Spicy Food and Stomach Sensitivity

Hi gang!

First off........do you get confused when to use "effect" and "affect"? Yeah, me too. So here's how you remember which to use.........."affect" is something that's done to something....like cheating in sports will "affect" who wins. "Effect" is the result of something that's been "affected".....like the "effect" of cheating in sports is the cheating team will win more. Just thought I'd clear that up. It's just one reason I don't have a smartphone....if I did I'd be on it all day looking up stupid shit like that. Don't worry, you'll completely forget what I said by morning.

Anyway, Mr. Rodgers has taken off his sweater now and is ready to press on. Have you ever eaten anything spicy and had it "sting" your stoma on the way out? I think my stoma is pretty robust, but tonight on the way home from work I stopped at Popeye's and bought 2 of their fantabulous Chicken Sandwiches. One regular and one SPICY! I ate the SPICY one in the car and will eat the regular one later. Well......about 15 or 20 minutes after eating said SPICY sandwich (which is about how fast food goes through me) it felt like someone was poking me with a red hot stick! If you've ever branded yourself with a hot iron (seemed like a good idea at the time) or grabbed a smoking hot soldering iron (because your brother told you.....aw, let's leave him out of this), then you know how it felt. If you've never done those things than let's just say it HURT LIKE HELL! You smellin' what the Rock is cookin'?

Don't get me wrong, I liked the pain, but it WAS pretty intense! Only lasted 10 minutes or so, but definitely got my attention. I don't recall any other food really having that effect.........oh, caught you......it should be "effect"........I JUST explained that above, the pain is the result of my stoma being "affected" by the spices....errrrrrr........now go back to the beginning and start reading over. Some people! Anyway, for those of you who WERE paying attention.........good catch. As for the pain.......I'll go online later and see if I can tell what type of pepper Popeye uses in their SPICY chicken sandwich. Definitely the best chicken sandwich out there for those who've never tried one. But start with the Regular chicken sandwich and leave the SPICY one for us pros. I order mine without pickles (who the hell puts a pickle on a chicken sandwich???....I got a feeling the owner of Chick-Fil-A (the knuckleheads who started this whole "pickle on a chicken sandwich" bullshit) is probably related to a pickle farmer....so you know how that goes.

So I'm curious if any of my ostomate buddies ever notice their stomas protesting their eating spicy food. If not, I guess it's just me. Story of my life............

Shout back!

Later,

Bob

Bob, you're a foodie masochist! "Don't get me wrong, I liked the pain". "Branded with hot iron"?? You need to get off that farm, dude. Best in jest - warrior

Bob, I eat spicy hot food all the time. Never any pain thanks to my Aztec genes. :-)

There you go, Bob... Aztec "jeans" will fix you right up...:) And with that new hat... OMG... you will nail it for sure... 

Spicy food does not hurt coming out for me because it doesn't go in. I don't like nor eat spicy food at all. My son made some chili beans and used Rotel tomatoes. They are kinda hot and they burned my mouth.

How to Manage Ostomy Leaks with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Hello Bob.

Why are you blaming the spicy foods? It might be the chicken getting its own back by pecking you on the way out - like it does when it's breaking out of the eggshell!

Put another way -- It could be the effect of the chicken being affected.

Best wishes

Bill

I like spicy foods and they like me! The only problem I had was a veggie subway sandwich (all the veggies, all the peppers). Well, there were jalapeno slices on it and one of them came out and landed on top of my stoma. I drank a bunch and tried to maneuver the bag to push off the pepper, but I couldn't get it to move. My stoma and I will never forget that day. For now, if I have jalapenos, I deseed them then cut them up into real tiny pieces or puree them, and all is good. I love habaneros as well, but I think I would be pushing my luck, so no more of those.

Bob,

Are you sure you didn't have any exposed peristomal skin? I've never had an issue with spicy food either. And your small intestine doesn't really have pain receptors except maybe to pressure. I'll get that little bit of acid burn with the skin closest to the stoma if I've worn the pouch too long and the skin barrier has broken down. But other than that, nada.

Bain

Hi guys,

Bain, yes.....I do have exposed peristomal skin....that's what reacted to the spicy food. But surprisingly it doesn't react to much else, which I find a bit puzzling. The way my stoma comes through my abdominal wall is on an angle, not sticking straight out. So imagine taking a Kielbasa and slicing it on an angle. That's what the end of my stoma looks like. So there is exposed skin. But like I said, it's rarely affected by much that I eat. I eat spicy food all the time.........there's something about the Popeye's Spicy Chicken sandwich that is different. Must be some of those "Famous Louisiana Spices"!

Later,

Bob

I've never had that happen. I'm from New Mexico and live in southern Colorado and eat lots of green and red chile. I'm 71 now and don't eat as much very hot chile, but that has to do with my stomach. Sorry you're having problems!

Hmmmm, now I am unsure of spicy foods again. Before my surgery, I loved spicy foods. I did the Atomic wing challenge at Quaker Steak and Lube restaurant, as well as the Blazing Buffalo wing challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings (as examples of my insanity LOL) but since my surgery, I haven't even touched any pepper hotter than a bell pepper. Not even hot sauces... have been too afraid to. This post was a good read, may have to work my way slowly up the pepper scale again. To fear or not to fear the pepper, now that is the question.

Trem,

Make sure you let us know how that works out. I suspect if you've got one of those pretty "rosebud" stomas then you won't have any issues. Rock on brother!

Later,

Bob

I'll say no to the burn, but I will say super spicy did seem to make me more apt to bleed.