ileostomy

From time to time stoma patients may experience stoma problems. The majority of these issues are not serious and can be resolved relatively quickly by adjusting part of your routine, swapping to a new product or altering your diet slightly.…

What Is A Stoma Nurse? A stoma nurse is a specialised role and will look after and advise patients with a colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy before and after surgery. This care may come from a Colorectal Nurse Specialist or a Stoma Nurse.…

You can change your stoma bag as often as you feel you need to. If you have a colostomy and wear a closed bag you will most likely change your pouch after every bowel movement - approximately between 1 to 3 times a day. If you have an…

What is a stoma reversal? A stoma is formed by bringing a loop of bowel (from the colon to form a colostomy or from the small bowel to form an ileostomy) to the surface of the abdomen. A pouch is then worn over the top of the stoma to…

Natalie Toper, Cancer Counsellor and bowel cancer survivor is campaigning to get stoma signs placed on disabled toilet doors and appropriate stoma facilities within. Here Natalie describes how her own personal experiences have driven her to…

A stoma is an opening on the abdomen that can be connected to either your digestive or urinary system to allow waste (urine or faeces) to be diverted out of your body. It looks like a small, pinkish, circular piece of flesh that is sewn to…

Having a stoma shouldn’t limit your ability to travel in the UK or abroad. It may just take a little more forward planning. The Colostomy Association have developed a useful guide on travelling with a stoma. Here are our top tips. Make…

Irrigation is a system of bowel management for a colostomy in which you ‘wash’ the bowel to encourage a bowel movement. Over time your bowel will adopt this regular habit, and you should not produce waste in between irrigation sessions.…

Diet and your stoma What you can eat and drink with a stoma can often be very confusing. Immediately after surgery, you may be advised to stick to a low residue diet to allow the bowel to recover. After that time you can start to introduce…

Looking after your peristomal skin (the ring of your skin that sits under your bag) is a vital part of your stoma care routine. It is important to avoid faeces or urine from coming into contact with your skin otherwise this can cause sore…

There are many different stoma care products for you to choose from. Your stoma nurse will probably help you choose one in the beginning. You may like to try some different pouches to see which type you find the most comfortable and most…

Straight after surgery What will my stoma look like? Don’t be alarmed by the size of your stoma for the first few weeks after surgery. Your abdomen and your stoma will both be quite swollen and your stoma may also ooze blood for the first…

Your Preoperative Assessment Depending on your hospital you will probably be offered a pre-op assessment a few days/ weeks prior to your stoma surgery. This assessment will involve a meeting with your surgeon to discuss any last minute…

If you have Inflammatory Bowel Disease or an ostomy then you probably know who Sam Cleasby is. Sam is the owner of the hugely popular ‘So Bad Ass’ website and one of the most influential voices for Crohn’s and Colitis sufferers. After being…

Lauraine has IBD, which has resulted in an ileostomy and she also suffers from endometriosis and an enterocutaneous fistula. Here, Lauraine tells us her story and how she is learning to live with her illness.

This week we’ve all been inundated with those photos of cute smiling kids in their slightly too big school uniforms and large grins. Yes that’s right September is here and it’s back to school time for many children. How do you cope with a…

The only treatment for Hirschsprung’s is surgery. All children will have to undergo a procedure at some stage to connect the healthy portion of bowel to their anus in order to allow them to pass bowel motions normally. Initially, the…

Hirschsprung’s Disease is a rare congenital disorder that affects the large bowel (colon), which causes severe constipation and/ or bowel obstruction. This disease affects one in 5,000 babies born. In Hirschsprung’s Disease, the ganglion…

The RADAR key provides you with access to over 9,000 accessible public facilities around the UK. They can be found in many shopping centres, pubs, cafes, cinemas, bus and rail stations.

At Bladder & Bowel we love to talk to the amazing people in our community who in their work life, or their free time, are doing something to help others. We recently caught up with Bournemouth based fashion designer, Jasmine Stacey, who…

This week the Colostomy Association launched the theme for these year’s Colostomy Day. Every year ostomates join together to raise awareness to dispel the stigma attached to colostomies, ileostomies and urostomies.

An Ileostomy is created when your bowel is redirected out of your abdomen. An Ileostomy normally involves removing the colon and in some cases the rectum. The Ileium (last part of the small intestine) is brought to the abdominal surface to…