Ostomy Lifestyle Needs

Colostomy Support Wear Is a Necessity Now

When you have had either a colostomy, or an ileostomy, you are now dealing with a stoma.

In dealing with a stoma or an ostomy you are going to be using a set of appliance pieces that you will be using daily.

They are the wafer and the pouch, sometimes I call them the flange and the bag.

I soon figured out that my friend with the attachments was going to hinder my body movements.

Maybe not all body movements actually, but I was going to feel unsure of myself with the new situations.

Being able to move around, to do all types of things that used to be normal, now take on a different tone. There is now a more serious approach to things.

New Thought On Movement

Here is a list of body movements that now count as needing a better approach to them, than you paid attention to (something that you did naturally, without a thought) before your surgery.

Bending over will be different for you. You will now have a sack hanging down off of your lower abdomen area.
Sleeping on your side you have a bag in your way. It too can hang down with the base being at the angle you are laying at.
Sitting down, you will have the end of the bag sticking into your groin area, this is if you use a drain able pouch.
If you want to go running, you will have a bag against your skin, causing you to be warmer than normal.
Laying on your stomach is not possible any more
You are only able to bend so far over with it squashing your appliances

Some Images of My Colostomy & How It Wears

This first set of images in your mind is what it will look like without colostomy support wear. I can tell you from experience that if you have worn colostomy support garments

Protect Your Against a Bulging Ostomy Bag

and then you will go even a few hours without them, you will notice a very large difference.

So I guess it’s more about what it feels like to you than what it looks like.

You will no longer be able to make sudden moves physical, without your mine helping you to remember to be more cautious of what the consequences may be if you tear your device up, or the wafer comes unattached, or the pouch rips off or be aware of what just a small bit cracked (unsnapped) will allow to happen.

How Colostomy Support Garments Can Help-My List of What You Need to Be Wary Of

My List:

Sudden movements may cause problems
Excessive heat or moisture may cause adhesives to no longer work
Excessive gases being emitted
Excessive bowel movement over a short period of time

All of these could be large problems for you. I know that I became more cautious because I don’t want to deal with the circumstances surrounding any of the sort occurring.

Also as I have stated earlier many of these things become large in your mind. You will not forget. They say that you can go back to normal. Yes normal in many ways, but in some other ways, it isn’t normal any more.

Once you see what the problems could be, you now are saying to yourself, Yes I see that, but what can I do to help improve, or minimize any of these things?

So I asked myself how can I make this more normal.

Normalizing Things

StomaDome – Stoma Guard Security Shield

Here are a couple of great examples of the variety of support products that are there for you. With an Ostomy many different companies have recognized the needs of all of us.

While the needs may be varied a bit, we still all have the same basic things that need to be taken care of for us to feel more competent about our presence and our activities.

The first product is a stoma guard. While I personally don’t find a need I can certainly relate to having a desire for the Stoma Dome Guard. It is always very easy to hit your stoma when you are being physically active.

OstomyPockets White-Snap pocket onto underwear/undergarment. Supports ostomy bag

The second product is something that is similar to the underwear I wear now. It is called the OstomyPockets White-Snap pocket onto underwear/undergarment.

This is something that will snap into place wherever your stoma is located on your abdomen area. It is very flexible and serves the main purpose of holding the ostomy pouch in place so that it isn’t moving.

It isn’t digging into your groin area either. It is held in place. That’s a blessing of it’s own.

StomaTuck Ostomy Pouch Protector (Black)

The third product is the StomaTuck Ostomy Pouch. This will be handy for the very physically active athlete, If you do physical work for a living this will be very handy.

The movements aren’t limited as they are in product one. the Stoma Dome is great for activity but not to the extent of this type of physical movements. the stoma dome is more for dancing, lifting things, moving things, etc.

They’re great options that offer flexibility for you.

An Overview Of Ostomy Support Wear

As you can see by my suggestions there aren’t any big home runs to be hit. It (the Answers You Need) will be figured out from what determine to be things you simply need to make things better for you.

Many solutions to many of these areas of concern are answered by wearing colostomy support wear. Many different options are available to you.

Products such as support belts, ostomy support underwear, ostomy support panties, colostomy support wraps as well.

Let’s dig in and talk about these colostomy support wear. At the beginning of the page is a picture of my two main items.

What I was told about when we asked about any support being available was these type of colostomy wear garments that are in the market to help ostomy patients.

The main thing they provide are support for your pouch, so that if it fills up, or breaks away, or leaks, then some of the damage is held in the support pocket of the wrap or the underwear.

This has happened to me, it was a help, but truthfully it still was a controlled mess to deal with.

The largest thing these do for me are they give me, peace of mind. I feel much better knowing the my pouch is housed in a support area that while it does bulge out, is still pulled in closer to me and is not swinging freely around.

