HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Thick stools

Support Forums
>
Ostomies
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/1/2009 8:03 PM (GMT 0)
I am having a lot of problems with thick stool. I drink a lot. Anyone have any suggestions.
Posted 4/1/2009 8:11 PM (GMT 0)
sorry I should say I have an ileostomy.... my output is really think and I am having trouble with my bags coming off....I think it may be because the output is thick and sits right at the stoma.
Posted 4/1/2009 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
what are you eating? diff foods make the stool thicker.
Posted 4/1/2009 8:17 PM (GMT 0)
I know over the weekend I ate several pasta items..... but yesterday I only ate chicken noodle soup trying to get it to thin out a bit. Today now... I ate clam chowder and a half of a sandwich.
Posted 4/1/2009 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
the pasta will thicken it up, the noodles in the soup also, and clams can be hard to digest.
I think your food is what is doing it. I am NOT saying you cant eat those, maybe try some apple juice or grape juice along with those, or this sounds bad, but if you arent on the painkillers try a little beer or liquor (not much) but it runs through really fast and makes mine alot more watery than anything else.. The juice should really help though.
Posted 4/1/2009 8:55 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks I will try that
Posted 4/1/2009 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
Have some cake with icing.

Sugar tends to come out of me like water.

Good luck :)
Posted 4/2/2009 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Sugar and caffeine both speed things up for me... juice with your meal, sweet iced tea, and let us know. Are you well hydrated while eating?  I think I would try adding some different fluids to your diet so you can continue to enjoy those pasta items...  pasta alone is a good bland food.  It depends on what you are adding to the pasta or drinks accompanying your meal that can a big difference.

Be careful adding too much fiber to your diet, esp as a meal, if you are already experiencing slow motility.  For some ileostomates, this can cause blockages.  Everyone's body is different.

Posted 4/2/2009 11:06 AM (GMT 0)
Try a fibre replacement drink, or wholegrain cereals?
Posted 4/2/2009 1:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you guys...... yesterday.... I ate some canned fruit and drank grape juice all night last night....I skipped dinner all together and stayed with a liquid diet...with some broth. Still I got up ever two hours and rinsed my bags because my stool was right on my stoma and not going down into the bag. The changed the eakin seal to all the way around my stoma and then put a convex wafer on top so do u think that maybe it is sitting there because its deeper now....if that makes sense. Im going to stay with a liquid diet until this relieves some.... but overall I keep my fiber content under what Im allowed per day.

Posted 4/3/2009 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
Yep, I understand what you mean about "it is sitting there because its deeper now". Whenever my output is thick, it does the same thing. But mine doesn't get that way very often, so it's not a problem for me. I just rub my hand across the top of the bag in a downward motion, and go on about my business. It is only once in a while for me... I don't change anything I am doing cuz it will go right back to watery when whatever I ate passes.

Are you in pain? Do you have a fever?
Posted 4/3/2009 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
No pain...no fever...I feel great. I ate two metamucil wafers today and it calmed it down alot.
Posted 4/5/2009 6:07 PM (GMT 0)
Ostomy nurses at hosp gave me this list of foods that will cause diarrhea/liquid stools:

beans, broccoli, spinach, apple juice, highly spice foods, raw fruits, beer, grape juice high sugar foods/candy, chocolate, prunes/juice, milk, fired foods.

To thicken liquid bowels: eat/drink
bananas, buttermilk, rice, whole wheat bread, yogurt, 1-3 marshmellows.
Posted 4/9/2011 6:11 AM (GMT 0)
I have the same problem depending on what I eat. The thick stool does stick around the stoma, especially when I am laying down.

Pasta, potato chips, pretzels, potatoes, rice - basically anything starchy will make it really thick.

I find that when I eat protien only - chicken breast, pork, steak or other cuts of beef the stool becomes much thinner. When I am having an issue with thickness I revert to protien only for a couple of meals, no starches or vegetables.

Hope that helps.
Posted 4/9/2011 6:13 AM (GMT 0)
Also, I tried rinsing my bags but I think that the water gets under the hole around the stoma and loosens the seal, making a prime haven for leaks and unsealing. If it gets really thick around the stoma/phlange area I take off the bag, use a mosit flushable wipe to clean around the stoma and phlange and put a clean bag on, discarding the used bag. This helps between total changes.
Posted 4/10/2011 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
If I need to make my output thinner then I drink tomato juice which flies through me in about 20 minutes. Usually have opposite problem since last flare but since I have started taking immodium regularly and am still on codeine it seems to be settling down into a much thicker consistency. Only down side is when bowel slows down it produces gas so am having to take simethicone to counteract that. It is a constant battle to get it balanced.
Posted 4/11/2011 3:46 AM (GMT 0)
Yep, it's all about combinations. 3 and a half years and I'm still working at it.

Thickeners: pasta, noodles, bread, crackers, pototo, other thick veggies like winter squash, applesauce with pectin base, bananas, pretzels, anything starchy, yogurt, marshmallow,

Thinners: chocolate, grape juice, alcohol, sugar, fake sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, sucralose, anything sweet and good :-)

Rosemary
Posted 11/4/2013 2:18 PM (GMT 0)
Why is my stool loose one day and like peanut butter the next. Is this ok, or should I attempt to get it loose which is more comfterbol.
Posted 11/4/2013 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
^It's normal to go from having thick output to thin output and vice versa. I have exactly the same. Agreed with you that thin output is more comfortable, though; and makes the bag miles easier to empty.
Posted 11/7/2013 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks to everyone that responded to my situation. This is really new to me after being in the nyfd for 27 yrs.
Thank you all!
Posted 11/12/2014 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the information. I'm having the same problem...I know I don't drink enough. Eating and drinking make me quite sick, but I have thick stool. I have been drinking grape juice. I don't go anywhere because I'm scare of blowing a bag.
Posted 11/13/2014 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
The most enjoyable way to thin things out, is over a glass of "Wine" I find that for me it makes everything almost like water in very short order with no further issues. Good luck!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply