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Posted 5/14/2013 1:54 PM (GMT 0)
Hoping that I can get some opinions... I am looking to get some sort of ostomy wrap/band for some support. I don't want to invest in the stealth belt as my ostomy is temporary. I went onto Ostomysecrets and saw a classic wrap there, but it also talked about it being for high stomas. Mine is lower and sits right below my waist band on pants. Any recommendations?

Thanks so much!
Posted 5/14/2013 2:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Gottago!, are you a man or a woman? Disregard my advice if you're male, I can only speak from the ladies' perspective :-)

You can wear a wrap no matter the location of your stoma, the issue is that if it's lower the wrap will be over your underwear and may add some undesirable bulk in your pants. Especially since yours is lower I might recommend trying the actual Ostomysecrets underwear -- mine is slightly high (and my torso is long) so the waistband was too low, but for you it will probably work very nicely.

Personally I wear high-waisted undies from American Apparel: store.americanapparel.net/subCategory/index.jsp?subCatId=high-waist-lingerie. I like the first two on that page, the stretch lace and the cotton. For me personally I find them really comfortable and they conceal and support the pouch very nicely.

When I need even more extra support or if I can't wear high waisted underwear to cover the pouch (like when I'm running) I'll sometimes use a maternity belly band that I borrowed from a friend (like these: www.motherhood.com/maternity/belly-bands.asp). If you get the proper size it should work out of the box, I lost so much weight from this dang disease that in order to get it snug enough I have to fold it in half. In any case, it does work nicely.

Hope that helps! And... if you're a dude I guess I'll just leave this here for posterity...
Posted 5/14/2013 2:39 PM (GMT 0)
Maternity wraps for women might work well. Target has some cheaper ones to try. Belly band, bella band, not sure what they were called for sure.

I personally use ostomy secrets underwear. They provide a pouch hammock (but not compression inward to the stoma). The ostomy wraps were a bit tighter on me so they both hammocked the bag and sat tighter against my stoma. My stoma is also slightly below the belt line as well...it was doable. It's basically one large strip of fabric with two pouches on the inside (one left, one right). The pouches extend all the way from the top to the bottom, so basically you might end up with some pouch gathering under the stoma.
Posted 5/14/2013 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks. I am a girl so the advice applies. :). I had thought about the maternity bands as well, but wasn't sure how they worked without the pocket. I will also check out the undies. Thanks!
Posted 5/14/2013 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
If you want something like the ostomy secrets wrap but cheaper, you can also use a tube top (bandeau bra). I got some on amazon for less than $5 each. I found with a lower stoma that they roll up at the bottom, though, and after a while stopped wearing them....

I did buy one of the ostomy secrets wraps, and the pocket didn't work for me at all -- had to fold the pouch over for it to fit in, and then it stuck out way more. The tube tops worked better than the ostomy secrets wrap.
Posted 5/14/2013 9:38 PM (GMT 0)
This might be a silly question, but oh well!! I was wondering what purpose using a wrap like this serves? Is it to hide the pouch more, or something else? Maybe I need to look into something like this....???
Posted 5/14/2013 11:54 PM (GMT 0)
I have a couple of reasons for wearing them. The biggest one for me is the bag to skin contact. Even though I have the lined backs, I absolutely hate to feel the ostomy bag against my skin. Therefore it would sit outside of my underwear and flop around, which annoyed me.

That lead me to experiment with different ostomy products. I first bought the ostomy secrets wraps (both the active one and the classic one). I found them to move around alot (slip up, slip down, fold over, etc.). In addition, the classic one did add bulk. Then I tried the ostomy secrets underwear. I LOVE these! I had tried wearing two pairs of panties instead, but it just didn't feel comfortable to me. I also tried spandex type underwear (regular women's briefs), but they cut across the bag right below the stoma and restricted output flow. And again I didn't want the bag touching my skin.

Now I find that I just feel more secure with the ostomy underwear. The pocket holds the underwear up a bit and I feel like there's less stress on the connector. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but I feel better about it. In addition, it keeps my ostomy bag from moving around under my clothing (or at least I don't notice movement). I also wear the ostomy secrets underwear to exercise. I've only done weight training, yoga, and some basic treadmill walking at this point. No running. And the ostomy secrets underwear seem to be holding things steady really well. I also wear stretchy pants to workout in though, so those may be holding the bag in one place as well.

When I start running/jogging again, if I find that the bag moves a bit too much for my liking I'll probably switch to the wraps just to keep the bag more secure against my body (so it's not moving around).

