Pain During Gas Release from Colostomy

Hello, my son has a ton of pain when gas comes out of his colostomy. His motility doctor said it may just be a sensory reaction because there's nothing "wrong" happening with his stoma. Anyone else have this issue?

G-Day Cody,

Get a second opinion.

IGGIE

Codybug pain in the intestines and stomach or pain underneath the stoma?

How long has he had his ostomy? I remember when mine was very new. The expelling of gas hurt because I was still healing.

I get a little discomfort with gas. It is really coming from the surrounding skin and gets worse if the skin is irritated. This is very momentary and does not linger. Irritated skin may have slight lingering effects but should quickly settle to what it was before.

I've also noticed pain sometimes when the gas is moving through my colon right before it comes out. I had this before the surgery, but it seems worse now for some reason. That pain is always transient and gone within a few minutes.

As Maried said, if the stoma is new, he is likely still healing. I know I had more pain early on.

If his pain is greater than what I'm describing, you probably need to check in with his doctor.

Getting Support in the Ostomy Community with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Hi Codybug, if your son's colostomy is relatively new, the pain may be from trapped gas and his body trying to get used to this new system. Moving will help this. I started to have pain after eating around 2021 or 2022, and my ileostomy was six or seven years old. The pain was very intense and improved when I expelled gas. One gastroenterologist told me it was my gallbladder, but the pain didn't go away after its removal. Another gastro told me my intestines were "sensing" pain after eating. Meds didn't help it. I never quite bought the second answer, and my gallbladder certainly wasn't the culprit. I never found any more suitable explanations. It has slowly improved to the point where I barely notice it. I still get a bit of pain when I eat certain things like nuts, but nothing as intense as a few years ago, and moving to expel the gas always helps.

Thanks so much, everyone. Cody's 20 and non-verbal, and is cognitively kind of like a baby, so he can't tell me anything about the pain. I just notice him hyperventilating and squirming, and then gas comes out of the stoma. Your responses make a lot of sense - I will wait and hope it's better as it heals. Thanks again!