$25 per bag change, there's GOT to be a better way!

[Shamrock4806]

Holy cow ostomy supplies are not cheap.

A fortune is more like it. I've resorted to a shower every other day along with a new bag. Because three days I stink bad and the bag is really nasty as well.

If I could make the wafer last 5 days I would switch to a two piece and take daily showers with the bag off. But I can't get them to last more than 3 days due to a belly fold.

So instead of taking two showers on day three I just resorted to every other day for everything. Leak burns are smaller than with a 3 day schedule as well.

I wish I could find a longer lasting wafer, but my changing weight causes slight belly fold changes that paste works best for me.

So anyway any suggestions?

[GeorgeS]

I'm on day two of testing the SenSura® Mio Flex Barrier. Quite different from the usual snap on or click lock flanges. The pouch is similar, but tapes onto the flange.
So far, no odor! Usually, I smell it within twelve hours.

I'm not sure of the cost. I don't know how anyone could afford our supplies without insurance.

[BillGK]

I’ve been using adhesive coupling for many years and love it. So much more secure than things that go (or pretend to go) snap. And minimal bulging under clothing. Amazon prices are less than $10/change (I have insurance so I don’t use Amazon).

[sandys]

RE: Odor

If you aren’t using an in-pouch, liquid deodorant like Hollister M9 you should try it. For me it totally eliminates all odor.

[Shamrock4806]

Okay I have just catastrophic insurance, $7000 deductible and hardly use it or see a doctor or anything now.

I use a one piece because of the 2+ day wafer cycle. I might get in a morning shower on day three but usually by the night I have to change the wafer anyway. So I've just switched to a 2 day shower and bag change cycle.

So I thought about using the insurance, just to lower the deductible if I should ever use it, but I haven't had a need to see the doctor for anything. Nothing is bothering me currently. Plus I had such bad experience going through insurance before with delayed or not completely filled orders, so I switched to paid ordering which only once I've had a slight delay.

And far as using expensive drops, I just gently water rinse the bag out a few times and add some cheap Dollar Store toothpaste and she's good to go.

I have a bottle of the M9 drops and really never use it because it can't get to the top of the bag to do any good.

Rinsing works, toothpaste works and I can get it locally.

I use oil free eye makeup remover for an adhesive remover as well because it's a liquid I can easily pour and soak around the stoma to thoroughly clean the skin.

Still with all that it's still costing me $12.50 a day or $4600 a year just for the ostomy supplies.

I've heard horror stories about ordering the stuff off Amazon, like sending precut wafers and leaky bags.

[BillGK]

I don’t understand the concern with Amazon. Buyers are given a clear description of the products, customer reviews are abundant, and Amazon offers free returns/refunds on anything that I’ve ever bought from them. Buying from Amazon for me is a no-brainer.

[Shamrock4806]

It's taken me two years to finally keep a bag on securely without it always leaking with my ileostomy in a belly fold.

I just can't take the chance on the inferior or bait and switch products on Amazon.

My ostomy is not an easy one. I stupidly ate green beans yesterday on a new bag and it pancaked the thing clean off.

What can I say? I love green beans. Oh I chewed it plenty, ate it with other food in increments but it still created a fibrous clump somehow and pushed the wafer off like it was nothing.

So that was a $50 day.


And I'm spending money on cheap toothpaste so I'm not keeping losing everyone in the house with the rotten stench of bag.

Then of course oil free eye makeup remover isn't cheap neither but it cleanses the skin of pectin based paste I'm using as a barrier adhesive so the NEXT adhesion lasts more than two days. But now on a every other day bag change cycle to coincide with a hot shower and I'll skip a day because lukewarm showers suck and still likely to lose adhesion anyway somehow due to sweating if moisture.

My main focus these last two years was to get stabilized, first stop the daily bag leaks, now got my diet and nutrition under control, now to focus on trying to reduce fluid loss going out the bag which I think is about impossible but I am doing better at it. Smaller meals like snack size, entree TV dinners for instance but drinking my glass of whey protein powder and milk with vitamins for energy etc.

So reducing costs is next and I certainly would try Amazon but I'm afraid of getting a bad batch of bags that I can't use or suffer with them. Throwing off my carefully worked out ostomy system.

[BillGK]

Amazon has all the major brands Coloplast, Convatec, Hollister and more. You might try using their search function, put in your brand and product number, and see if they carry it and how much it costs. And I don’t know why you think that you might get a bad batch, since it’s the same product you use if they carry it. And Amazon will return or refund if for any reason you don’t like it, as I noted originally.

[Shamrock4806]

Yea I tried Amazon and other sites online, even used ChatGPT

It's about $10 just for the bag.

Then I'm using about 3/4 tube of no sting paste which I'm going to try to cut back on.

Then four barrier strips to hold the thing down because a belt just moves the wafer around too much.

I'm not counting the daily roll of toilet paper, oil free eye makeup remover to get the pectin paste completely off the skin nor the $1 dollar store toothpaste to keep the awful smell down.

[Shamrock4806]

Okay I've realized the problem.

It's s actually closer to $27 per bag change and because of mistakes I was making it needed to be changed every two days or even once a day so yes it was getting expensive.

So I changed the 2-3 level stacked cutout pieces I was using in my belly fold to only one level going around the convex wafer bubble edge. This brings the wafer closer to the skin and not so thick of a paste barrier adhesive which was weak.

Now I've got too much paste oozing out over the stoma and my next plan is to cut back a little at a time and alter my paste application just slightly. So hopefully this will cut the paste use down to half a tube instead of 3/4 of one.

I've already done the single level wafer cutout pieces and noticed the bag going headstrong into day three with no pain. When before it was day two and the pain would start.

So by increasing the day wear times I save money so instead of $27/2 it's $27/3 or $9 per day of use.

I would like to get it up to 5 days though.