If you have an ostomy then chances are you are used to leakage happening in your everyday life. In fact, there is nothing worse than being somewhere public like work or school and having your ostomy pouch leaking all over the place. It smells awful and it is truly embarrassing to have to explain to people why you smell so bad. My most embarrassing ostomy-related moment is when my pouch began to leak when I was over at my girlfriend’s parents house for dinner. Lasagne does not mix well with the smell of my intestinal consent spilling out into the room. Needless to say that relationship ended fairly quickly after that. If you want to avoid something like this from happening, then I suggest you take advantage of a few tips I have for you. It can be hard to identify the root cause of leakage in your stoma and ostomy pouch, but hopefully I can provide you with a quick checklist that you can run through in a moment of crisis.
One reason that your ostomy pouch may be leaking is because you have not been taking good care of the skin around your stoma. If you are constantly replacing your ostomy pouch over your skin and are not doing anything to take care of it, then you may end up with some leakage that can occur between the ostomy bag and the irritated and swollen skin around your stoma. Avoid this by taking really good care of your skin, got it? Like it really is not that hard at all. Just make sure to keep washing your skin and stoma with warm water and some mild unscented soap if you have some handy. Putting your skin health at a high priority is a good way to ensure that you are not experiencing leakage due to this simple problem.
Another reason your ostomy pouch might be leaking is that you may be needing to change your ostomy pouch more often. If you have an ostomy pouch that is filled to the brim with gas, stool, and urine, you may experience some pressure on the skin barrier which could cause some leakage to occur. This is a pretty simple thing to do to avoid leaking, as you should be used to changing your ostomy pouch by now anyways. Take it from one ostomate to another – don’t try to push it on overfilling your pouch and change that stinky thing as often as needed.
A lot of leakage can occur if you are being physically active, so this is another huge thing to keep in mind if you are experiencing leakage on a regular basis. Certain clothing or accessories can be worn to help better secure your ostomy pouch and prevent any serious or unneeded leaks. This includes being physically intimate! No one wants their night ruined by the most heinous smell of your leaky ostomy pouch filling the air, so make sure you keep that pouch nice and wrapped. It might be a good rule of thumb to just empty your ostomy pouch before and after you start doing any strenuous activities like running, biking, lifting weights, swimming, skateboarding, or other things that are similar. I hope this article was helpful for you! Stay strong fellow ostomate.
My Ostomy Diary 