The illeostomy eating cycle explained

[Shamrock4806]

Okay I'm going to help explain the eating cycle associated with having a illeostomy. This should be especially useful for those with a high output ileostomy like mine.

Why this comes in handy is because wafer changes are a fact of our lives and putting one on while the stoma is still active is a nightmare.

So as you might have realized by now what you eat or drink has certain results on your output.

Eating nothing or fasting for awhile does nothing to stop the stoma from spewing output, it just spews plain bile regardless without any residue food or drink mixed in that's all.

On the other hand eating three large meals a day or too many meals and drinks cause it to keep on spewing all the time regardless, especially if something is consumed that the body doesn't need or considers a poison. Then this creates a diarrhea condition of excessive water being used to flush it out, but with no colon to recover the water leads to dehydration. If one continues to eat or drink the diarrhea causing substance then they can become severely dehydrated and needs medical assistance.

Another problem is the otosmy bag can only hold so much. So to avoid overloading it or constantly running to the bathroom to dump it one can reduce the amount of food and drink portions, but still get ones nutrition, calories and fluids without kicking the stoma and digestive system into overdrive.

So what I have found out is by eating small nutritious non-diarrea causing portions (about a regular sandwich size) when one thinks about food like they are about to get hungry but before the stomach starts growling is best.

What happens next is the body processes the sandwich and starts sending it down the digestive system. It exits the stoma and fills the bag which if you need to do a wafer change, you watch until it slows down and stops. Then your ready to do a wafer change which many choose to take a nice hot shower along with it.

So by following this process, eating small nutritious non-diarrea causing meals or drinks more often over the course of 24 hours.

The body doesn't feel hungry to produce as much bile (if any for awhile) and the digestive system is clear. A winning period to perform a wafer change and more of those periods throughout the day because of the smaller portions.

Small leaks occur and their irritation can often be ignored (except in the case of coffee as it's more acidic) for a little while until the stoma settles down and quits spewing. Big blowouts unfortunately not so but by using extra barrier adhesive strips around on ones wafer adhesive can contain it some depending how big the blowout is, some are small and stop. So obviously if the blowout is severe enough to require the wafer being removed right away a period of waiting in the shower until the stoma quits is required. But by controlling ones diet and food portion control they can reduce that waiting time.

Skin protectant is used in the wafer application process to provide even more time, instead of burning it's more like itching before it starts burning.

So what foods and drinks cause diarrhea, constipation and gas (which both can cause the wafer to detach) or dangerous clogging that may cause a hospital visit? Read the Diet Guide for Illeostomies on this sub.

As always nothing on this sub is to be considered medical advice. Always check with a qualified medical person before following anything read online anywhere because people and their medical conditions are not always the same. What might work for many might not work for you in your case.

In a case of an ostomy, a stoma nurse and a otosmy dietician should be consulted. If you haven't been referred to one after your surgery you need to get with them.