I am 3 weeks into step one of J-Pouch surgery and I'm having a really difficult time figuring out how to wear clothes, especially pants & jeans, with my temp loop ileostomy. The placement of the stoma is right where the waistline of my pants fall! The ostomy nurses just suggest wearing them "above or below". Below seems to cut off the flow of "contents" and above would mean shopping in the geriatric department. I'm 43 and not quite ready to give up all sense of style, help!

I remember this time. It really was frustrating. As a guy, I was able to wear baggy shorts in the summer so it didn't cut off the flow of contents to severely. I also found out it depends on what type of pouch you wear. The ones that open lower, while more frustrating, seemed to work a bit better for me. They gave the contents more room to flow down. Have you looked into any belts for support? Just trying to throw out some ideas I went through during this phase. Hope it works out well for you.

I don't know about you but I'm very thin with a 30 to 31 inch waist so most of my pants had a little room so aslong as I did not tighten my belt all the way I was ok. Also I was very cognizant of my bag and would periodically push its content towards the bottom. At home I wore a lot of elastic waisted pants too.

Thanks so much for the advice guys, it seems that finding pants that sit below the stoma is the best way. I do wear a support belt but it is just the kind that hooks to the wafer, I might need to check into one of the wider elasic waistbands. So nice to hear from others who've gone down this road, so thanks again.

Have you tried maternity jeans? I know it sounds weird because obviously our bellies are not as big as a pregnant woman's. I had my last child 15 years ago and I have been pleasantly surprised at how much maternity clothing has changed and become more stylish, versus just having an elastic waistband!! My stoma is also right where a normal waistband would fall. I have tried the lower rise pants, but then feel like everything is "hanging out" and flopping in the breeze. The wide stretchy band is very comfortable and the pouch can be snuggly and securely tuck inside minimizing movement and smoothing out contents of the pouch. Nothing binds or presses against my stoma. NO ONE knows that I am wearing maternity pants unless I tell them!! Just a suggestion, but check out the preggo section next time you are at the mall!!!

Pam,
I don't know what the fashion is like where you live or how your body is built but here in Paris, everyone is wearing leggings and jeggings...great for you with a long men's type shirt worn out over it or a long sweater or tunic...The leggings are easy to wear over a bag, they actually hold it tight against the skin and prevent the flopping feeling...here they wear them with flats or high boots in the daytime and with heels in the evening...they have all sorts of fabrics, textures and colours...I am a business consultant and professional coach in the banking and finance business so I need to be well dressed but can no longer wear my 'wall street lady business suits'...high heels kill me and panty hose with tight skirts are out for good (I am 51)...So the leggings, ridding boots and long 'grandpa' type shirt in a flowy fabric work well for me...I can even put a sexy belt over the whole thing for a more put together look.
I did it on Friday during a meeting and I looked great.
Sharon

I know they are not very fashionable, but JC Penneys has elastic waisted pants that can sit above the stoma and there is enough room that the bag won't show. I bought several pairs of these and they were very comfortable. After being so sick I didn't really care how they looked, but I was ready to get back to my old clothes after my 3rd surgery.

Seriously.. I couldn't imagine maternity, elastic wasted pants, or anything like that at all. Try pants that sit below the stoma and then use a tight tank top under a flowy shirt, sweater, longer blazer, which tucks into your pants. Also skirt or dresses with tights underneath are fabulous.

There is no need to sacrifice fashion just because you have an ostomy.

It is better if you try wearing it above but if you want to wear it below you can take a support of the belt. And another thing which you can wear comfortably is skirt.

I'm very tiny so the bag is always in the way and never cooperative, and I have a very physical job always moving. I like it when the bag is closer to my body so even though I am very tiny I wear "shape wear" so the bag stays close to my body and it still doesn't effect the flow of things. I make sure its long enough so it can go into my jeans and I still wear all of the clothes that I wore before my surgery, which is important to me because I'm only 23! Hope this helps.

Just bought clothing on Saturday; didn't want to spend too much as I'll only have the stoma (hopefully!) for the next 3-4 months. As has been said, leggings and large sweaters are great; I found a nice shawl-style cardigan that is perfect, and looks very nice too.

Another surprise was finding a couple of poly-cotton wrap dresses! They don't cling, so with hose/tights you can't see the bag or any of the lines at all. Pleasant surprise.

Gin

I wear something called a Bellaband. It's for pregnant women to wear over the zipper of their pants so they don't need to buy maternity pants right away. I wear my bag outside of my pants, and wear this overtop of the bag, and then it just looks like an undershirt sticking out. It allows me to wear tight jeans and shirts, and it keeps the appliance tight against the skin as well.

My pouch is now 20 years old so I had my Ostomy many years ago but I used to wear maternity pants too. The style of shirts back then were like pheasant shirts that they had in the 60's. I actually looked very in style at the time and I always got compliments on how nice I looked. I would laugh to myself because most people did not know I had the stoma at the time. I would also wear leggings but get them in a bigger size to fit the bag and they are stretchy so the legs don't look baggy.

I notice that there are lots of clothes like this now too. I see a lot of the 60's pheasant shirt look again in the stores. I love the Hue Leggings and wear them now even though I don't have the stoma anymore. It always reminds me of the days when I had one.

The Hue pants come in a lot of great styles too.

http://www.hue.com/Leggings.aspx

Back then I had nice skinny legs so I would wear these little short skirts with an elastic band and I could put the band higher than the bag. I would have the little pheasant shirt and it looked cute. Don't get an A-Line skirt, you will see the bag. Get a skirt that has a little wave or gathering in it so it is flowing. Shorten or crop the shirt about 1 or 2 inches below you waist so it is not too long. My grandmother was a clothes designer, seamtress and pattern maker. She helped me figure out what I should wear and even made some of the clothes for me.

Good luck and have fun.

KangaRoe

My ostomy is right on my beltline...I really don't have any problems with it as far as clothing...

Hi Pam,
I also just went back to a temp ileo, and had to do a bit of shopping. All I can say is, thankfully, peasant tops are back in style. I bought a few, and if you couple them with low-rise jeans (as I wear anyway), it totally covers the bag and still enables you to wear it on the outside. I am a small person (just below five feet) so switching to a pediatric bag (a two-piece, and the smaller bag during the day) has also helped, as it is only 7" long opposed to the standard 12". I don't have a ton of torso "real estate," but this really helps to minimize how the bag is viewed on the outside.

Best of luck!

Colleen