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| My Personal Tips For Survival |
| A travel toothbrush for scrubbing nails, and anti-bacterial wipes, as they fit into a small colostomy bag better than a nail brush, and also a bottle of anti-bacterial wash. |
| A clickable two-piece system didn't work for me, during the day it was great, but at night it seemed to 'un-click' itself! |
| Always carry enough spare gear for an emergency! Underwear, spare socks, trousers etc. |
| When going out, even to the local shops, take plenty of pouches and all the gear to have a pouch change. |
| Get a 'RADAR' key for all the toilets in the RADAR scheme. It has saved my day loads of times. There is a sink in these toilets and plenty of room to sort yourself out too. RADAR also produce a cheap booklet listing all the sites you can find one of these toilets in the UK. (Information can be found by following this link) |
| A small bottle of water in case you can't get to a disabled loo. |
| If irrigating, scrub the elastic belt ring afterwrds with whitening toothpaste, and a small nail brush kept specially for the job, to remove any residue glue left on the belt ring from the skin (left by pouch), and it smells fresh too. |
| After irrigating, and rinsing out multi-usage irrigation sleeves, to remove unpleasant smells, leave about 1/2 pint of diluted Zoflora disinfectant in the sleeve in a jug until next use. Then just tip the disinfectant down the toilet, and dry off the top part of sleeve with toilet paper. |
| Use a small, long spouted watering can for indoor plants to rinse out irrigation sleeve whilst irrigating. It is easier to direct the water into the sleeve. |
| Take a flask of tea or coffee, so when having a rest during and after irrigating, the hot drink helps to get the gut to work and things happen faster (or is that just my imagination, and my excuse for a cuppa that's hot while I'm in the bathroom?). |
| The brilliant 'SASH' belt helps if your stoma is in the right place to support it, and can help to support a hernia and prevent a hernia from becoming worse. These are now available on perscription. Contact Dennis Hammond for more information on UK Freephone 0800 3893111 |
| A couple of years ago there was a product manufactured in Australia, it was called the Austo-mate - a rigid plastic shallow cup, with a belt attached, that covers the stoma and pouch during sports activities. Contact Amcare, FREEPOST, NG1317, Notts., NG24 3YZ (01636 610101) Price (as of August 2000) £18.00 |
| Try samples, there are many places that will supply samples willingly. This will help you to find out what works for you, the British Colostomy Association will send you a list. Two suppliers are listed on the links page of this web-site. |
| Don't feel that you are a nuisance, you are not. |
| Don't feel afraid to ask questions, that's how you learn. |
| Use a suction hook to put on the wall to support the irrigation tubing while resting between irrigations and while waiting for come back. |
| If you are away from home, and have not got the usual hook to hold the weight of the water in the irrigation bag, then use 1/2 the amount of water, as a suction hook will then hold the weight. Have a large nappy bucket already filled with water at the right temperature and refill irrigation bag as and when needed. |
| Another option is to take a camera tripod with a hook or a piece of string to hang the water bag on. |
| Take a strong coat hanger for hanging the water bag up with, if there's a suitable rail near the toilet. |
| Use a toddler's plastic floor protection mat for feeding, to protect carpets and floors from water spillage. |
| One thing I find invaluable is a tiny b/w tv, with a 6 inch screen that my daughter bought for me. I really enjoy watching the news in peace! |
| I was advised by a stoma nurse in Denmark to try a two-piece system, so that even though the girdle was tight fitting, the ring of the two-piece would allow some air to give a lip for the waste matter to be able to go into the pouch. This gave me a little time to find a toilet and change myself. I personally found the Dansac two-piece flexible flange to be the strongest one, it stuck to my skin well enough to stay on, and to be compfortable. But there was always a little leakeage under the seal, and I had to change both bag and flange everytime. But it worked, and I have peace of mind when I'm out. |
| My stoma nurse didn't know which tissue I could use to clean my stoma which wouldn't leave paper fibres on my stoma. I have found through trial and error, that Bounty kitchen roll is the only one that works. All the other's I have tried fall to bits and make life difficult. |
| The other thing I have tried that works is to use Duck tape, or breathable medical tape (like Micropore) aronud the edges of the flange to seal it. |
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