Stoma shorter after two years?

Last week I had several different things going on and was pretty stressed.... I made some bad food choices (too much, too fibrous) and had some pain behind my stoma and cramping. Perhaps a partial blockage, but my stoma kept working, and I didn't have the horrible nausea that I've had on previous blockages.

So Monday at work (4 days ago) my stoma area was hurting all day. I got home and took off the wafer, and my stoma was really swollen, like after surgery, and it was bleeding, and a little purple around the edges. So, I cut the wafer bigger, and had instant relief.

I was nervous I might leak when the swelling subsided, so Tues morning I changed again, still swollen, not as bad, so cut a little bigger than usual, smaller than the previous day. Thurs (yesterday) I changed again, and now my stoma is smaller than I've ever seen it -- I mean 1/2 inch shorter or so; the diameter seems what it was.

My surgery was about two years ago, so I'm familiar with the ordinary ways my stoma changes size as it does its thing, but this is different. Fortunately, it seems to work fine, and other than a little burn on the skin around my stoma, I seem no worse for the wear.

Waiting to see if it goes back to how it was.... the change is enough that I can feel through my one piece pouch, and it's still shorter.

I wonder if the issue is that I wear a convex wafer -- could it be that the wafer usually pushes my stoma out, but when I cut the wafer bigger, it no longer pushed and so my stoma went back in some? Still seems smaller than before I wore a convex wafer, though.

Any thoughts?

just hearing the fact that there are others eating spicy food with this is making me salivate....cant wait to eat some again!

when you have a blockage is it just that food is getting stuck in the plumbing? and if it works its way lose does it come out in a torrential downpour?

what are the ways to help prevent blockages?

Windy city, sorry I meant last weekend .... the bad choices were on Saturday -- the blocked feeling started at night, and I was not right on Sun and Mon.

I checked w/my nurse who said, "Stomas are never totally perfect, and sometimes have little variations in size and shape over time." She thought it was a blockage and also suggested I talk to my gi about an ileoscopy to see if I'm having any Crohn's activity (that was my fear). I have an appt next month, will wait until then.

Touching my stoma through my coloplast sensura convex light one piece (me too Christine), it feels like it's bigger already.... just was weird to have it look so different.

dgtracy, absolutely, eating spicy foods has been one of the perks of surgery (along with eating beans, veggies, ice cream, dairy, wheat etc..... but just not all in the same day!)

The blockages usually happen right behind the stoma, as to construct it the intestine is folded over like a turtleneck.... the muscles and fascia around there can contract and make the opening smaller, and it's already smaller than your regular intestine. To prevent blockages right after surgery you have to be very careful about what you eat -- low residue food, lots of liquid, and chew, chew, chew (your stoma will be swollen then).

For me, mostly I've had trouble in the summer -- just need a lot more hydration, and so high fiber foods that are mostly fine in the winter can get jammed. So if it's really hot out, I drink vitalyte instead of water and watch the fiber in my food.

Grape juice can help move a blockage through. Things like movement, knee to chest exercises, hot baths, hot tea, etc can help. If you start vomiting and can't work it through, you have to go to the ER. I have a friend who had to have surgery because she ate half a pack of raw mung bean sprouts (they were 0 points on weight watchers and she wasn't thinking).

There are other reasons for blockages like adhesions from surgery and twisted intestines that are not food related... so it is something to be mindful of after surgery, but it's not something that's happening a lot for most people.

Here is a card that's helpful: http://www.ostomy.org/ostomy_info/pubs/blockage_card.pdf

thanks everyone.

blue.. don't let it worry you. You probably just had a partial blockage and after that your intestine stays inflammed for awhile. You definitely did a good thing by opening up that wafer size. I oftentimes forget to do that when I get those semi-blockages.

However, if you keep getting these semi-blockage things or are having unusal gut pains when eating.. you should definitely ask for an ileoscope. Its a quick and painless procedure. I even had my last one without sedation.. as I didn't know the doc was going to do one and I didn't have a driver. It really was no problem.

So no worries right now. Just carry on with your life! best wishes.

Thanks. Sorry I haven't been here .... I had a nasty flu in Dec/Jan which gave me a "post viral cough," also known as "temporary asthma." That was getting better, but then I started teaching again, which was hard on my throat. Had a lot of extra work upfront, throw in a bad perimenopausal period, and I was just dragging with fatigue that reminded me of my IBD days..... plus, it's about the two year anniversary of my major hospitalization which led me to decide on surgery. I've been quite surprised that all the trauma of it has been hitting me now in a new way .... partly because this flu was the sickest I've been since I was really sick and partly because my traumatic hospitalization came right after starting teaching in the spring semester, and this is the first spring I've taught since then. And I was sick again for most of a break, sigh.

So that's what's been up for me, but I'm on the mend.... took two days off of work and today is a snow day. Got some kind of inhaler thing that helps w/the cough (otherwise it's like all of a sudden I'm choking -- dozens of times a day). Feeling much happier and calmer and not wanting to eat garbage all day long to somehow try to make myself feel better (not).

ddd wish I would have opened the wafer size earlier. I actually changed on Sun, saw it was a little swollen, but thought it was ok.... then it was a lot swollen, it is a good lesson, really helped a lot. I appreciate the reassurance and info about the ileoscopy.... so no prep for it? Hard to see how you could clean out your small intestine..... I was thinking of it as a big deal like a colonoscopy, glad it isn't..... I've never had small intestine involvement before to my knowledge, but it is a possibility.

Thanks Eq mom and B'Dereh. Good to hear from you too.

Just a follow up -- took a shower w/out the pouch and my stoma is back to "normal." I measured just to be sure. Good to know that w/a partial blockage my stoma can swell, then shrink, then return. Thanks, everyone.

     Yeah, I noticed that my stoma kinda has a mind of its own..lol.