Posted 6/28/2015 9:13 AM (GMT 0)
I had my first ever leak yesterday - I know that's pretty good going, in 6.5 months, only having my first now! But it did throw me a bit!
I'm not really sure what caused it, I think it may be a mixture of things. I had put a new bag on that morning, as usual. I'd already used that box of bags & seals, so it wasn't a faulty box (though I get it could have been a faulty bag/seal in the box). I was wearing very tight trousers, but I've worn those specific ones a dozen times before and I always wear tight jeans anyway.
I'd had a smoothie about two hours before the leak, and I think this was the main culprit, even though I've had the exact same smoothie a few times with no mishaps. I'd only emptied my bag about ten mins before the leak, and I didn't notice anything wrong (though I didn't look especially). I felt a weird tickley sensation around the bag & pulled back my waistband to see output going everywhere! Luckily I was at home, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I panicked a little about how to get everything off without output going everywhere! I managed it fine though, and when I took the bag off, there was loads of output sitting around the opening of the wafer and loads more output came flooding out of my stoma, almost like it was waiting right inside it. I think the smoothie I had came out literally all at once, and there was serious pressure being put on my stoma to push it out, so the pressure managed to push through the seal/bag to get out, probably not being helped by the tight jeans restricting the amount of flow dropping into my bag in enough time. It was strange though, when I took the bag off, at the point where the leak happened, the seal was still stuck to my skin, it was like the output had gone between the seal & the bag wafer to come out? Weird...
I got through it anyway! My stoma did feel a little funny for the rest of the day, which made me think more that there was just serious pressure, and it strained it a bit.
What do people do about leaks when they aren't at home though? Because in just those few minutes, the output had gotten all over my jeans, I wouldn't be able to stay out in them! Obviously I keep an emergency bag change pack in my handbag when I'm going out, so I can change the bag. But if it were happen again, I still think I'd need to go straight home to change my clothes anyway! I wouldn't like to think that a leak would ruin my day if I were out for the day! Hopefully it won't ever happen again, but any suggestions on how you all handle leaks away from home? Thanks guy :)