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Posted 10/23/2011 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
so 14 days out of the hospital and i still cant comfortably sleep ? i try to lay the way i ws in the hospital at a slant position but its not as comfortable at home. i lay straight on my back and my head up towards the cealling REALLY uncomfortable i have pain in my abdomen still but not enough pain to take a pain pill. so how do most of you sleep comfortably ??!!! :D

O yeah almost forgot i have been having a "sound" come out when i go into my bag that is LOUD does that normal?does it go away ?

Post Edited (Jackie_0mg) : 10/23/2011 11:17:37 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/23/2011 7:38 PM (GMT 0)
i sleep on my belly. no problem. but i just bend my right leg - the side of the stoma - so i won't lay TOO flat on my stoma and smash it. this way i make enough space for the area of the stoma and bag not to touch the bed. works fine for me. did you have an open or laparoscopic surgery? if you don't have problems with your incision, then you can try laying on your belly with a bit of bending your right leg. there's no reason why you should limit your self that much to a point of sleeping on your back only. one thing though i REALLY do my best to avoid is sleeping on my right side. that's cause for big touble. just few days ago i must have accidentally turned on my right side and i had a blow out :/ lol but it wasn't too bad. but ever since my surgery on July 2010, which is more than a year, it never happened except for this time. i think this time i kinda thought i can risk it, but learned better. now i'm even extra careful not to let it happen again.

english is not my language, so sorry for asking, but what does "go into my bag" mean? if you mean the noises the stoma makes, then the stoma makes real loud noises at the first few weeks after surgery. lol mine was like a huge trumpet :D one day at the hospital she was trumpeting so loud nonestop, that made me so embarrased that i closed the door of my room and didn't leave it till evening - till she calmed down :p but the noises were SO hillarious, that my mom and me were totally spliting our guts from laughing so hard..... anyway, don't worry, that goes away COMPLETELY after couple-few weeks and the stoma becomes totally quiet. mine is now 99% of the time silent!
Posted 10/23/2011 7:42 PM (GMT 0)
Jackie,

Have you tried using extra pillows between your legs or maybe to prop up your back or stomach some? I always sleep on my side w/a pillow between my legs (for my back), but it's helped after my surgeries too.

Are you taking tylenol? That helps, and it's not as extreme as a pain pill. I took it round the clock for a few weeks after my surgery.

The ostomy can be loud for a little while. Mine made such intense noises that I was bummed that my nephews live out of state -- figured I needed little boys to really appreciate them. I just laughed. Mine quieted down a lot, but sometimes it gets rumbly now and then, especially since I've been on the bed rest. It's quieter when I'm more active.

Also, from your other post, I don't think you should be eating mushrooms or popcorn now, not while your stoma is still swollen. You need to wait at least 6 weeks before you eat food w/so much fiber. I'm glad the mushrooms were OK, but it's much easier to get a blockage now than it will be later...... the openings are not as big because there is swelling. You don't want to mess w/that level of risk....
Posted 10/23/2011 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
Crazy. I was about to write the exact same four points that Blueglass did. I ditto her words exactly... especially the one about food. My surgeon said to wait 8 weeks to introduce fibrous foods and then to do it slowly. Now I can eat almost everything I try but I was slow and cautious in the beginning and still am when it is something new.
Posted 10/23/2011 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
The problem is the beds in hospital have a gentle slant with the pillows on top and that is difficult to recreate. The thing I do when I first get home is start of with about 5 pillows. First one is flat on bed along bottom of headboard, second and third and laid in a A shape so they lean against headboard but run down the bed. Fourth and fifth placed over the top on the rest so it makes a sort of ramp. Or you can buy these special things that look like a segment of cheese to use as the ramp.

I gradually use less and less pillows over the next two weeks until I am just using my one ortho pillow. I would suggest taking some pain meds even if it is just at night so you are comfortable enough to sleep, sleep is important.

The noises, yep know all about those. My stoma is always quite vocal, it will settle down and other people won't notice. When mine makes a noise at work in front of customers I just say something like 'can't believe it's grumbling already, it's just been fed' and they don't think anything of it as it sounds sort of like my stomach gurlgling.
Posted 10/23/2011 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
thanks for all the sugestions my surgeon didnt tell me much about how to care for my body in my opinion. i have been of pain meds and any time of medicine to reduce pain but i think i should atart back up because i have been in pain just not enough to bother me .
Posted 10/23/2011 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going to agree with everyone else in terms of the food too. Im quite suprised that you are eating those foods as well, especially the popcorn. I'm well over a year past surgery and I still haven't tried popcorn!
Posted 10/23/2011 11:25 PM (GMT 0)
Who's eating popcorn! Auugh! Would not dare :-)

I have this very creative sleep arrangement. Due to a face nerve pain issue I've gotten, I can no longer sleep on my right side which was my best position with no bag issue. But now I sleep on my left with a rolled up housecoat made into a little shelf to rest my bag on. By the time I wake up I'm usually on my back. Gotta get help with this pinched nerve in my brain stem that makes the face pain (trigeminal neuralgia), but the surgeries are so risky and only done after trails of meds which basically knock you out. Then I have some heart blockage I just found out about that I gotta get further analyzed.

I would take those pain meds if I were you as long as you need them. The need will stop as you get further out from surgery then you will be comfortable at night. Sleep restoreth. Good luck Jackie. Rosemary
Posted 10/24/2011 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
Jackie, have you had a nurse come to your house? Or one you can call or email? Surgeons are not always the best ones for dealing with the details of recovering --- nurses are much more likely to have tips on how to sleep, deal with ostomy noise, etc....

For my recent surgery, my colorectal surgeon told me I'd have to "be creative" with the bed rest and my plastic surgeon said, "It's tough." It was the nurses and PT and OT people who taught me how to get in and out of bed, put on my socks, clean up after myself etc..... just saying it's tough, you're smart, be creative, really didn't help me much at all.
Posted 10/24/2011 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
im defnitly going to be creative tonight with pillows and blankets i personally like to sleep on my side im glad some ppl have mentioned NOT TO leepon the side of my stoma in the hospital when i was on my side they had pillows on my backso i wouldnt rollover last night i tried sleeping on my side and aught my self holding my lil isters arm for some support lol
Posted 10/24/2011 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
I start off on my side but always roll over onto my back, it seems to be something I have taught myself over the years so that I am not leaning on my bag as it fills during the night, I have high output stoma so fills most of the time. After my surgeries I have never been given any advice as to what to avoid, even after the very first one - was just told to eat what I fancied and that was it.

Keep up with the pain meds as you need them until you are comfortable without them, sleep is important in healing.
Posted 10/24/2011 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't sleep well at all the entire time I had my ileo. I was always afraid to roll over and smush the bag and leak. I had to sleep on my back and I just couldn't get comfy.
Posted 10/25/2011 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
so last night i slept good only got up once in the middle of the night to emptymy bag maybe 2x . this afterrnoon i had t leave shool early because i was in pain :/ and i came home and rested i feel A LOT BETTER now. but sleeping on my couch isa lot comfortable!!!!! :D
is there any way of me being able to not have a lotof out put (pooping in my bag) while im sleeping.
Posted 10/25/2011 11:49 AM (GMT 0)
Glad you slept better!

Some people take immodium or lomotil to slow down output and get more sleep. I tried it and didn't like it -- I was so used to getting up from being sick, and it's so much quicker to empty now and I get back to sleep quickly.

You would want to check w/your surgeon now to make sure it's OK to take them.

Output will slow down some too, as your small intestine learns to act more like a colon.... this takes a while though.
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