Managing Mucus Leakage in Public?

It just occurred to me that tomorrow I will be in a situation where I cannot get to a private area. I am a colostomate, a male, with an occasional leakage of mucus which I easily take care of when at home but what can I wear when there's a time I have to be hours in public?

Hello keepers51.

I am presumiing that the mucus you refer to leaks from the anus. This is a very common thing with those who still have one and I'm sure a lot of people will chime in on your post. If not, there have been a number of previous posts on the subject which can still be found in the 'collections' section.

I have had excessive and continuous mucus from the off, so had to find my own solution quickly. Fortunately (or not, depending on your perspective) , I was faecally incontinent prior to my stoma, so I needed to cater for that and was already well prepared for relatively minor leakages from that area.

At first I tried anal plugs, but they are made of the wrong sort of material for absorbing mucus, then I tried the plugs women use for their periods, these absorbed it, but were a liability, as they tended to get stuck, or get sucked further in, or, as on one or two occasions, the tail-end broke and the only way to get it out was using artery forcepts. Also, this tail-end on some of them is made of material and the mucus simply wicked out and was still as much a problem as when I wasn't wearing it. Thus, after so many failed experiments, I  simply continued using incontinence pads. However, the mucus does not absorb very quickly into them so it needs slowing down to give the pads a chance. For this, I use a folded hand tissue (Toilet roll tends to disintigrate and is rendered useless), which catches the bulk of the mucus and slows it down so that the pad has a chance to absorb it more slowly. 

It is interesting that I find the anal mucus more of a nuisance than the stoma. Probably because nobody warned me about it beforehand, so I wasn't mentally prepared. 

I hope this information proves helpful 

Best wishes

Bill 

Thank you, Bill.

As my ex-husband would tell me, stuff the area like a turkey.

As Bill said, tissue slows it down and padding catches the excess leakage.

No one told me about the mucus either!

When I used to have mucus, I just used a tampon for padding. They soaked it up much better than any padding I've ever used.... My ex was a nurse, she told me to use them.

Staying Hydrated with an Ostomy with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

After my surgery and while my abscess was healing, I used my wife's maxi feminine pads in the back of my underwear. They worked great. Good luck. Penguins7