've been doing that for quite a while (even though my insurance pays for M9), and I figured it was safe since people use the hydrogen peroxide for mouthwash and the stoma skin is like the skin inside the mouth. However, when I mentioned this to my nurse, she was wary..... but I haven't had any problems....

Of course, the nurses deal all day w/people who follow wild things they read on the internet so are kind of predisposed negatively..... so just wanting to get a little more info.

I've never actually used a gelling product.... my output tends to be thicker most of the time.... but nice to know about options.

oh now I get it!I had no idea that people were using products to sollidify what's in the bag.

Pluot said...
Very cool. I feel like this is a dumb question (maybe it violates a law of physics...) but does it change the volume of what's in the bag? Or is it like 100 cc of liquid becomes 100 cc of gel?

Hey maybe someday you'll go work for 3M or Coloplast on designing new medical materials for us!

It doesn't change the volume of what's in the bag. It acts like a sponge that expands when saturated.
I am interested to test it with oily output. I wonder if it would inhibit its absorbing ability.
And yeah, I would love to end up at one of the major companies :)

B'Dereh said...
oh now I get it!I had no idea that people were using products to sollidify what's in the bag.

We learn something new each day as they say. :)

I tend to use a lot of it ever since my surgery. I've had too many leaks due to watery output making it's way underneath the flange.
Yesterday when I was 60 miles away from my dorm, I had a major leak. Thankfully I had a spare bag with me, but no scissors! I had to rip out the hole with my fingers, thankfully hydrocolloids used in wafers aren't that strong.

On the side note, I have just received my Friar's
Too bad today in the morning I changed my wafer. I can't wait to try it out :D

blueglass said...

OK, so "occular estimate" = eyeballing..... LOL...

Exactly!

blueglass said...

I think I read somewhere that there's something in grape juice that makes one of the gelling agents not work. Do you know anything about that? Interesting because grape juice works so well for me to thin things when they are too thick.

I don't know anything about that to be honest. I will try to find out something about it, do some tests next week.
However I somewhat doubt it would interfere with a polymer; But then again I'm far from an expert in this topic.

This is a cool site with a history of stoma and other useful info:
http://www.stomaatje.com/history.html
People over the years had some ridiculous ideas, like using mercury as a laxative...

Hello Wrikisli,
I'm wondering which country you're in, where grape juice is not available?

It's a neat idea. Kudos for creative thinking. Personally I'd like to be able to make a home-made bag. I always worry about the future: war breaking out, petrol being rationed, essential supplies not being delivered to hospitals. And zombies. Never forget the zombies.

Also thanks for this link:

http://www.stomaatje.com/history.html

It looks like an interesting site and I shall bookmark it.

I need something that's kind to my poor old skin at the moment <_<.

Even better idea about using a condom! :p But seriously, I know what you mean about letting the peristomal skin breathe. The stoma itself, fair enough; the small bowel was never designed to see the light of day. But it can't be good for the skin around the stoma to have something stuck to it permanently. If ever you get anywhere with that particular idea, please post it on this forum!

One day zombies will walk the earth, my friend. One day. I have seen enough films and read enough books about zombies to have absolutely no doubt about this... ¬_¬

Thank you. For whatever it's worth, I don't think your emotional intelligence seems like it's at zero.

Good stuff, wrikisli.

Lol NCoT- I am with you on this idea of being prepared for all contingencies including zombies haha. Actually I love the zombie genre- loved the book World War Z as well as the ongoing Walking Dead series, and the classic flicks- silly but fun stuff and it was just over half a century ago that advanced civilizations saw periods of Hobbesian anarchy in much of Europe.

We should look at the bright side- easier to contemplate (not easy, just easier) how to make homemade ostomy supplies than to make say, homemade biologic drugs, or Imuran/6MP or whatever.

maybe 2 forums are needed :

ostomies lite ........ for the mechanical/practical issues

ostomies heavy ........ for the ......  heavy stuff !

Wrikisli- what is the secret to a good quick and safe bag swap? Just yesterday I got fooled into thinking that, since there had been no output for an hour, it was a safe time to try my first ever swap of just a bag, and while standing no less-- lol, the stoma was feeling evil and low and behold, the second I unclipped the old bag, it began firing out like a garden hose with enough pressure to spit the mush half way across the room before I even had a chance to grab for some Tp! I spent half an hour cleaning up nooks and crannies in the bathroom. Blueheron seems to have it down to a science even on the side of a mountain cliff.

Heh, I'll bookmark that "In Case Of Zombie Attack" link, too.

I think the main problem with condoms for me (apart from the minor embarrassment of buying them <_<) would be getting it to stay on. Mine is pretty much at its widest at the base. I'd like to try though; it just would be nice to be able to let the skin breathe for a couple of hours each day.

Thanks for the recommendation! My stoma nurse was going to order some Salt bags for me to try, but they haven't arrived yet. Just googled Dermacol and I see it's a kind of collar: I'm seeing the nurse tomorrow, so I'll definitely ask if she can order that for me.

@Probiotic - I still haven't read World War Z >_<. I'm gonna order that and put it on my kindle: enough is enough. I can't consider myself a true Zombie aficionado until I've read WWZ. Do like the Walking Dead, though: waiting for the 3rd series to come onto British TV. (If Sky have bought the rights to it, like it has with so many other US shows, I'll have to buy the boxset :-/) Also, if you're into video games at all, the Walking Dead videogame is meant to be really good. I'm gonna get the game at some point.

(Back to Wriskli again): Colostomy bags on a 2-piece sound like a good idea. Wouldn't you get through several bags a day though? I do like the idea, though, as I don't much like draining and cleaning the bag - not several times a day at any rate.

(And back to Pro): There is no surefire secret. In time you'll probably find that your stoma is a lot more active at certain periods of the day than others. Mine is most active in the evening after dinner. So I wouldn't change it at 8pm unless I had no choice. I'd probably be best off changing it at 7am, but I'm never up at that time... :-/ So I change it in the afternoon or late evening and hope for the best.

Edit:

It is really a shame that there isn't enough money in this market. I think there are many relatively easy fixes form some problems, like "backing" out the output or pancaking. IMO that is why the bags themselves arent as advanced as they could be.

I agree with this. I can't help wondering why we don't have better solutions for ostomies, really. I'm tired now and not putting it very well, plus I do not have an inventor's mind. If I did, I would try to invent a better solution myself.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 5/22/2013 3:45:59 PM (GMT-6)