Things To Consider About Colostomy Bags

A colostomy bag refers to a pouching system that collects stool from the digestive tract through a surgically created abdominal opening, called a stoma. After the surgery, patients receive information about the supplies they need to use to manage their ostomies. These supplies mainly comprise colostomy bags and skincare products. Hospitals provide initial ostomy kits to their patients as a part of the treatment procedure. A patient can choose to keep using that type of ostomy kit, or he can explore other options.

Switching over to a new kind of ostomy bag can be overwhelming. Since you might not have an idea about what type of ostomy kit may be ideal for you, you need to ask your doctor or ostomy care nurse in this regard.

The colostomy is a life-saving surgical process that results in diversion of the colon from its original pathway towards the abdominal opening. The doctor may choose to remove or bypass a part of or entire colon for one or multiple reasons. That said, a colostomy may be permanent or temporary, depending on the health condition that prompted the patient to undergo the surgical procedure.

After the surgery, your normal excretory pathway will not remain functional. Instead, the newly created colon diversion will let the feces pass out through the stoma, which is the ending of the intestine transporting the stomal output.

Choices for colostomy patients

• Consideration for colostomates, who do not have to do stoma irrigation, and ileostomates are the same. However, the stomal output moving out through a colostomy is more firm than an ileostomy. Therefore, colostomy patients find closed-end ostomy bags more useful.
• The odor is the real problem that occurs with colostomy patients. They can prevent this issue with the help of charcoal filters that tend to absorb the odor while allowing the gas to leave the bag. This way, they can avoid the ballooning effect, which results in the inflating of the bag.
• Patients who perform stoma irrigation can switch to using a stoma cap or a mini pouch instead of a big pouching system. The most significant advantage of stoma irrigation is that it makes evacuation more manageable.

Considerations when using a colostomy bag

• Not all stomas are equal in terms of shape and size. Therefore, it is essential to talk to your ostomy care nurse or doctor before you decide about using a particular ostomy pouching system.
• If you prefer using a one-piece ostomy pouching system, keep in mind that you are going to have to replace the entire system, including its wafer, when changing the bag. On the other hand, a two-piece ostomy system allows you to detach the bag from the barrier, which remains connected to the peristomal skin. The reason it’s called a two-piece ostomy bag is that it constitutes the bag and the wafer as two separate pieces.

No matter what type of pouching system you prefer, replace the wafer if it starts discomforting you. That’s where you also need to run a quick check to see if your peristomal skin is healthy. You can talk about it with your ostomy care nurse.