UOAA Discussion Board

Hi everyone
I just want to clarify what to do if I want to irrigate the night before instead of the morning, if I have some where to be early.
If I wanted to skip a Saturday morning irrigation would I skip Friday morning? Then irrigate Friday evening, skip Saturday all together and start again Sunday morning?
Would you recommend Imodium as extra insurance Saturday?
Thanks for your input!
Lisa

Lisa wrote:Hi everyone
I just want to clarify what to do if I want to irrigate the night before instead of the morning, if I have some where to be early.
If I wanted to skip a Saturday morning irrigation would I skip Friday morning? Then irrigate Friday evening, skip Saturday all together and start again Sunday morning?
Would you recommend Imodium as extra insurance Saturday?
Thanks for your input!
Lisa

Lisa,

I believe your strategy will work. The later Fri eve irrigation the better to prevent output on Saturday. I have done similar things in the past. I have not used immodium though. I suppose whether to use immodium will depend on whether you are willing to accept the possibilty of output later on Saturday.

Mark

Hey Lisa,

I would irrigate as normal Friday morning then irrigate again as late as is comfortable for you on Friday night. That should get you through Saturday without issue. Then if all goes well hold off and irrigate again Sunday at your normal time. However I would recommend wearing a drainable on Saturday night just in case you get some early returns over night. Personally when I have done this I've found my body has emptied so much through the two irrigation's that I can usually last for 36 - 48 hrs, But usually being the operative word there. It's not fool proof. After about 36 hours I tend to get out of my comfort zone.
As for the immodium, I haven't used it since starting irrigation but I suppose it couldn't hurt. Why not take it on Saturday for that extra level of comfort?

Good luck,
Murph

Hi- I've done the 36 hr span many times successfully. And I usually use Imodium at the 24hr mark to carry me through with no worries. The few times that I forgot to take the Imodium, only resulted in very small output by 36 hrs. In fact I'm just finishing 2 back to back 36 hr irrigations to get me back to my normal morning schedule.

Best to you! Bob

When I have to adjust my schedule, I try to even it out if possible like you planned. I find two even gaps more reliable then one side being longer, more risk.

Thank you everyone for your input,bi appreciate it . I'll let you know how things go.

Lisa

In this situation, I would irrigate Friday morning. Take immodium. Saturday morning, take another dose of immodium. Sunday, irrigate in the morning. I've gotten to 48 hours using this method.

David

I am a bit late on this thread. let me suggest that you irrigate and then do not irrigate again until you start to have output. This will let you know how long you can go. Nice information to know.

I'm with Jimbob on that. There was one particular day not too long ago when I simply didn't have the time or the opportunity or a place to irrigate when it would have normally been time to do so and discovered that I can let it go for 48 hours. So I've tried that a few times when I wanted to take the night off from irrigating or simply had other things to do. Only one or two times has there been any output even when waiting that long. It depended, I think, those two times on how much I ate that day. Mostly I don't skip a night at all, but every now and then, usually on a weekend, I will skip a day. It's liberating.

Oh, and I irrigate ONLY at night because I like to sleep as late as possible. I do it right before taking a shower, then I'm done with it and can just get up in the morning, throw on some clothes, and zip out the door. Irrigation is absolutely a wonderful thing.

Thank you, Jimbob, for being the person who sparked my interest -- contrary to my surgeon's initial claim that it wouldn't work for me -- in doing irrigation and consequently in being MORE normal and comfortable than I was even before the ostomy.

Nancy

Lisa you always have great questions. I will be attempting irrigation in 10-14 days, pending supply ordering and delivary. I have a trip planned to race a Spartan race in Lake Tahoe. Our flight leaves at 6 AM. I thought, good lord I'll have to get up at 2 am to irrigate to make the plane. But no, I learned today I'll irrigating the day before AM as usually (pendin g it is working) then irrigate again that evening, that way I can get up and get going without going LOL

I am so excited to have the success the group is sharing. I hope it goes as well for me.

Sue

Thanks everyone. I took Jimbobs and ns47's advice and just skipped a day to see what would happen. I've done it twice so far and had no output. I then irrigated at the 48 hour point instead of waiting for output because in truth I felt uncomfortable. It is great to know that I can skip if need be. As others have said, very freeing! Next I am going to try irrigating in the am and again at night before my next early morning. I think I will feel better. Now I have the confidence that it should work fine since I was able to go 48 hours. I'm finally starting to realize that things are a little more flexible than I first believed. When I first posted this question I was expecting one answer, one set of rules, because that's what I like lol. Not really a fan of being a living experiment! I appreciate everyone's input and experience.