A neat trick to determine if you have a leak!

[Shamrock4806]

This may not always work as first thought, apparently one can still feel some temperature difference despite not having a small leak. But it may help.

So if your washing/rinsing your bag on the toilet like I do (water only!) then there is this neat trick to determine if one has a small leak or not.

Apparently the stoma doesn't have much in the way of nerves, so if your using cold water rinsing of your bag, you can gently (don't squeeze) or lay down to get this cold water up around the stoma area.

If you feel cold, you may have a leak.

Now let's say your stoma is still pretty active and you want to wait until it dies down some before taking a shower and doing a bag change.



Enjoy!

[Mysticobra]

Hello.
No matter how tight a seal anyone thinks they have.
It's never going to be water tight.
I know what your trying to explain.
I have felt what you explained.
It's because the stoma goes in and out. Big and small.
Best thing to do is not rinse all the way up. Water will weaken the seal.
To an extent.
I have had an end ileo eight years.
The stool that comes out of me does not burn my skin from an end ikeo.
I see after wearing a week it has stool around my stoma on my skin.
There is no way to stop it.
I can't feel it. So I leave it alone.
I do not rinse all the way up to it.
As long as I don't get stool out from under my wafer to where
I have to change. I'm good.
I personally think there is no way not to get stool around
the stoma onto a small area of skin. The stoma just moves alot.
exposing small areas of skin.
In my case as I mentioned it doesn't burn my skin.
Not like a temporary ileo which has more acids in it.
I had one of those. Terrible.
Richard.

[Shamrock4806]

...

[IrelandOstomate94]

Can i ask you for more detail on how to apply the petroleum jelly in this way? Does the paste not solidify and then you have another gap for leak anyway?

[Shamrock4806]

Can i ask you for more detail on how to apply the petroleum jelly in this way? Does the paste not solidify and then you have another gap for leak anyway?

Sorry this is an old thread where I was experimenting and learning.

I was using petroleum jelly on the inside of the bag through the wafer hole as to prevent the paste from sticking to the bag and thus trapping the bag to the stoma and causing a pancaking issue.

Petroleum jelly won't make anything stick and even applying it tends to get on things I don't want it applied to via transference so I've stopped using it.

Since don't do that anymore, it's better once the wafer has been held down with a toilet paper tube for 5 minutes, to trap some air in the bottom of the bag, seal it, then roll the air pocket up to force the bag off the stoma. The little oozed out paste doesn't matter, it will drop off on its own or act as a deflector to allow the paste on the skin to fully bond.

I have since vastly improved my wafer application process.

Good news though, I've updated my ENTIRE process in this thread here, first post!

viewtopic.php?t=27762

I'm always updating this first post to reflect new improved methods.

It's quite a read, and not everything may apply to your situation but many of the tricks I've learned most certainly can.

For instance the level of detail I take to ensure the skin is absolutely clean, dry, free of oils or greasy feeling is imperative for a good bonding. Then holding the wafer down with a toilet paper tube for 5 minutes. Filling air pockets with layers of barrier strips to prevent mold. Etc.

I'm getting TWICE the average 3 day bag wear time for a lower illeostomy in a belly fold. That's 6 days on average!

So I hope that helps you.

[Shamrock4806]

There is something I've learned about rinsing the bag.

The stoma can feel something, it's just not as sensitive as skin is.

So when rinsing one may feel a slight barely amount of cold on the stoma itself but a leak might not have occurred.

If there is a leak the cold will be stronger feeling and off the stoma some, like under it, above it or off to the side, that's an early leak tell right there.

However one may still have time for the stoma to settle down some as it's just a small leak and not a full blowout. So rinsing the bag can buy a little time until the stoma has quit being active to allow time for a bag change.

I think the longest I stretched one out was 6 hours during a long car ride. It was painful a bit and the leak wound was bigger and took longer to heal but it finally did.

It's better catch the leak right away while the leak wound is small and thin, not get so bad that's it's weeping or bleeding. Why the cold feeling when rinsing trick works. It catches it early when it's small and not painful yet.

Thing is small, non diarrhea causing 4 oz meals/drinks every 6 hours around the clock as to give plenty of time to allow bag changes without an overly active stoma.

Despite what they say 'you can eat or drink anything,' you really can't unless you want to suffer in some fashion.