Worried About Hurting My Stoma with Daily Activities

I am kind of worried about putting too much pressure on my stoma, like lifting and bending over too much, for example. Is it normal to feel like I may hurt my stoma if too much pressure is put on it? And could I hurt it? Even sitting up for too long can make me feel like I am hurting it, or when I went to change my colostomy bag once. It was really red around the stoma area. One reason why I feel this way is because one day I had leakage from my stoma. I was bending over a lot that day, and it got onto my clothes. I just figured I was bending over too much because when I had to do an emergency bag change, my stoma looked bigger than usual. So that kind of makes me scared to put too much pressure on it.

It takes a long time to heal, and your body to adjust to your ostomy.

Experiment with different ostomy products: 2-piece systems, 1-piece systems, moldable barrier rings, support belts. All ostomy supply manufacturers offer free samples. Look them up on the internet. They also have ostomy nurses on staff you can consult with.

Cutting the wafer hole too close to your stoma size causes problems. A stoma is always on the move, getting longer or shorter, thicker or thinner. They change shape. Bending over will push your lower stomach upwards, putting pressure on the bottom of your stoma. My stoma bottom is always irritated. I use the "crusting" technique on it at every wafer change. This helps keep the irritation stable.

I use a moldable barrier ring under my wafer. This allows me to cut the wafer hole with a larger diameter than usual. So when I bend over or use an ostomy support belt, my peristomal skin doesn't get damaged from rubbing against the wafer hole edge.

Do NOT lift anything. You will develop a parastomal hernia. You might develop one anyway, even if you're careful. Wear a support belt. It's not proven they help prevent hernia, but in the early days of a new ostomy... you need all the help you can get.

Stomas are delicate, but tough too. If you hit or scrape it, it bleeds a lot. Bending over won't hurt it (unless it's pinned between fat rolls). 😊

 

 

Bending over a lot can put pressure on it, but I doubt it's enough to actually hurt it. Since you stated you have a colostomy, you may want to cut your hole just a tiny bit bigger than normal and see if that helps, since colostomy usually doesn't deal with such liquidy output. I tried some convex bags once, and they were too tight and literally put a bruise around my stoma until I took the bag off. I went back to flat bags and have never had that issue since. Hernias are the biggest problem to deal with, as you can get one by doing basically nothing out of the ordinary. Lifting is probably the biggest culprit in getting a hernia, but a person can get one from simply coughing or sneezing. You can wear belts/wraps to try and help, but there's no guarantee they'll work. Your stoma will change sizes constantly as it expands/contracts. I always try to put a new bag on when it's expanded, not sure if it's better or does any good. 🤷‍♂️

Thank you so much! Very helpful.

Thank you so much! Very helpful.

Words of Encouragement from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister