Getting Acclimated

Hello all,   I am new to the forum because I am new to my ostomy. Here is a little of my back story.  I am 25 years old and was diagnosed with UC only about 20 months ago.  During that time I met with various docs and ran through a number of treatments (asacol, 6mp, pred, enticorte, remicade, enemas, etc.) with varying and limited success. Since the doctors were never able to put my disease into remission they recommended surgery and after pushing it off a number of times I had a colectomy and j-pouch surgery with a temporary ileostomy at the beginning of the month.  As a result of surgical complications I actually required another surgery to fix a hole and spent 13 days in the hospital.  So now that I find myself at home and resting (for only about a week to date) I have a few questions I was hoping some of you surgical success stories can help me with.   First, while I am ecstatic to be free of the symptoms of UC, so far my ostomy has seemed awkward and uncomfortable.  A lot of people in the forum discuss how much they love theirs and I am just curious if there is a period of acclimation to get to that point.    Also, after meals or at random my osteomy passes gas which is sometimes loud and would be embarrassing in a public setting.  Are there any recommended methods to controlling this?  Perhaps keeping a food journal to account for the foods that cause the most gas.    Even after reading everything I could pre-surgery I still have what seems like a million questions.  Probably because of all the free time I have these days.  Well any help would be greatly appreciated.   Thanks

See if you could get a two piece system with an ostomy belt. The ostomy belt helps a lot with weight pulling down. I also started using sure seals over the wafer and combined with the ostomy belt I hardly notice it.

During the first two months my stoma would make noise and I would muffle it by resting my arm over the stoma. It still makes noise from time to time but it isn't really loud. GasX worked for me during the first month.

lol i'm still not back to work yet too, so i have sooo much time on my hands as well.

glad you're feeling good, that's the most important thing - that's what mostly made me love my stoma.

i had my lieostomy surgery July 8th this year. the noises go away with time.... i know what you mean lol, at the first days post op i thought OMG i cant go in public any more.... :( lol there were days i just closed the door of my room at the hosp (luckily i had to be isolated, so i had a single room ;) and i just didn't come out of there, cuz i was sooooo embarrased. but thank godness, it was completely gone after 2 weeks or so. i did notice that cottage cheese causes me extreme gas, all beans too, so i don't touch those. now i have gas only at night - i know, cuz when i wake up in the morning the bag is full of air.

yes, there's a period of acclimation to it, it's hard at first, cuz you're not sure how to manage it, but once you've got it, it's really a peace of cake taking care of it, its really not that big of a deal, and once you feel that way, the existence of your ostomy won't bother you at all, you'll get busy and will get on with life, you'll forget it's even there. when i get busy, i forget it's there. newshiny - that belt you mentioned, sounds like it's worth a try - thanks for the idea :)

any other questions you may have, please ask away.

Welcome UC Rookie,

There is a definite period of acclimation, and things get so much better with time! I had a lot of gas the first couple of weeks after surgery, too, which is normal. Now, I only have it overnight or when I eat on an empty stomach. One time, I had a lunch meeting at work and rested my right forearm over my stoma to muffle it, just in case it decided to be chatty!

The other thing that took some getting used to was having the weight of a full pouch attached to my stomach. To alleviate that, I make a habit of emptying every time I go to the bathroom to pee, so I don't let it get full and heavy.

I have also figured out which foods cause gas and try to stay away from them, unless I'm going to be home, and I don't care if my pouch fills up like a balloon!

I was sick with Crohn's for 7 years, so being disease free since my surgery in 2006 has been a miracle and a blessing! I'm so healthy now and am very active and work full time, so most of the time, I forget it's there!

Hope that helps, and please feel free to ask any questions you have. We're all here to help!

Cecilia

if you tape the top of your bag to your stomach, it helps with the weight problem, also tucking your bag up into your undies helps with that too.

until you are about a month to six weeks out you have more gas than normal, but after that it will start to calm down. Keeping a food journal right now wouldnt be that helpful because everything is going to give you gas! If you wanted to do that, probably start at least three months out. And also, foods that give you gas one time may not the next time.
I suggest that you take a gas-x when you get up in the morning, then another mid day.

My problem with the gas is that it blows the pouch up so much it has actually had to be changed and it is sort of painful.  The doc wants me to drink Boost but it gasses me so much it has blown the pouch off.  Out in public it seems like there is enoug background noise you can't hear "privey's indescretions", but she sounds loud and clean when it is quiet here at home.  Silly littlr girl sure seems  to have a mind of her own and I know it is brainless....