ostomy clothes/support....what works well for you?

All:

It's obvious that some type of support wear needs to be worn with an ostomy pouch...

I could not see myself returning to work without some kind of new underwear or the like..

So, I put the question out to healingwell...what is your experience with ostomy clothes/support and what do you like best and for what activity?  I'll keep it to a small scope...activies of work, around the house, intimate times    and "working" at home - eg, in the garden, washing the car, going to the mall, going to the PTA meeting. etc.

Thanks all and God Bless you!

enigma

I haven't changed what I wear. I wear normal underwear and clothes. If you find right pouch and wafer that sticks well there should be no need for anything else unless you are do some very vigorous physical activity.

If I want some extra support for any reason then I wear a pair of cycling shorts or those big 'bridget jones' support knickers over the top. Other than that my underwear is bikini style or short style undies.

I just wear normal stuff I get the boy briefs underwear that the leg comes down some and I tuck my bag up into them if I want some extra support I wear a belly band. Most of my pants hold it flat on their own but skirts don't so I sometimes wear the top of a pair of hose with those. I also tape the top of my bag to my stomach which keeps it from flopping over my pants!

thats why you tape it to your stomach! then it doesnt do that! it worsk so well, just get some medical tape, press the top to your belly and run a few pieces across it, sticks right there and doesnt' move!

Actually I wear the same clothes as I did before...except. This might sound strange but I read it in a pamphlet or something that I had received in the mail years ago. And it was really about having sex for the first time after getting your ostomy. and for me since Im a male it was important to me that I find something cuz I was feeling uncomfortable about the thought even, and that was with me being very close to my girlfriend we had only been together a year at that point but we had been friends for about 6 years and she was truely my best friend in life and I could just tell her everything. she's actually the only person that Ive ever to this day shown my ostomy besides my mother and my doctors. We're not together anymore but I still trust her with knowing about it and I don't feel it was a mistake or anything like that and Im perfectly fine with her knowing and Im confident thats not something she would talk about with anyone else even in confidence.

Anyways the point is that the pamphlet had said something about a girls tube top you know the things girls use to exercise in, or when their playing a sport, or when they're running. So I had my mom go pick me a few up from sports authority because I was a 19 or 20 year old boy I wasn't about to go into a sporting goods store and buy a tube top which are basically bras. Well she brought it home and I tried it on, put it at the level of my ostomy and obviously it went all the way around because its just a loop shape of material. And I got it tight so that for me it holds the bag really close to my skin so when I have just a t-shirt on there is no bulge or anything to draw attention or make it look or suggest that something may be under my shirt. And as for sex I can just take the bottom of the bag and fold it up and it stays right there in the tube top. And I buy them in a few different colors, white, black, and so on, so that when Im wearing a white t-shirt I can wear a white tube top so that the colors done show through the shirt where someone can see I have something black on but that only comes up from my pants 4 inches or so and then doesnt cover the rest like a shirt would. So its just better to have the same color to again draw less attention. But it was seriously such a good idea that I wear it everyday, and now without it it just doesnt feel right and I feel myself always checking and looking down at my stomach to see if I can see a difference like anyone else such as a bulge. so to me I like using them everyday to hold the ostomy close to my body and take away any bulge or any obvious showing of something under my shirt. And again about holding it close to my body it makes it so when your having sex its not something that is keeping your and your partner from touching stomachs it makes it a lot harder to feel or notice.

I actually highly reccomend this especially for any males that happen to read this. And just get your mother or someone to get them for you if you embarrassed to get them yourself, I still get my mom to get them 8 years later. I just wouldnt feel right, then what would I say oh Im buying this for my sister....which first of all is 38 and all my friends would know that if I happened to see one of them, and 2nd why would I be buying them for my sister no matter her age anyways thats a strange strange gift to me coming from a brother to a sister lol.

