Tips for Emptying Thick Ileostomy Output

Since starting on iron, I have had much thicker output than I ever have before. Not solid thick, but thick enough for an ileostomy. I was wondering if anyone had some tips for emptying thick output. Yesterday, I somehow managed to rip my bag at the top where the bag attaches to the plastic ring, and I think I must have done so by pulling too hard on the bag when I was trying to empty it. I can't think of any other way this would have happened, as it never has happened before. It was not a pleasant experience, as I didn't know it had ripped until I started to smell something bad. Upon investigation, I noticed there was a large rip at the top of my bag, and it was letting output and smell out from there. So, short of the wise-ass answer of "don't pull so hard on the bag," has anyone got suggestions for how to empty thick output?

Lee

Somebody said something in another post about a lubricant that one of the other ostomy companies sells. I just can't remember where I read it, but I read it here on some kind of post. It's like a lubricant that you put into the bag, I guess before you put the bag on. I tend to eat a little bit too much peanut butter, and I discovered that drinking a little bit of strong black tea will create thin output that kind of rinses out the back of the thick one. But that's just me, and you have to be near the toilet.

You can put a bit of water in the bag to help empty it. You might have to do it a couple of times to get it out. My ileo tends to run thick; that's what I do.

I have deodorant spray made for ostomies, and it helps when it's a bit thicker. (Your supplier should be able to get you a sample to try out. Otherwise, you can message me, and I'll give you the info on where I get mine from.) The only thing is, after a few times, you need to spray more, depending on how much output you have in a day. Unfortunately, I've always had high output no matter what. Someone once said baby oil, but I don't know if that harms your stoma or not. Water helps somewhat to break it down so it's not as thick. I'd try and see what works well for you. Good luck 😉

I can only reply to that "ripped situation"... In my case, not torn but disconnected at the ring.

I guess that round clip got detached... and like you, I was kneading the poop towards the tail...

Like a baker spelling something on a cake. Knead, not need...

Damn bag ended up in my hands...

With the tail end open.

I freaked.

My output is always semi-solid.

Rarely liquid. The detachment happened only once. But the clip often doesn't stay clipped.

Won't happen again...

Words of Encouragement from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

Hello Lee.
Thanks for this very practical question.
I am always very careful pulling off the bag on my 2 piece system, but every so often one of them splits at the seam where the thin plastic of the bag meets the more solid plastic of the rim. I believe this is just one of those manufacturing things where not everything goes right all the time. 
As for the thick output problem. I have not found an easy or efficient answer, but I simply flush it with water (sometimes several times). The damned stuff almost always sticks to the plastic in such a way that it needs rubbing together with clean water to try to get a 'fresh' start. 
I'll be interested to see what others have to say on this one.
Best wishes
Bill
 

Hiya

I use a 2-piece system and I do have super thick output from time to time. I just try to slowly slide my fingers down both sides of my pouch and try to get out as much as I can. Then I have some coffee or really push the fluids to thin out my output.

Hi, similar to others with thick output, I add a little water from a squirt bottle and reseal the bag until it is mixed. I find that I can empty with minimum effort. Give it a try; it works for me.

Hi, similar to others with thick output, I add a little water from a squirt bottle and reseal the bag until it is mixed. I find that I can empty with minimum effort. Give it a try; it works for me.

Pour warm water in, close the bag, slosh it around with your hands, empty the bag.

Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions. I will try adding the water thing. I use M9 drops, and I thought they were lubricating, but maybe they are not. I think I have had a sample before of lubricating deodorant drops, but it was at a time pre-iron, and I didn't have thick output then. I've only had thick output since starting on iron. It seems to constipate Marvin, and when he finally does go, it's thick output, often pancaking. It is really interesting to me that taking iron does that. I don't know why they don't look at that for a treatment for people with very liquid output. Seems to me anyway that it cures that. (Not why I'm on iron, but an interesting side effect).

Lee

I have an ileostomy. Depending on what I eat, of course, my output is not what I'd call thick. When I change my bag (every 4-5 days), I always add a couple of drops of baby oil in the pouch and massage it around so as to coat the entire inside of the pouch. The result is that my output slides to the bottom and is easy to empty, leaving me with an almost spotlessly clean bag.

My gastric surgeon put me on daily iron for red blood cell count or something like that. The first lot I was on turned my output very dark (according to the insert, apparently a side effect of iron), but I changed brands, cut down to taking it only every second day, and now have 'normal' colored output.

M9 drops are for odor control.

I keep a 300ml bottle of water next to my toilet. Two, actually. The second one is for those particularly stubborn loads. I also keep a couple of bottles in my car, and I carry one when traveling. No fuss, some muss sometimes. But such is life for an ostomate. :-)

Daniel

I'm so sorry, Warrior, but you gave me a really great laugh and I can't help it. I've had those situations, but it's always been in my sleep and I wake up to a messy bed. I haven't done that in a long time; I think once in the past year when my output is thick. I have a spray sink in the bathroom, and when I'm out somewhere and it's thick, I carry bottled water. I put a little bottled water in there, move it around a little bit, and then pull them wider and then empty. That seems to work for me. Although I use the one-piece bag by Coloplast, I cut my own little hole, stick the skin prep stick to my bag, and put tape around the adhesive circles. I've only had mine a year and a couple of months, and I'll be laying there and say I smell poop, and it'll be me. So I go in the shower and change my bag, totally when that happens because it's been compromised. Yeah, have a good day and thank you for that little tickle to my heart, Warrior.