Some people find that the wraps help conceal things. I don't wear tightish clothing, so I'm not sure about that function. Also, some people have made their own underwear just by sewing pockets in their own underwear or taking to pairs and sewing the front of one pair inside of another pair. Once you see a pair of ostomy underwear, you will know exactly what I mean.
Posted 5/15/2013 12:43 AM (GMT 0)
I am looking for the bag to not be against my skin. The plastic annoys me. My current undies don't work with putting it inside, but still have the problem with the bag against my skin. Also, I have just been wearing sweat pants the last few weeks and notice that when the bag fills up, I have this annoying bulge in the front of my pants. If I am out and about, I get a bit self-conscience about it so was hoping the wrap would help with this. I am still trying to get my output to firm up a bit. It is so liquidy still and at times I feel like I am constantly emptying. I am getting off topic here though. :)
Posted 5/15/2013 12:44 AM (GMT 0)
Well, with the women's underwear it still gathers as they aren't very tight. However, I think the wrap would distribute the load, so to speak.
Posted 5/15/2013 8:03 PM (GMT 0)
Very interesting and maybe worth looking into. I guess I am a bit of an oddball, because more often than not I wear my bag outside of my pants. In a perfect world, most of the time I would wear my pants right where my stoma is located, and have still not figured out if above or below would be best for me in the long run. I am tall, but have a very short torso, long legs and high waist....so fitting pants was challenging enough before the stoma, now I don't even want to think about it. I also lost 45 pounds due to UC an have only gained about half of it back so far....so I'm kinda waiting to see where I end up before worrying too much about a permanent solution. I really don't mind wearing my bag outside of my pants at all though. I usually wear shirts that are long and snug enough to conceal most of it, and I don't care if it hangs out some. If people have a problem seeing it, well, that's their problem! I am also kinda wierded out by the idea of wearing something tight, like a band or undies, that totally cover and squeeze my stoma. When I'm running I will pull my tight workout pants over my stoma to cover the whole bag, but that is really the only time I've tried anything like that. How do most of y'all handle all of this??
Posted 5/16/2013 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
I personally would hate to have it outside of my pants flopping around...not because of appearance (although I would have to switch to an opaque bag) but because it would feel uncomfortable for me. It's all about what makes you comfortable. It took some experimenting for me to figure out what made me happy.

Hope the weight comes back for you!
Posted 5/16/2013 12:47 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah, wow that would be so uncomfortable for me!! I like to have my bag out when I'm lounging around at home so that everything flows easily into the bottom of the bag (and post-op I like to look at my output probably too often!), but as a result when I'm walking around the house I have to hold my bag with my hand unless it's totally empty. I'm not surprised you need a bomb proof wafer to support the weight of a bag all day!

I was very squeamish about wearing anything snug over my stoma for a pretty long time after surgery but I took the plunge, everything went fine, and I never really went back. ddd here encouraged me a lot as well :-) I still try to keep elastic waistbands from going directly over the stoma but other than that I "let the chips fall where they may" (where chips = waistband).
Posted 5/16/2013 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
I cannot stand to have it hanging loose! The only time I don't like it is when it touches my leg, lol.
If you want support but don't want it touching your skin, wear two pairs of underwear and tuck it between them. Cotton ones against your skin and the spandexy kind on the outside. The belly bands work pretty good but they sometimes roll up.
Posted 5/16/2013 1:40 AM (GMT 0)
I mean, it's not outside of my pants ALL the time, but more often than not I'd say that's how I wear the pouch. I don't really notice much different in the weight of the bag whether it is inside or out....but maybe that's because all of my pants are really loose on me and not sitting in the best location. This would be because of my weight loss, stoma location, and concerns about the waist rubbing against my stoma. Is this really OK?? I might look into one of these wraps and give it a go....and maybe eventually be able to decide on what system I want to use for good...ARGH!!!
Posted 5/16/2013 2:12 AM (GMT 0)
If you aren't feeling up to having a full wrap, then I suggest a stoma belt. Each company has their own, but some are interchangeable across pouch companies.

Basically they are an inch wide piece of elastic that you wear like a belt under your clothing. I'm not sure on one piece pouches, but at least on two piece pouches I am able to clip the ends of the belt to the bag flange. This keeps the pouch slightly pressed against the wafer. You are not obstructing your stoma. Since the flange is about 1.75 inches across, you are actually compressing on the area around the stoma (as in pulling the bag into your abdomen a bit). Here's a "comic strip" about it. http://stlmedical.s3.amazonaws.com/XLProdPics/HO7300x.jpg
Posted 5/16/2013 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
It's not that I terribly mind the idea of a wrap or belt, just never even thought about needing one before. Guess I've been more focused on trying to figure out how to wear my pants and if my bag should be inside or out. And I'm so weird about my stoma getting smashed that just the pressure of the bag against it makes me worry he is getting hurt...my stoma is kinda long though.

For the record....I have sat most of the evening at work with my pouch in my pants and pants pulled up above my stoma, putting a little downward pressure on him. It hasn't been too bad and I think it's helping my output flow downward.
Posted 5/16/2013 12:47 PM (GMT 0)

ActiveUCer said...
If you aren't feeling up to having a full wrap, then I suggest a stoma belt. Each company has their own, but some are interchangeable across pouch companies.

Basically they are an inch wide piece of elastic that you wear like a belt under your clothing. I'm not sure on one piece pouches, but at least on two piece pouches I am able to clip the ends of the belt to the bag flange. This keeps the pouch slightly pressed against the wafer. You are not obstructing your stoma. Since the flange is about 1.75 inches across, you are actually compressing on the area around the stoma (as in pulling the bag into your abdomen a bit). Here's a "comic strip" about it. http://stlmedical.s3.amazonaws.com/XLProdPics/HO7300x.jpg

I just bought one of those belts. It arrived yesterday so will try it out today. Glad to hear that you like it.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will need to try a couple of things.

@UCWhat - I have mostly been wearing exercise pants for the past 3 weeks, but a pair of jeans herre and there. The stoma is quite comfortable with the pants sitting above it, but it would depend on where the stoma is. I don't feel any pressure around the stoma.
Posted 5/17/2013 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
Hi What - I don't think the stoma belt (the kind I mentioned) will put alot of pressure on the stoma itself. It get's pressed against the skin about .5 inches away from the stoma. But I can definitely understand your concern since the stoma is long.

Unfortunately you don't know until you try. These are much cheaper than a stealth belt/etc. If you go visit a WOCN anytime soon, you might be able to ask for one (or get one as a free sample from your supply company!).
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