ConvaTec Products

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To Dream a Dream
Posts: 1414
Joined: 2010-08-10 18:35:53

ConvaTec Products

Post by To Dream a Dream »

As a long time user, I would just like to pass on some good news after having issues with a few of my supplies. Their response to my letter was very prompt & the WOCN who contacted me was courteous, knowledgeable & very sensitive to my privacy. Replacements were promptly received.

I've witnessed a great many innovations in their ostomy products over these many years since ConvaTec's inception that have greatly enhanced the quality of my own life. I find it a comfort & relief that they continue to respect & support the needs & concerns of their clients on an individual basis.
Crohn's Dx '66 (perforated ileum)
Multiple Bowel Resections
Ileo '77 Revision '85
Celiac Dx
Mysticobra
Posts: 640
Joined: 2016-01-20 23:25:36

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mysticobra »

Convetec has made my new life a breeze.
It didn't take me long to find the right one.
I started with Coloplast.
By the way. Terrible name for a product. Considering what it's used for.
And that's what the hospital had a contract with.
I can't use them because of the mental anquish associated with the process of going through what we do and the use of their product in the beginning.
Not a good sales move for them on their part. Product is ok. But to this day I associate the name with surgeries and hospitals.
Convetec works well. I can't even tell I have it on 99 percent of the time.
Very few problems. Most were caused by myself.
Richard.
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To Dream a Dream
Posts: 1414
Joined: 2010-08-10 18:35:53

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by To Dream a Dream »

I began my long association with ConvaTec when Squibb (their mother company) had just brought out Stomahesive. A blessing for me (with no colon, less than ten feet of small bowel remaining & at that time the original flush 'ileo' stoma) as I am very allergic to any karaya based wafers. As far as I know, later ConvaTec was the first company to introduce the pop on type of coupling design between the flange & pouch with an embedded faceplate. Talk about freedom! Then came Durahesive, Eakin seals & an entire plethora of modern supplies to help us deal with a challenging situation.

I might add that many of the initial improvements in ostomy products had been initiated by surgeons seeking to improve their own patients lives, suggestions from ETs (enterostomal therapists--the fore runners of our current WOCNurses) and those individuals who either had a stoma themselves or were close to those who had had this life changing experience. My gratitude to all!
Crohn's Dx '66 (perforated ileum)
Multiple Bowel Resections
Ileo '77 Revision '85
Celiac Dx
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Mara
Posts: 1336
Joined: 2005-09-30 22:13:16

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mara »

I have also used Convatec products for decades - since Squibb....I always found that they are good with sending replacements if there are issues.

I think their pouches have gone downhill though - the panel in the back of the model I wear was shortened a few years ago and would constantly rip. Even though the pouch itself was not ripped it was annoying to have the panel flapping here and there. They must have done something to improve it as that rarely happens.

I once tried another brand, don't remember which one, and had a leak the first day....that was the end of trying something new...lol...
Ileostomy due to UC - 50 odd years
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To Dream a Dream
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Joined: 2010-08-10 18:35:53

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by To Dream a Dream »

I think I know that panel. I wear their Natura drainables with the invisiclose outlet REF 413334, with my own homemade cover. Which has been caught in the 'Velcro-type' strip on occasion.

Do you remember a barrier ring that appeared briefly on the scene back in either the late seventies or early eighties. I don't know who manufactured it. I believe it was called Cryxillon? I remember putting it on & it was so soft & pliable. Felt great. Like wearing a soothing gel. I walked the ten blocks to church & halfway thru mass felt an ominous burn. I still had a flush stoma then, so couldn't really fault the product entirely. Walked back & changed immediately. A fine mess. Talk about dejection.
Crohn's Dx '66 (perforated ileum)
Multiple Bowel Resections
Ileo '77 Revision '85
Celiac Dx
Button
Posts: 3616
Joined: 2017-10-10 22:14:15

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Button »

To Dream and Mara . . . both of you have earned my respect based on your fortitude in successfully managing an ileostomy during earlier days of ostomy products. Ostomy products that were not nearly as discrete and comfortable and as are the products available today.