Hi, Linda. 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️ Glad it was amusing. That's what we are here for, to laugh at ourselves and with others. And learning is just a bonus.

The Velcro is a good fitting mechanism-material idea. Too bad it's not an automatic thing that locks itself. 😔

You mentioned you have a sprayer on your bathroom sink? A fixture or bottle? Me too, but a bottle, not a fixture. But the spicket sprayer on the kitchen sink is my changing station "pistol."

The sprayer-"pistol"-with warm to cool water helps clean the stoma area like a pressure washer. And the rest goes down the drain.

Unless I misunderstood, you have leaks in bed? Not so much as going outside doing chores, correct? This needs to be addressed: nocturnal leaks.

Volumes have been written here on the site about this nighttime leakage. You can PM me or add details on what you tried to solve this.

What I do to prevent nighttime leaks is to eat early, dump the bag before bedtime, and make one trip around 2-3 a.m.

Lay on back, but also turn here and there.

I do side sleep cautiously.

I also wear a T-shirt to somewhat contain a blowout.

Plus a thin ostomy belt to keep the appliance tight and flush to the stomach all the time. Never remove it is my game.

And we know to use those smiley C adhesive strips to contain the O-ring leak to buy us time.

Someone suggested lowering the (foot) bed so stuff runs down into the bag instead of weakening the O-ring while laying flat on back.

I'm considering those doughnut seats for your ass. Why? Well, placing that around your bag might help sleeping on the stomach. Gravity would pull poop that way south, away from the O-ring seal.

Jury is still out on that. Would love sleeping on the stomach, even for ten minutes. Let me know your thoughts. ✌️

I'm in the same boat as you.

A thicker output, semi-liquid. Someone described it as oatmeal.

Not silly putty.

It seems the rage is about high liquid output as an ileo.

I am glad I don't suffer that fate but wonder what is wrong with this picture? Feeling like the odd man out.

Hi, we use a lubricant, Adapt I think it's from Hollister, and I leave a little air in the bag. It will help slide output to the bottom of the bag. Someone suggested the lubricant plus the air, and it has helped me immensely with thick output.

If I have thick output, I just squeeze it out like toothpaste from a tube.

It is my hope one day with all this technology and whatnot that somebody does something with the bag, and by that, I mean installing a vent cap at the top for two reasons: one, to allow the air to come into the bag to allow the poop to flow a little bit easier, and two, a little more involved, but have a little syringe full of water to squirt in from the top. It's like those easy vent pop-up valves that are around, but depending on the bag type, it's a select fit to use those types of valves. I mean, that's pure genius. Get a little water, get a little air in the bag, the poop will come right out. You won't need any lubricant, I would imagine. But then again, I must be dreaming because nobody's ever thought of this.

Hello Warrior.
What a great idea!
One of the 'bags' that I use (at nights) is in fact an irrigation sleeve, folded up  and clipped at the top for a seal to form a large  'bag'.

 These have an open top and bottom, which allows for easy washing and flushing through when there is any output. 
There are several advantages to this device in that the long sleeve allows for a lot of output, and for me to simply slide it under the tap to put lots of water in so that it can be thoroughly flushed through. The long sleeve also goes right down into the toilet  water so that there is no splashback.
Best wishes

Bill

Hello

What is the name of your bags?

Hello Patricia.
The adapted 'bags' I am referring to are 'irrigation sleeves'. There are several on the market from  different firms like Dansac, Hollister and Coloplast.
I am presently using the Coloplast version  (Assura 12836 60mm irrigation sleeve), because this 2 piece system also fits an 'ordinary 60mm bag', which means that I can use the same baseplate for both the sleeves and the bags.
I hope this information is useful to you and please don't hesitate to ask anything else you wish to know. 
Best wishes

Bill
  

I know that. But some odor eliminator drops are lubricating. I am not saying M9 drops are.

That is what I do too, but I think I pull a little too hard on the bag sometimes.

L

I keep a small bottle near my toilet precisely for the purpose of rinsing out the tail of my pouch. Makes cleaning the tail much easier :)

Taking magnesium citrate might help counteract the thick output.

I do take Magnesium Citrate actually to reduce the occurrence and severity of my migraines. I take it at night. It doesn't seem to have much impact on my output. Maybe it makes it slightly less thick overnight, but when I take the iron in the morning, it's back to thick city. I guess I just need to learn not to pull so hard on the bag when I am squeezing things out. Maybe I am being a little too rough. I don't know.

Lee

Baby oil works, just a small amount!