I wear the wraps from Ostomy Secrets 24-7. They are FANTASTIC. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't found them, as my wafer/bag was SO OBVIOUS (especially since I had lost so much wait pre-surgery). With them on I can pretty much wear whatever I want. Because my ostomy is a bit below my belly-button, the top of the bag sticks out the top of the wrap if I'm not careful, but that's not a big deal.
I would highly recommend buying a few wraps if you have a permanent ileostomy. They are well worth the price. I would get one that fits more snug for exercise and tight clothing, and then one or two that are slightly looser for sleeping/lounging.
I haven't tried maternity bands yet, but I'm going to try those next.

My pouch is outside of my underwear, so that is between it and my skin.

I don't worry about having leakage in public now, I did at first and used to carry spare bag/wafer/changing stuff with me everywhere whereas now I don't bother. Hasn't happened for 18 years so feel pretty confident it won't start now. Once you get used to it and as you start to heal you will become more confident as well. The stoma size will change over the weeks after surgery so it is important to keep measuring each time you change the wafer/bag to check.

Time in hospital and recovery afterwards is different for each person depending on your health before surgery and what type of surgery you are having done. I have always had open surgeries so healing time takes longer and hospital stay longer but normally in for about 6 days and recovery has taken from 10 days to 5 weeks depending on which pf my surgeries it was. Each person is unique and you take your recovery at the speed your body copes with, it will soon tell you if you're going too fast.

bluegrass, like I said I used to carry a change kit around with me for first couple of years as I was paranoid.

Only had one accident out and it was in a nightclub of all places and thankfully only a very small leak but suffice to say as it was a nightclub didn't have all my stuff with me but was only 5 mins car ride away so went home to change bag. It was because, and remember this was quite a few years ago so don't laugh, I was wearing a really, really tight body - one of those all in one tops with the annoying poppers under the gusset area. It was when I still wearing aone piece system and changed soon after to two piece system as one piece didn't stick very well. Well output came out but body so tight and bag not sticking very well so output tried to leak out. No real problem thankfully as just dashed home but since changing to a two piece then no problems.

The two piece I use in the convatec system with the mouldable flange. I was using coloplast one piece after surgery and for some reason my skin doesn't like coloplast - did at first but then 4 weeks later problems, doesn't stick well and also I can't get the sure seals to stick properly either. Anyway, the convatec has a mouldable flange so now longer use paste or any other filler and it has the normal adhesive ring but also round outside has extra sticking stuff that looks bit like mefix tape, so it has two different types of adhesive and if leaks get under ring bit then they still have to get past mefix type bit. Have a look at convatec website online and it is the esteem mouldable flange I use and you'll see what I mean.

Up until a month ago had been using the cut to fit flanges since first op which was in 1992 and only changed to the mouldable ones when I asked for sample to be sent 6 weeks ago. They are so comfortable that cannot feel them at all, which with the cut to fit ones sometimes could feel it if doing something energetic or physical.

I just contacted all the companies that did the tail clip bags I like, don't get on with the velcro ones, and asked them for samples and I got loads. Some I discounted straight away and others I tried out. Takes a while but worth it in long run. We also had stoma roadshows in UK, we have one in my area next week and they have most of companies there and also clothing and such for ostomates to look at and get samples of. Great idea to have all the stuff in one place and see all new developments.

Do you mean tights? If so wear them with no problem and also jeans, tend to wear the skinny ones and they don't cause a problem either. When did you have your stoma done as it did take me 2 months to wear my jeans again as they rubbed and put pressure on scars.

You can also wear Spanx to conceal when wearing suits/dresses...but I've found that support hose work just fine and a lot cheaper!!! You can even buy just the support part without the hose (Spanx knock off).

I don't wear anything that I didn't before. I do wear undies that I can tuck my pouch into and it holds it in place. I found, for me, that I prefer tighter pants to hold things in place.

I'd suggest going to a mall/major department store and making an adventure of trying different styles of pants to see what you prefer and what works best with YOUR stoma and it's location.