I remember an article that To Dream shared a while back that profiled a historical review of ostomy products over the past 40 years or so. I was stunned to see how rudimentary and stark and limited were the products. Black rubber seals/face plates; bulky and gangly pouches. Little wonder ostomies came to have a negative connotation.

I am immensely grateful for the research and design advances evident in the ostomy products that are currently available to us. I do not think that I would have adjusted to an ileostomy as well as I have were it not for the low profile, moldable, and discrete pouching options available. I use the Coloplast Mio and the CyMed Microskin ostomy pouching systems. Love ‘em.

To Dream and Mara, you are both true ostomy warriors. The history that you share of the evolution of ostomy products is important for us to be aware of and remember so that we can appreciate and celebrate the advances made and the quality and variety of products available to us today.
Karen
Intestine perforation, sepsis, ileostomy, 2012
Addison’s disease + endocrine failure
Palliative Care
Mysticobra
Posts: 640
Joined: 2016-01-20 23:25:36

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mysticobra »

The 3rd paragraph says alot.
The products that are out now make it so easy.
I am one who just wows at what it must have been like.
My grandmother had one in the mid sixties. For a short time before she passed.
All I remember is she was miserable. I was only around 10 years old.
I am grateful for those who have made things so much better for us now.
I've only had mine 3 years plus a bit. And I have benefited from the new technology that is out now. It's so easy. I was like all who consider getting one how nasty and ugly it will be. But that's so far from the truth now.
I too am very grateful.
Richard
jstl
Posts: 170
Joined: 2009-12-01 21:07:28

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by jstl »

I had my ileostomy surgery in the mid-1970s, when I was 15. I remember the gray neoprene faceplate and reusable Marlen bags. Yuck. Products are so much better now. Thanks for the reminder. I have to be careful not to take the good things for granted!
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Mara
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Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mara »

To Dream a Dream wrote: 2019-01-21 13:58:53 I think I know that panel. I wear their Natura drainables with the invisiclose outlet REF 413334, with my own homemade cover. Which has been caught in the 'Velcro-type' strip on occasion.

Do you remember a barrier ring that appeared briefly on the scene back in either the late seventies or early eighties.....
I also use drainables but I have the Natura with the old-fashioned outlet with which I use the old-fashioned clip, not the long curved one that comes in the box...lol....
Don't remember that barrier ring - only use Eakin seals....I pretty much haven't experimented in decades....
Ileostomy due to UC - 50 odd years
Mysticobra
Posts: 640
Joined: 2016-01-20 23:25:36

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mysticobra »

jstl wrote: 2019-01-22 19:09:18 I had my ileostomy surgery in the mid-1970s, when I was 15. I remember the gray neoprene faceplate and reusable Marlen bags. Yuck. Products are so much better now. Thanks for the reminder. I have to be careful not to take the good things for granted!
Wow.
I had enough trouble being a teenager. I can't imagine doing this as a teen.
Although I had uc then I didn't know it. I thought it was normal. I didn't know any better.
I was 15 in 1971.
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To Dream a Dream
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Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by To Dream a Dream »

I didn't have the initial ostomy surgery until I was 26. I had two extensive resections in my teens beginning at fourteen when I was first diagnosed with Crohn's Disease (my late great surgeon actually referred to it then as regional ileitis.)

I have a great deal of respect for people who learned to cope with ostomies in childhood/teens. Today's kids are great. Seeming to accept the challenge with a more upbeat positive resilience. Oh, I'm sure they experience their own heartaches & disappointments, but there seems to be many more instances of support from their peers rather than the cruelty, aversion & patronizing many of us have experienced. A lot of it is probably affected by demographics & economics, but many kids are boldly outspoken about the surgery. Good for them!

That's why UOAA is so important in presenting its motto: You Are Not Alone.
Crohn's Dx '66 (perforated ileum)
Multiple Bowel Resections
Ileo '77 Revision '85
Celiac Dx
Mysticobra
Posts: 640
Joined: 2016-01-20 23:25:36

Re: ConvaTec Products

Post by Mysticobra »

Nicely put.
They (we) are not alone.
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