Have you tried irrigating with warm tap water to rinse the pouch? Basically tap water enemas.

Jan

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried irrigating but it doesn't help.

I have thought about warm water enemas (not bothering about the catheterisation) as another option.

Here are the things I've tried so far with the catheter:

(Sorry Jan, hope this doesn't sound aggressive, but it just occurred to me this might help someone else or allow someone to better help me. It is hard to express yourself politely in this medium sometimes!)

Lying down
Standing up
Crouching
Sitting
Moving between these three
Single irrigation
Multiple irrigation
Holding water in for a while
Coughing
Massaging abdomen
Wiggling hips
Drawing abdominal muscles in and out
Twisting the catheter (quite difficult once it is inserted)
Eating more fibre
Eating less fibre
Chewing food carefully
Moving the tube in and out

The only time stool comes out is occasionally as I am withdrawing the catheter. It never flows out, and usually nothing happens.

Since my pouch went "floppy", gas production has fallen to almost zero, so there is no escape of gas when I insert the catheter to help "blow things out".

Of course, I haven't tried every combination of all the above yet Am persevering and hoping something will work for me while I try to find help from a stoma-care nurse.