While in the bathroom today, I checked my pad to see if I should change it and I was just a tad (understatement) surprised. It was what looked like an almost whole pill. I take chewable vitamins and calcium pills. My other meds are time released. The only pill I take is Boniva once a month and I just started taking that on the 13th of this month. Boniva is oblong and this was round. I saved it. I thought of sending to a lab to see what it is because I really can't remember.

What would you do? Is it worth sending it out for evaluation? and how do you do that?

wow...
i'd be really curious to hear what you find out about this.
my oncologist was just talking about doing a pill endoscopy for looking into my small intestine and i immediately told him no i couldn't b/c the pill would need to get out through the catheter and i'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit.
but that IS bizarre. why would a pill work itself out just through the stoma? how would it do that and still be 'continent'"?
please fill us in on what you do and what happens

Another popped out!
About 8 hours after the first.
I told my husband I feel like I'm laying eggs
Both are the same size and shape. Only thing I can think of is I took 2 Excedrin Migraine long enough ago that I don't remember and would think they have been in the pouch long enough at this point to dissolve. In 26 years this is the first time this has happened.

I have had undissolved pills get caught in my catheter on several occasions in the past, usually a long time (weeks or even months) after I had actually taken the pills. I have had the feeling that some pills could stay in the pouch for years without dissolving! It has been a long time since it has happened, but my foggy memory is that at least some of the instances for me were vitamins; but I'm sure others were medicines but I can't remember what kind. I don't think any ever just popped out of my stoma, though; although I have in the past on a few rare occasions had a small piece of undigested hard vegetable pop out of my stoma, while remaining otherwise 100% continent.

I have a two month old pouch and I had something similiar happen to me. I just finished intubating and some cantilope I didn't chew very well came out. It was a little while after the tub was taken out. My doctor warned me of some pills that will not get dissolved. I think what happened is the pills got into the holes only a little bit but came out as the tube was being pulled out and stayed in past the vale but not to the surface. I would just show it to your doctor and send out to get analized.
Good luck

This is really bizarre! I'm with Becca on this one, if pills are coming out how can you be continent? Though I guess if nothing else is coming out....
No one has said anything to me about taking pills and I take tons. I take a multi vitamin, calcium and 6pm every morning and tyleonol maybe once or twice a week. Does this mean my pouch could be full of pills??? That kinda freaks me out. Should I switch to chewables?

kadydbird...yes! you should switch to chewables.! Some pain relievers now come in liqui-gel form which I've switched to.
My vitamins and calcium +D are chewables. My doc just switched one of meds from a time release to a patch. The other is time release and the last is a small pill I take once a month that seems to be okay.

This is what I think happened; the pills were making their way out when I was emptying and the valve was open but were too big to get into the catheter holes. I took the cath out and the pills were still in the valve so they eventually worked themselves out.These pills were Excedrin migraine adn I always take them if I think I'm getting a migraine. From now on I'll go straight to the Rx meds which are meltaways and dissolve in no time!

I still think that it's weird they both made their way out at the same time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lesrich1,

When Chris was in St Pete, another patient was obstructed due to pills. The Dr found 400 undidsolved pills. They had to open her up abdominally and dig them out of the pouch by hand over several days. If you want more on that I can call and get the full synopsis. Chris was told to never take pills that can't go through the tube. He is prescribed liquids.
Most pills cannot absorb through the small intestine which is what the k or j are made of, with the j, we just expel them.

I was told that liquid vitamins are ok to take. When I had my colostomy some pills came out whole also and I had most of my colon. I was told most pills are not absorbed even with a colon but it gets mixed with the stool so most people don't know they don't dissolve. We unfortunately can see it and it can give problems. I don't think we need to freak out but just be careful. We are a little different.

i've never had a problem with pills.
granted i dont' take much
(like right now, i dont' take anything)
but as soon as i was out of the hospital from surgery i had to take nexium for an ulcer. for 60 days. granted, i didn't take the full 60 day regimen
(only cuz chemo made it no fun at all swallowing pills) but i easily did three or four weeks straight of two pills every day. and then of course, when i got off the pain pump, i had pain pills i was taking. and they had me take aspirin (or tylenol?) in the hospital all the time, and every time i'd begin a round of chemo i had to take anti-nausea pills.
nothing ever bothered me.
i didn't even give it a thought.
so is it generally thought that gelcaps, etc. are preferable if there's no liquid or chewable?

i very soon have to start taking celebrex twice a day for pretty much the rest of my life.
i hope nothing goes wrong with that. b/c i need that to keep the genetic part of my condition at bay.

i'll ask though.

I don't believe in this instance there is a question of wether or not it "bothers" anyone as to what is building up inside that is unknown until it becomes a problem.
would that be a better assessment?

Beware of any "important" pills that you take because it isn't just the surprise of finding one on a patch that is the danger. I take Tegretol for epilepsy and have been for years. The Dr. couldn't figure out why I was still having seizures and not getting control of the problem...then I starting having periods of time when I couldn't wake up
End of story... the pouch started stocking the undesolved (time released) pills and when they all started to disolve at once...I O.D.ed!! It is far from a joke. Do not take any sort of time released anything, they can accumulate and cause major problems. We now have so many choices in "format". Always choose the chewable or liquid/gelcap type or patches. If it is not available then ask them to change to a similar molecule that is.

So this began on Sunday.
Today I "tubed" (shorthand for intubated) at 11:30 and at 3:30 another pooped* out of the stoma..This makes three.....There is no way I took three of these at the same time or even in one day!..so I have to wonder what else is in there

*this was a typo for what was supposed to be "popped" and thought it was too appropriate and shouldn't be changed

Pills can remain in the pouch for weeks, months or even years depending on the composition and the drug interaction possible can be very dangerous. Something that you ingest can trigger melting and you end up with a really nasty overdose So please beware.
If you cannot substitue another form or molecule then ask if you can crush them or break them up, sometime you shouldn't. Always check first with the Dr. or pharmacist.

Ok Yes I'm officially freaked out now. I just remembered I was prescribed percocet and darvocet for pain after surgery and probably took close to 60 pills over the course of a month. Not to mention my daily regimen (which I just stopped) of vits and calcium I've been doing for the last 3 weeks.
Well on the bright side I'm getting my pouch scoped in 2 weeks so I guess we'll see what kind of pharmacy I've got going on in there
And I'm taking 6mp which isn't time-released but I'm sure wouldn't be great to have a bunch of stored up in my intestine. Guess I'll be emailing my GI tonight!

Les - must make you wonder just how many are in there huh? And how long they've been there??
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katie