UOAA Discussion Board

I take magnesium for constipation. For about a year, my bowels would move every morning and none the rest of the day. It was great. But then my bowels started to move all during the day. Recently I added Metamucil, to see if that would increase my regularity. It did not, however, I like it because it keeps my wafer clean. I use a removable pouch, so it is nice not to have to wipe around the stoma every time I change my pouch. Does anyone know how to increase regularity, to keep the movement down to once a day, preferably the morning?

Hi Eleanor & welcome to the UOAA Discussion Board. The output from an ostomy varies for many reasons depending upon what type of ostomy was performed (colostomy, ileostomy etc.), the amount of remaining bowel, types of food consumed, etc. It's important to know what specific type of ostomy you have. For instance, an ileostomy has much more frequent output than a normally functioning colostomy. If you cannot find someone here on the board with a similar situation, please visit the UOAA Website for more information in detail. Here is a link to the Home Page which contains a menu in the upper right hand corner. Click the icon & it will connect you with their listings.
https://www.ostomy.org/
Thanks for joining us. We hope to see you posting again soon.

If you have a colostomy, you could try irrigation. I irrigate each morning and am free from output until I irrigate the next morning. With diet and the use of immodium, I've gone 48 hours without a movement. Check out the sticky notes at the top of the irrigation forum for more details. If you have an ileostomy, irrigation is not usually recommended. Hope you find an answer.

David

Eleanor, do you have a colostomy or ileostomy?

As Dave mentioned, if you have a colostomy, irrigation is a nice alternative to get some regular scheduled outputs.

I've heard random tips over the years for ileostomy to slow things down, should be searchable on the forums here also. Such as eating marshmellows helps some people to slow things down.