Adjusting to Life with an Ileostomy

Hi everyone!

A week ago, I had to have abdominal surgery, and they removed my large intestine; now I have my small one and an ileostomy. I just have a few questions if someone is willing to help me out, just to calm my nerves a bit.

I understand that for the first few weeks, I have to eat bland food and nothing strong, etc. I'm just wondering, after a while, will I be able to eat normally? And also, I mean, it's only been a week since the surgery, but I'm still kind of having a dry mouth even though I'm drinking water and tea, and eating soup.

Thank you very much in advance, and I hope you're having a lovely day.

Hi Alex, welcome to the site. Slowly add the foods you normally ate in small amounts and see how your system reacts. For me, the more fibrous the food, the more issues I have, such as with uncooked pineapple, carrots, etc. As for hydration, I drink a variety like you: coffee, milk, Gatorade that I mix from powder, and another one called Liquid IV from powder that I get from Walmart.

Hi Alex, it's good that you reached out on here and only a week after your surgery! Your body is still adjusting, still swollen, and you're being careful with food during this period. You will get back to eating normally. Are you on pain medication? Maybe that's why your mouth is dry. It sounds like you are hydrating properly. Hang in there, it definitely gets easier.

Don't drink too much beer unless you're near a toilet.

Welcome. You may be one of the lucky ones that can eat anything. I would introduce one food at a time to see how it works for you. You are still so new though, so go slow.

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Hi Alex,  Welcome.  Being only a week out of surgery, you are still healing and the tissue will still be swollen.  Until you have completely healed, you really do need to be cautious with diet.  I would stay away from very fibrous foods, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetable skins, things like that.  Make sure to chew your food really well, and keep hydrated.  With an ileostomy, keeping your liquid intake up will always be important, as you're body won't absorb water as well as someone with their colon.  In another couple of weeks, I would start to introduce more foods, but slowly with small amounts to start.  Everyone is different and some ileostomates can eat anything, while others have problems with certain foods.  The only way to find out is to experiment, but carefully.  Good luck.

Terry

Like others said be careful about fibrous foods. Things with seeds, nuts, skins. Things that are hard may be hard for your system to process. Raw veggies for example. If you are going to try them do so in very small amounts at first. But wait until you have healed at least a couple of months. Also as someone said if you are on certain medications it can cause dry mouth. Keep drinking anyway even if it doesn't fix your dry mouth it is good for your body to have fluids. Hang in there and things will get better soon, it just takes some time. If you have one consult with your ostomy/wound care nurse. She or he may be able to give you more direction. 

Thank you so much everyone for replying! Means a lot ♡  

By now you should have visited a nutritionist who should give you a list of what foods to eat and not to eat with an ileostomy.

What is extremely important is to eat soft foods that will not cause a clog, such as nuts, seeds, beans, tough fibrous vegetables, or tough parts of meat. Corn is bad. This can result in an ER visit and is painful. You can eat vegetables in small amounts but ensure they are very soft and diced into little pieces so they exit the stoma.

Certain foods will cause runaway diarrhea like fried, salty, brine, and salads, certain nutritional drinks, alcohol, etc.

Coffee may make your stoma output very acidic and cause more severe burns. Switch to tea instead.

Carbonated drinks may cause ballooning where the pouch fills with gas.

Too much of certain foods like pasta, rice, or potatoes may cause excessive output. Try to limit to one cup of each food group per sitting until you learn what occurs in the output. Use clear bags so you can see what's coming out.

I kind of researched online on various websites what I should or should not eat. But I was just wondering, are juices fine to drink? Like orange juice or something like that? I mean store-bought if possible. Because I've been drinking only water and tea for now and was just wondering. Thank you all once more so much. And is it fine to limit my coffee to one cup a day or something like that?