A full pouch can be rather heavy and you will not want to have it literally unsnap from the wafer because of the weight.

While I am sleep I know that things are much safer by the wrap pulling the appliances nicely to my body while I sleep. Many nights I have awaken with the bag bulging, but nothing bad had happened because the ostomy support wrap did it’s job.

I have found the wrap and the colostomy support underwear to be extremely valuable to me.

Lower On The Groin Area, Ouch!

Another big irritant to me, as a male is that my drain able pouch is low enough into my groin area that the folded end actually will be hitting and rubbing up against my groin enough that it feels like it is poking me down there. Very uncomfortable.

So an ostomy support belt, or colostomy support underwear do a very nice job for me when placing the end of the pouch into the protection pouch are of the body briefs, so that the hard plastic is not irritating or poking me down there.

Why Was Colostomy Clothing Such a Big Deal?

After over 5 days in the hospital, colostomy clothing was big time on my mine. Why you ask?

For 5 days I was wearing a peek-a-boo backless gown, not very becoming on a 61 year old man, I might add. What to wear, I sound like a woman now, but I had a good reason for this concern.

As I walked around I realized that my outfits right now would be sweat pants and a t-shirt. The main reason would be my ostomy was placed just immediately below my waist on my left hand side. my left hand side probably because I am left-handed?

Maybe some other reason but I do not know why. With this larger bump, It made it impossible for me to button up any of my pants that I owned.

Regular Clothes Just Didn’t Work Well

I tried, and tried all of them. The only answer was the baggy britches look with no belt but wearing suspenders. Huh?, Ah, NOT MY LOOK. Some may agree with this look others may disagree. I wasn’t going to do that look.

So I faced giving all of my pants away, and replacing them with something that I could wear. But What? A few days later, the Ostomy care nurse that I had an appointment with told us to check with a gentlemen at a store in a local mall. He would be able to help.

Searching For Clothing for Colostomy Patients, Takes Patience

So we went to this kind sir and he directed us to a shirt rack and a pants rack for what recommended for people with my needs. Was this the answer, no not really.

We did start heading in the right direction though. We purchased one shirt and we were not sure the trousers were the answer so we continued on our search.

Our search led us a few days later to an outlet store where the stocked Wrangler elastic expansion waist banded pants. These allowed me to wear a dress casual type of trouser and yet do it without a belt. None of my belts have been worn ever since my surgery.

The Shirt Search Was Next

Our next search was for a shirt type that could be worn out, the untucked look that still looked dress but would hang loosely and nicely over the pants. You see the object is to be comfortable but not to show the obvious ostomy bump that is always present.

It is best when the bag is newly changed and at it’s worst when it is full of gases or feces. Then it’s time to find a restroom.

So the search was for a tail less shirt, that looked dressy and had some nice design to it, not just a very plain looking shirt. This was a challenge. Several stores visited and we left several stores were left disappointed.

Finally we found one store where I was able to find 5 different shirts that I could wear comfortably that checked off all of the boxes on the list of requirements.

The challenge is that these stores only carry a few different shirts of this style that fit me. We still haven’t found any other store but that one.

Wrangler Authentics Men’s Short Sleeve Canvas Shirt, Chocolate Harriton Men’s Bahama Cord Camp Shirt -Cloud Blue Harriton Men’s Bahama Cord Camp Shirt -Green Mist

What Are You Looking For to Dress a Colostomy Patient

You will need a look that disguises the fact that you have an ostomy, with a piece of equipment attached to it.

Please be aware, as you are out of the house, that situations will arise when you bag will expand very much. the bulge that develops is rather large. It can be very embarrassing to you, if that bulge is very easily noticed.

Once you have either changed the bag or you have drained the bag, you are very happy to have a look in your clothing as a colostomy patient that covers this fact up for you.

This is an area where I have had to realize that things aren’t as recognizable to most people.

But they are really uncomfortable to you knowing and wondering how many people are noticing.

With my lack in personal confidence, I wouldn’t be in public with my t-shirt and sweat pants look.

The ostomy to me is too apparent. I only do this if I am wearing a jacket over it, or a windbreaker over it.

Have You Prepared an Ostomate Emergency Bag?

Another thing to be aware of is that if you need to change the equipment you will need to be able to access the ostomy area easily.

Tight, restrictive clothing does not work well for changing or draining situations. Also I always take a change of clothing with me in case a breakout happens.

A breakout is if the bag is so full it starts unattaching itself and leakage is happening or if the wafer is leaking or becoming unattached. I have had both things happen, And It was very helpful having other clothes to change into.

So it is very important to have a colostomy emergency bag ready and easily reached in your car, if you are out for an extended period of time. I have a great post about this, Preparing An Ostomy Emergency Travel Kit. Being prepared is now more important than ever before.