Sleeping worry-free with an ostomy - Tips for a secure night

After you've had your ostomy for a while, you get a good sense of when you'll be extra active at night, or you might wish to be safe every night. Nothing worse than a pouch bursting in the middle of the night. This is what I've learned to do:

You will need.

Hollister irrigation sleeve. Hollister base unit. Barrier. Hollister pouch for daily use to go with barrier base.

You take the sleeve, toss the irrigation stuff that can come with it and in the future only order sleeves.

Take the top two tabs and roll them down, sealing the top of the bag when you bend the tabs inward.

Go to the bottom of the sleeve. Bend the end over approximately 3/4 to 1 inch. Attach the clip that comes with the box.

Now comes an important step. Find a metal clip, such as used to close potato chip bags, and put it OVER the plastic clip that you have folded 4 or 5 times up the bag. The plastic clip by itself is NOT strong enough to withstand a full or semi-full bag.

Take your Hollister pouch off and put this on. The sleeve will hold a lot!

In the morning, bring your pouch and sleeve still attached to you to the toilet. Undo the tabs. Unroll the top of the sleeve. Remove the sleeve from your barrier. Raise up the clip end and dump the contents into the toilet. Put your pouch on asap so you don't squirt all over the floor like I have done when delaying too long. Take the sleeve to the tub sink or wherever to rinse out and hang dry for another night. Or dispose of it. The sleeve material is amazingly easy to clean and I reuse them 4-5 times.

I hope this helps someone out there. I'm wearing a sleeve right now and will sleep like a baby.

Hello Fred. 

I endorse all that you are saying, as this is what I have been doing successfully for years. ( Except I use a different brand to Hollister) 

Best wishes

Bill

Please let me know what you use so I can have an option for brand/method.   Thanks

Hello Fred.

I use a two piece Coloplast irrigation sleeve which goes on what they call a pressplate. The trade name on the product is Assura and the codes are 12836 & 128020 repectively. Coloplast are usually happy to send out samples.

As I have said many times before,  I do make my own baseplates for these items to suit my own particular needs, but I see no reason why they should not be okay without.  

Best wishes

Bill 

Or.....train yourself to stay up all night and only sleep for 2 to 3 hours (I sleep typically from 5:30am to 8:00am). If I've been outside all day doing physical labor, I might nod off for an hour or so after midnight, but otherwise I stay up straight through. I know.....the medical folks will swear you have to have at least 8 hours of sleep.....or you'll turn into a forgetful moody idiot......but that's not the case. It sounds impossible, but your body WILL acclimate.....and you'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in a 24-hour period.

I guess it's not well known, but for most of human history, sleep was biphasic, meaning done in two 4-hour blocks. People went to bed for the first 4 hours when it got dark outside, then got up for a very awake break (it was very common to have sex during the break), and then went to sleep for a second 4 hours. Then around 1700 in Europe and the early 1800s in the US, streets started to be illuminated by artificial lighting. That allowed folks to stay out longer and "nightlife" began. Shortly after that, the two phases of nightly sleep merged to form the single phase we are familiar with now. So I just do a single phase, just a little shorter than one of the original 4-hour blocks of the old biphasic sleep model. Just wish I knew I could do this 30 years ago!

;0)

Bob

Living with Your Ostomy | Hollister

Thank you, Bill. I will contact Coloplast for samples immediately.   The item numbers are very helpful.   Again, thanks.   Fred383