Need ileostomy help

Hello everyone.  I hope you are all doing well.

I had surgery on November 16 removing a segment of my colon and leaving me with a temporary ileostomy.  I was released from the hospital on Nov. 28, and since I have been home I have had nothing but trouble with my ostomy bags.  They leak on a daily basis.  My skin is getting very irritated from removing the bags so frequently.  I am also getting some irritation directly surrounding the stoma which I believe is caused by digestive matter getting around the stoma.  I am using the single-piece, cut-to-fit drainable bags (my stoma is oval-shaped).  I do have a WOC nurse that has made a couple home visits, but she doesn't seem to really know what to do.  She gave me some DuoDerm and also told me to use powder to help protect the skin.  These seem to protect my skin a little bit, but I still have the issue of my bags leaking and needing to change them every day.  My skin just isn't getting a break.  I feel that I am following the instructions for the bag exactly, but obviously I am doing something wrong if it's leaking so frequently.  Does anyone have any recommendations regarding either the leakage issue or the skin irritation?  Thank you for your time!

--CrohnieKerry

Thanks so much for the response, Puddnpie.  It helps to know I'm not the only one who has gone through this.  I'll check into the products you suggested. 

When are you supposed to have the reversal?

As well as the great suggestions from the other posters,you could try using some cavilon no sting barrier spray. It helps protect the skin but best of all in my opinion it helps the flange to adhere to the skin realy well too. You can also get somthing called Hydro frame which you can use as an extention to the flange. I use both all the time and i dont get leaks.

One other thing. Are you cutting the flange hole to the correct size to fit your stoma? The stoma does tend to change insize after the initial swelling etc from your surgery.So if you have the wrong fit then that could be one reason for the leaks. If you havnt measured it for a while it would probably be a good idea to that now. I use Coloplast and there is always a measuring card thingy in every new box of supplies that I recieve.

Let us know how you get on.

I've had an ostomy for many years, and sold ostomy supplies for many years. The problem is that with an ileostomy your stool is much more acidic. The best solution is the eakin seals. They hold up better than the paste, which just gets eaten away by the acidic stool. You can get them in 2 different sized, and form them to fit. I've started just getting pre-cut convex wafers larger than my stoma, I fit the eakin around my odd shaped stoma, and put the wafer over that. As for the painful area around the stoma, there are many new skin barriers out there, just make sure you get one with "no sting." My favorite is 3-M. The barriers help if you need to change the appliance frequently by not ripping your skin off each time, and they prevent a build up of adhesive. I have to change my appliance daily because I have such a short bowel and the stool is very acidic, along with a stoma that doesn't protrude at all any more, and I have no irritation at all with the above products. Good luck.