Am I going to have to get whole new wardrobe of jeans and dockers?

Before I met my wife I used to wear fairly loose, baggy waisted pants but those all got donated and replaced by nice snug fit for a hipster pants when the wife came into the picture as chief clothing adviser. I am lying here in my favorite jeans trying to see how on earth an ostomy bag could squeeze in there other than empty. Will I need a whole new wardrobe? Some of you gals here have said things still work under your old jeans- were they rather loose to begin with?

The guy at my infusion place has a super small bag he showed it to me.....the bags bottom doesnt even go in his pants, the bottom sits just above the belt line.

You can also have your stoma placed higher on your body I think.

I am just a week out of surgery, and I am also concerned about what I will wear. Right now my stoma is VERY swollen, so I can't even try to start trying on clothes, but I really don't see how anything I own will work where it is now. I feel like I will either have to wear very high waist pants so that they sit above my stoma, or extremely low pants that sit under it. Either one is not desirable to me and I hope that as time goes on I realize I am wrong and find some solution in the middle....fingers crossed...

ddd my WOCN told me that if the waistband of my jeans is right on top of the stoma it would cut off circulation and that would be no good. Is that not true? I usually wear jeans either just above or just below the stoma and often worry it's slipping up/down onto it...

I wear tight jeans/pants without a problem...

Liz, some of my jeans are mid-waist and the waist band goes right over my appliance and it's not been a problem for me. If you have protracted stoma it might be an issue but a 'normal' stoma should be affected.

I have found not all ostomy nurses really know their stuff. So who knows the background and real knowledge of the one that was working with you.

anyways.. its friday night liz. so go put on those skinny tight jeans and hit the bars!!!

Post Edited (ddd45) : 3/22/2013 1:47:13 PM (GMT-6)

Do you find that you empty more often "in public" when you're wearing regular clothes? Just because things fill up more quickly in normal clothes?

All my pre-surgery clothes fit post surgery after the inflammation was down. And that was long before I returned to work.

Sue

Probiotic, my ostomy nurse said it was okay if my waistband rested on my stoma as long as it wasn't so tight that it was uncomfortable or constricted the flow, which hasn't been an issue for me. We placed my stoma so that it was just below the waistband of my favorite jeans, but as I wear pants they often stretch a bit and sag down on top of the stoma anyway. This has never caused an issue for me. I think a lot of it depends on body type too. I used to hate it that my jeans were tight around the hips and gapped at the waist. However, this is perfect with my stoma because that slight gap at the waist gives my stoma a little extra room without having to move up a jean size. For guys who may have a straighter body shape, fitting pants may be somewhat different, but you will find something that works. You would be surprised how full the pouch can get and still fit under tight clothing. Remember too that most people empty when it is 1/3 full.

I don't know if you go hiking and ever wear a backpack, but this is another thing to consider. The stoma works so much better with backpacks if it is placed below where a pack waist belt sits. I have friends who have there stomas right on the belt line and it can make fitting and carrying a pack difficult (though certainly still doable). Being a total outdoor sport nut, I brought both my backpack and climbing harness to my placement meeting along with wearing my favorite jeans.

I am grappling with this right now too. I'm 5 months removed from my surgery (and still have about 5-8 months to go before the reversal) and I'm having more and more problems with my ostomy. The ostomy itself is fine, I should say, it's healthy and hasn't given me any grief. But it seems like lately, when I put on my favourite skinny jeans, my pouch doesn't last the day (or the evening) without bursting. It's gotten very stressful. I think the style of pants I'm wearing has the waistband directly crossing my stoma, which some people in this thread have said is not a problem, others say is a problem. As with so many things with this disease, and this forum, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Probiotic, it sounds like you're a guy, so my solution won't help you unless you want to go out on a limb. I have found I prefer skirts. Tights keep the pouch in place nicely, and a light waistband can be adjusted pretty easily. I'm planning on investigating Spanx, particularly for when the weather warms up and I won't want to wear tights any more. Also I'm going shopping at Reitmans this afternoon to check out their Comfort brand pants.

I bought a bunch of new clothes when I started to recover from my surgery because I felt better and I wasn't bloated from prednisone and my body felt "normal" for the first time in years. Of course, things are far from normal, and working fashion around my stoma has been frustrating and disappointing.

I would seriously wait until the week before you go back to work before you buy anything. Everything might work out fine!

I too heard the waistband across the stoma thing when they placed my ostomy, but I'm not sure the reason. I personally just didn't like having my waistbands over my ostomy...I don't want them pressing on my stoma for my personal comfort.