Three leaks in one day...

Still about a half an hour left before I go to bed; let's see if I make it to four.

No idea why. I can't figure it out. Obviously I need to change something, but I have absolutely no idea what. My eyes glaze over when I see bags with 4 nouns in them, like Coloplast sensura convex click, or whatever. Each manufacturer seems to produce several, almost but not quite identical, versions of their bags.

No matter how much cavillon spray I carefully apply and how snugly I fit the seals, the skin underneath my stoma is always red with the top layer of skin peeled off; sometimes the sides are like that too. And output is getting out of the hole in the flange somehow. I even tried an Eakin seal, but its thickness seemed to make it even easier for the output to get out, so I have now reverted back to the old seals for now.

I'm worn out and starting to genuinely become scared to do things like leave the house or wear jeans. On the bright side, I am finally beginning to almost see the funny side; I'm more trapped by poo than I ever was with Crohn's; oh sweet irony.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 1/4/2014 7:17:12 PM (GMT-7)

Okay, now I'm getting scared. I'm serious. There is a 4th leak. Minor one, but I can see a slight soilage at the bottom. There was active output a few minutes before; I could feel it coming out. In fact, I can feel some more coming out and it feels like it's getting under the wafer. And it has... only, unusually, at the top rather than bottom this time.

What is going on? If it's a defect in the bag I can't spot it, and anyway the earlier bags in the box were okay. I don't have a different type of bag; all I can do is try one from another box. Thank god some new supplies arrived yesterday, so I'm not about to immediately run out; though at this rate 2 months' worth of bags will be gone in 2 weeks.

I don't know what is happening. Prior to today the last bag lasted 2 and a half days.

Anyway, I need to change the bag for the 4th time... I'm scared :/

I doubt the Crohn's is causing a leak. Have you visited a WOCN recently? Last time I went they had me go prone, sit, and stand to look at how my stomach changes in accordance to my position. Sometimes there's something that works out ok when you are putting on your bag but not when you change positions.

My recommendations would be skip the barrier spray, make sure you are using basic soap to clean the area (like dial), make sure it's dry before you apply the bag, possibly a convex pouch, may use a hollihesive, remeasure your stoma so that you know you are using the right bags....and that's all I can think of right now.

I see stoma nurses so much it's not a big deal to me anymore to go visit one. So that is my first recommendation.

Your stoma is ok!

Has your weight changed?

I had a leak today too. I was exhausted and took a two hour nap. Explosion central. It sucks.

Leak sucks... i did have two leaks in a day and it drove me crazy. Have to go thru the entire painful process again! Red stoma and alcohol paste.

Did you cut the bag hole big enough? Sometimes i do encounter leaks because the output is unable to escape and cause it to be pushed into the wafer and next... the leak!!!

So sorry to hear about your rough day! I hope things have been better so far today. I think skipping the spray was a good idea. I have tried all sorts of products and variations in my wafer changing routine, and have definitely come to the conclusion that less is more! I take off my old wafer, clean with plain old Dial soap...no lotions, perfumes, etc... When I put on my new wafer it is just that, the wafer with a barrier ring and nothing else.

If your skin is always irritated, sounds like there is a good chance you are allergic to something you are using. It could have been that spray, could be the wafer. If you go without the spray for a week or so and see improvement in your skin, that would be the culprit! If not, you may have to try some different brands of wafers until you find something that agrees with you. I tried a lot and found that Convatec are the only ones that keep my skin happy almost all the time.

Good luck!!

Not a single leak today, so now I'm wondering if I did get a few defective bags in a row :/ I hope my stoma isn't in too bad of a state - the skin does feel a bit sore and itchy - but absolutely no way I'm changing this bag tonight :/

@AccidentSurvivor - Yeah, I think the hole was big enough, as I've been using the same precut wafers for months and my stoma has shrunk a bit, if anything.

@Pro - Well, yeah, that was Danny Boyle. If you really want a counterbalance, just go to the Daily Mail website: they can't go a week without slagging off the NHS. But really, I think that was a bit of a dig: in terms of health outcomes, the UK fares better than the US for a much lower % of the GDP. It would be hard to find direct comparison of waiting times, partly because in the US I suspect waiting times depend largely on how good your insurance is. But mostly I haven't done badly with waiting times: 2 weeks for elective surgery, for example. What's going on with the stoma nurses is weird: it absolutely wasn't like that in the first few months after surgery. I have to find out what's changed.

@UCWhat? - I skipped the seal, not the spray <_<. I agree about preferring less to more; I don't even much like using the seals, partly because I think they make the bags stick less well, thus really not protecting that well against leaks. (I use seals mainly to try to protect the skin immediately around the stoma.)

The irritation was just a temporary thing, btw. It does sometimes look a bit sore, but not as bad as it did after the 4th bag change last night.

@Larasmom - I would actually like to try a bottle of Friars >_>. But I know it's not cheap, not to mention the cost of postage and package :-/ I think as things seem better today I would feel a bit guilty about accepting it, at least not without covering the costs. You can mail me about it if you would like... Meanwhile, thank you very much for that kind and generous offer.

Thanks, I'll have a look now, Larasmom :p

Spoke to the stoma nurse on the phone. Seeing her this Wednesday. She sounded normal, even a bit sheepish about not having replied to my email (sent before Christmas) earlier. Paranoia has decreased by 27%... >.>

NCOT
I inquired about shipping of Geritrex BCT to the UK and forwarded the answer to you.

Dan

@TheDuque - I'm not sure :-/ Apart from some chocolate-coated almonds, I don't think I ate anything out of the ordinary on the day of the leaks. And I'm not even convinced it was the nuts which were the problem, as I've eaten nuts before without issues. But I do think something was bugging my digestive tract that day. It seems more settled now. *feels gas* :-/

@polishdan - Hmm. Try again maybe? I could give you another email address if it still fails. Anyway, Larasmom is kindly sending me a bottle, which I shall report back on in due course <_<.

Oh crap, worst time possible to have a leak :/

Thanks, Active, and hope that tonight you sleep soundly through the whole night.

Well, I saw the stoma nurse today.

The parking at the hospital has become a disgrace. For 40 minutes I was circling around, unable to get a space: absolute nightmare. I was running miles late for the appointment. Phoned up the secretary 3x, at least two of them in tears. In the end, a space became free and I totally stole the waiting car's spot: not normally an aggressive driver but I would have got out and physically fought for it at that stage (well, verbally argued).

Long story short: think I'm just gonna park at the Tesco car park from now on. It's about a mile to the hospital from there: wouldn't mind so much if it was a nice walk, but it's along a fairly grim main road; oh well.

Luckily, the appointment with the stoma nurse went less stressfully. She was really nice. She said if I was having urgent problems to contact her direct on her bleeper, and offered to see me regularly once every 2 weeks or a month (I chose once a month to begin with). She gave me some soft convex bags to try; wearing one now. The "soft" isn't a misnomer, it really does feel quite soft. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my stoma, but the shape of it had changed a bit. We talked about more personal stuff as well, basically relating to the possibility of my having Asperger's. She was not surprised. Hmm... well, in a way I am glad I mentioned it to her now because at least she knows why I'm weird!

So, it was a successful appointment. I did, however, manage to leave the box in the hospital toilet (90% sure it was there), so now I have no convex bags left. Absolutely kicking myself when I found out, and by that time it was far too late to go back to the hospital. So I'm gonna have to try to pick up some more bags from the hospital either tomorrow or Friday: feel like such an idiot... :-/