Hey, new here and 2 months into stoma life. My stoma all of a sudden seems larger and is leaking some "watery blood"?
It seems to balloon up and down with certain movements. Any info/help is much appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help ☺️
Oh, by the way, I'm kind of freaking out! :(
Where is it bleeding?
From inside, get to your surgeon as soon as possible.
From outside, you may be cutting your wafer too small. Although a small amount of bleeding is normal. The stoma itself will always bleed easily.
My colostomy changes in size a great deal. At rest, it protudes and looks larger. When spewing or about to spew, it retracts to skin level and looks quite a bit smaller.
You can read as much as you like, but sometimes it helps to talk.
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Are you sure it is blood? Some food dyes whether natural or artificial can color your output — e. g. beets. Is the hole on your barrier/wafer/flange too tight around your stoma? Is the bloody output in the pouch or only outside. If outside, the stoma is easy to bleed from wiping/rubbing away on it while cleaning. What besides water have you wiped your stoma with?
2 months is fairly recent, your stoma could have prolapsed and the barrier/wafer/flange could be too tight around the stoma.
Only 2 months and "kinda freakin'"? You're doing great - pretty sure "kinda freakin'" describes most of us early on this dang journey... Identifying output and making sure it is in fact output from the stoma is a good place to start... As others have said, recap what you have had to eat or drink. Improper fit of the appliance often causes irritation around your stoma, resulting in some blood.
Welcome to the site - I for one can say it saved me from many a freakin' out days/daze...
Stick with this site for answers to the many questions you will have... For me, one of the turning points in my 4+ year ileostomy journey has been finding the proper appliance and a good fit around this foreign outlet on my belly. Many good suggestions have helped along the way... As long as you keep in mind we are all very different even though we may have had the exact same surgeries or procedures... We are all different, so what works for one may not work for another... Use your own good common sense...
You have been lucky to find this site so early on... It took me almost 2 years to find it and ease the journey! jb
Hi,
Are you still having normal output or is it mostly watery with some blood as well? Is there any pain?
I am similarly recent (2 months) in my stoma journey and I had a similar incident on NYE and the 2 days following. No blood but I had waves of pain felt like a blockage until whatever happened cleared up and the bag filled twice with liquid. Continued to happen the next 2 days. I changed the bag on New Year's Day and the stoma had grown like 30%! All the stitches were suddenly gone too. I visited the ostomy clinic where I was told it was most likely some kind of stomach bug and then the next day the issue began to resolve itself and the stoma was normal size again.
Good suggestion, it would certainly help if more information is provided. The OP makes no mention of pain, diarrhea, more frequent pouch changes/emptying, or other symptoms common to stomach bug/virus.
At 2 months your stoma is still taking shape, deciding what shape and size it is going to be. My stoma was much larger when I first got it than it is now. Now it is very small. It used to be very big and oval shaped. Now it is round shaped.
It is natural for your stoma to change size throughout the day and night. Mine goes from quite puffed out to very small, regularly. It's the natural contractions of your bowel, whether it be your colon or ileum (you don't say whether you have a colostomy or ileostomy). What looks like blood could also be food related. When I eat beets, my output looks like blood. You don't say you are having any pain, or that your output is being affected, so you may have nothing to worry about. If the watery, red output continues and is not diet related though, I would talk to the ostomy nurse or surgeon.
Terry