hollister vent doesn't work

my bag is supposed to ahve this vent thing, that my ostomy nurse said works very well and doesn't smell at all.

Well, I consistently find my bag bubbled up with gas and I do get smells wafting around. Anyone else have this problem? I did check the seal on the bag, it seems sealed ok. is there a brand that works better?


I just ordered the Devrom tablets, I heard they work for the smells..

Those valves don't do too well with ilieostomies. As BLK pointed out, they get plugged up quite easily.

Also, when they do work it takes awhile to for the air to dissipate out the vent. Your ostomy will put out air faster than air can escape out the vent.

RE: venting out the top. I just tried that and had a big leakage issue :(

With the peroxide, i have to add that each time i empty? Because I empty about 8x a day.

I'm not very good at the "crack open the flange" thing either. I've had numerous accidents/leaks and just gave up :).

I just flip the end of my pouch up and undo the closure and let the stink out. Of course do not try this if your pouch is half full :)

I have never found the vents useful or even functional. It sounds like a good idea but it just doesn't work in my opinion.

As far as smells, I find a reasonable transit time seems to help process everything including the stink. I usually take immodium in the AM and PM and do not stink too bad...or at least not any worse than others.

Of course some foods stink more than others too. For me sugar and carbs really ramp up the stink factor...

But I cant say I ever smelled any smells wafting around unless I was getting ready to spring a leak or didn't quite have the bag sealed to the wafer. Although at first I did imagine I could smell some stink on occasion I am convinced it was my imagination. I hope anyway... :)

Post Edited (MeanDean) : 10/15/2013 8:42:43 AM (GMT-6)

I empty when it's about 1/3 full. That seems to be when I feel the weight of it, although I have just gotten a support garment so I hope that helps taht issue

     I use Reliamed drops...comes in a bottle, green in color.   Does the trick for me.  As for the vents...useless!

The filters on Convatec bags do not work for me at all, not even when the bag is brand new and totally clean and dry. And after a couple days the filter starts to leak, even when I have it covered with that little sticker they send with the bags. For some reason the Natura Plus pouches with NO filter only come in transparent, not tan. So, to get a Convatec bag without a filter that isn't clear, I have to get the Sur-Fit Natura, which are fine, but a bit more plastic-y and even the Opaque ones are kind of see through. I keep a supply of both pouches on hand.

I have found that the Hollister filters work much better for me....at least for a few days. My problem with switching to Hollister for good is that they are the only system I have ever had a leak with. I do really like them though, and may order a box of wafers and bags to have, and give them another try too.

There is possibly some risk with b_i_s_m_u_t_h (devrom/pepto/etc) though - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4818163

I think I do recall trying pepto for stinky poo a couple years ago and if I recall correctly it did seem to help somewhat sometimes. So I guess as long as any negative effects are reversible it can't hurt to try it.


You might consider taking some magnesium. I occasionally take magnesium and also get some from my multivitamin that I take fairly regularly. If you google search magnesium and odor or magnesium and deodor you will find a lot of info that may be relevant. Even if it doesn't help it probably wont hurt to take a little magnesium anyway.


Might also think about digestive enzymes. I often take a digestive enzyme when I eat a large meal with a lot of different ingredients, taco salad comes to mind as the usual offender. Seems to help me not burp it up a couple hours later.


But as I mentioned earlier if I stay away from carbs/sugars then I probably have less odor than the other stinkers in the house. Of course not eating carbs/sugars isn't easy but once I stopped for a significant amount of time then I found the desire for them diminished significantly.


I did mention immodium (loperamide) earlier. I do take that to slow everything down but I am not sure that is necessary since I have mostly stopped eating carbs/sugars. Maybe I will go without loperamide for a couple weeks to see what difference, if any, that occurs.


Then again, possibly just eating on a schedule with a good amount of time between meals may slow transit time enough that taking the immodium is superfluous anyway. Not sure, maybe it is time to run some experiments again...experimenting is always fun...


Anyway, keep us updated how it works for you. Maybe I will order some for the stinkers in my house so thhey will stop stinking up the throne I kneel before a few times a day.



ps - sorry for the underscore between the letters but this forums word filters seem to be configured to filter the word bi****h for some reason...probably too close to the word used for female dog???

Post Edited (MeanDean) : 10/21/2013 8:30:14 AM (GMT-6)