Did anyone see Chicago Med last night on NBC? They featured a patient with a prolapsed stoma. I found it kind of interesting. They put sugar on the stoma and said that would fix the prolapse... wondering how accurate that is? I don't know a lot about prolapses and how to treat them. Just curious.
Lee
Didn’t see it, but the sugar thing is real. 😀
It’s ‘sugar and reduce’
My nurse friend had it happen to her… the EMT with her sang this on the way to the hospital 😆
Why Join MeetAnOstoMate?
First off, this is a pretty cool site with 37,000 members who truly understand you.
It's not all about ostomy. We talk about everything.
Many come here for advice or to give advice, others have found good friends, and some have even found love. Most importantly, people here are honest and genuinely care.
🛑 Privacy is very important - we have many features that are only visible to members, ensuring a safe and secure environment for you to share and connect.
Create an account and you will be amazed by the warmth of this community.
Yes, it's true. As with everything, it doesn't always work, but sugar is the first thing they try to avoid surgery. I saw a whopper of a prolapsed stoma on UK TV last year. I was really impressed; that was a big boy! The doctor did try sugar, but it couldn't handle it and needed surgery.
I agree...cough cough... absolutely...
Everything is real on TV, even flying nuns...👀😳
Yeah, the sugar absorbs water or moisture and could potentially make the burger shrink. And I'll have Warrior know my second cousin was a nun... and as a kid, I always called her The Flying Nun... and she never said she couldn't. And we all know nuns don't lie. You just gotta have faith, my friend!
;O)
I know tv is not always real, I just thought maybe they had done their research or something. At least it was a fake stoma on tv. I never see media talk about ostomies.
Lee, it sounds like someone on their payroll at least did some research. :)
They decided to fix it by doing a reversal after bringing it down with the sugar treatment. I don't know; I guess it was as real as they portrayed bipolar disorder on the show in the first season, which you have to take with a grain of salt. It didn't seem all that realistic to me the way they had the bipolar lady acting after missing one dose of lithium. I just thought that it would make something interesting to talk about on here, being as it was a stoma issue on the show.
Lee
Hmm.
From what I am understanding, if your stoma transforms into a blimp, you throw a little sugar on it and it retracts?
I am amazed at how mine grows so large at a change that it scares me. However, when I just look at it and calm my mind, it does retract to a smaller size on its own.
I cannot imagine how large it grows, requiring surgery.
I do know it could retract below the skin level. By putting too much or just how much sugar you put on it, would make me think twice about using sugar.
My two cents' worth.
Sugar to reduce edema (swelling) of a stoma is a real thing. It helps draw out water which hopefully resolves the issue. Unfortunately it may only be temporary depending on cause. The NIH has been researching this.
I'm aware of this practice. This internal reaction is what happens to the intestine when we ingest sugar. It contracts and draws out water from the body to restore it. I keep away from sugar because it exacerbates the dehydration I already find challenging.
Hi Lee, Chicago Med is a show my husband watches and I don't, so it was totally accidental that I walked through the room just as that Doctor was discussing the kid's ileostomy, which stopped me in my tracks! I saw the shot they showed of his 'fake' stoma, and in my opinion it did not look at all like a prolapsed stoma. It looked like a slightly swollen stoma, which is a totally different thing. A prolapse is part of your bowel, or in this case ileum, pushing out through your stoma. It doesn't look the same, and I know as I've had small and large prolapses. Maybe they didn't think the public was ready to stomach what a real prolapse looks like because it's pretty ugly. They did get the sugar thing right though, and it worked for me when mine was really bad, avoiding surgery.
Terry
Sorry, I don't understand what a prolapsed stoma would be? To my understanding, if there is a prolapsed rectum or uterus that would mean that it comes out. Since the stoma comes out of the body, how much more would the stoma come out?
@redondo..
Excellent question.
My stoma does an exercise. Like a muscle, it expands and retracts.
The largest I have seen it? Two golf ball-sized lengths. Yep.
Nearly fainted looking at this...
So I gave it time and an evil eye, and like F-Troop soldiers, it retreated. Never gave thought I needed it fixed, or needed to apply anything to it for it to retract.
It happens rarely. I don't worry about it expanding; I do worry it will disappear under the skin.
A stoma prolapse is when the intestine comes out and extends down several inches, be prepared if you google a picture of one because it's scary stuff!
A guy in an ostomy fb group I'm in was making jokes about his prolapse along the lines of "I could get a job in porn if my wang was this long!" - Sorry, but at least he could see the funny side of it - his was temporarily fixed with the sugar remedy but he had to eventually have surgery.
Several inches? Good God! I would faint seeing either of those two in real life. Gulp...! 😲😳
Thanks for your take on things. When I saw the show, I didn't think his stoma looked all that abnormal. I was like, "What is a prolapse exactly?" because that didn't look like it was a problem. I just this season started watching Chicago Med. I have seen the first 9 episodes and then nothing until the start of this season. I prefer it over Chicago Fire, and I don't ever watch PD. My best friend is in love with Chicago Fire and really wants me to be into it, so I do watch it. I have liked Med so far this season, but I am always questioning how accurate the show is. My brain just works that way. I like a show that is accurate; I guess that is why I watch more documentary-type shows and science shows on Smithsonian.
Lee
Oh yes, several inches indeed. My worst prolapse hung out around five to six inches and basically filled my pouch. When I described it to my doctor, I said it looked like a penis, a really ugly flaccid penis! A small prolapse can be an inch or so. That was when I had a colostomy, but since my ileostomy, no problems so far, touch wood.
Terry
Yeah, I often wonder about the accuracy of the medical shows too. My husband is addicted to all the 'Chicago' shows, but I've not watched them. There are a lot of good dramas on, so if I don't want to spend my whole life watching TV, I have to draw the line somewhere!
Terry
Sugar is amazing. I'm a retired nurse and I've seen it used to heal bedsores.
I was dared my freshman year of college to see if I could enroll in a local nunnery... you know me and dares... I don't think your second cousin would've approved
I wonder if the stoma references on televisions and movies could be due to the increased rate of colon cancer among younger people. Maybe the subject is becoming mainstream simply because so many more people are having to deal with ostomies, whether temporary or permanent.
I wonder... after Matthew Perry died, there was an uptick in the sales of his book, which he was very clear about how he felt about having an ostomy. I'm speculating, but that may be a factor as well?
I have treated patients with prolapse that:
1) either look like a penis in the bag
2) or like a snake
3) I even had one patient whose stoma would protrude at least to the end of the bag (about 5 inches or more) when he stooled and then retracted to appear like a normal ½-1 inch stoma when he was done.
Just to be clear...
This is just the small colon behaving this way, right?
There used to be a video online, don't know if it's still there, of a woman with a really terrible prolapse that she lives with. It is always out, and she has to stuff it back in in order to change her appliance. The video shows her stuffing it back in and then starting to apply her new appliance. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
Terry
Yeah, I guess there are a lot of TV dramas out there. The shows I can't stand are the "reality TV" shows. I also hate the singing shows like The Voice. And I can't stand the ones like Naked and Afraid, or The Bachelor. I do think the Chicago shows can be a little graphic, more than is necessary sometimes. Like there was one with a flesh-eating bacteria and that was pretty graphic. Actually, that is one reason why I won't watch PD. I saw one show of it and they had severed heads on it and bodies without a head and I was like, too graphic for me. I don't want to get nightmares.
Lee
