Beginners Fustration

[jeblers]

Hello all,

I am about 3 weeks into irrigating and I seem to finally be getting closer to the 24 hours with no returns, with the help of immodium. It has been such a struggle but I have been very persistent with it. Hearing people getting there system down in the first week just make me want to.....ugghh. Lol.

I wear a 2 piece. I remove the bag, attach the sleeve and go to town. Problem is I get only between 500-750 ml of liquid into the colon and then comes bursting out. It will either squirt under the wafer if I don't have a tight seal with the cone or actually start going back up through the cone and hose. I am using very warm water in between the green to red range on the built in thermometer on my Coloplast bag. Is it just my colon will not take in anymore water? I have tried reducing the water flow to a trickle and it seems to help but still, never more than 750 ml. I read people getting over 1500 ml to 4000 ml in there. Are there any other tips or tricks or is that just how it is?

Thanks for your time!

[Jimbob]

Try just doing 500 or so wait a for some returns then give it another 500 cc see what happens.

We are all different and it takes some trial and error to get your routine down.

[jeblers]

Try just doing 500 or so wait a for some returns then give it another 500 cc see what happens.

We are all different and it takes some trial and error to get your routine down.

Haha, after reading through more of the post I came up with the exact method. Thank you. I did 2 500 ml a slow as I could and I lasted for 20 hours with the help of immodium. Just curious, does the velocity of the water entering the colon change anything for other irrigators?

[Mikem]

Hi Jebers,

Welcome to our forum.

The 24 hour mark is a good goal but not all colostomates can reach it. What type of colostomy you have an how much of the colon was removed are key factors on how long a clear time you have.

I concur wholeheartedly with JimBob's recommendation to dial back your infusion quantity. The goal should be to get the best results with the least amount of infusion. My opinion is that at the point you get your colon pushing back the infusion you have met your goal of stimulating peristalsis and you let it run it coarse. Many, perhaps most of us use multiple infusion to get the results. It takes longer but we get extended clear times.

Body size also makes a difference. A large guy like myself will normally have a larger colon than petite lady. Those that do run excessive amount of water through their colon (4000ml) are using multiple infusions, usually up to 4 to make that claim. And it takes a long time, I am one of those.

My recommendation is to use a single 500 ml infusion if that is sufficient to stimulate the peristalsis (350 would be better if you are tiny) and find out how long a clear time you get without drugs. Do that long enough to have confidence on the results (a week of consistent results) and then see what happens when you add a second infusion. As you gain experience you will understand better how your body reacts and will find you own best solution.

Finally, if you have not heard the Irrigators manta remember, "best results most of the time". In other words you always have to be prepared for early and unexpected return. Most of us have stories of surprises which can be laughed at in hindsight but are not fun to experience. The 2nd mantra of the Irrigator is "Be prepared"

Good Luck and we hope to hear back from you about your journey.

MikeM

[ccanfield]

I am a beginner as well. I began irrigating in May. I just wanted to add to what the others have said that I just recently tried the coloplast bag and cone and have found the more slender cone to give me the same reaction as you. I think because my stoma is so deep (I have to use convex because one half of my stoma is pretty much inverted, while the other half protrudes out), I cannot get the right pressure on the cone to keep water from squirting out the bottom of the cone or the top. I too use the hollister two piece. You might want to try the hollister bag and cone, it is thicker around and therefore, I can get a firmer hold to the stoma. Hope this helps and glad to read you are figuring out the water amounts. This was definitely the hardest for me and I am still having to adjust often, but its worth it. With the use of lomotil (immodium didn't work for me) and finding the right water amount (sometimes I have to infuse twice), I am making it 48 hours, when before I couldn't consistently make it 12 hours without output. Irrigation has changed my life, it is freeing!

[steiconi]

I have a flush stoma that recesses when it gets annoyed, so I often get squirt-back during irrigation. I usually remove the cone and let the stoma flow--usually takes only 15 seconds or so--then resume irrigating. Often I notice a little nugget was blocking the passage, and once that's out things proceed smoothly.

Narrow openings on irrigation plate and the wafers of 2-piece systems make getting a good seal harder.