First Leak on new ostomy..what went wrong?

Sorry this happened. Unfortunately, some leaks are kind of inevitable with an ostomy. I'm assuming, based on your situation, that you have a loop. I had both loop and end ileos for a time; loops have a much more watery output and are therefore more prone to leaks. It may have been that nothing went wrong. If your bag is very full or if there is a lot of gas, it can literally pop the seal off and there is not much you can do in those situations.

However, there are some steps you can take to reduce the frequency of occurrence. A trick I learned is actually in the application itself. When I first applied a new appliance, I did so while lying flat on my back with my stomach as flat as possible to get a tight seal. A ring of stomadhesive paste around the stoma was a must. If using a fitted wafer, I always made sure it was as close a fit as possible without pinching the stoma, or else I cut it to size. After applying the wafer, I then used a hairdryer on a low setting to set everything into place. For the next 30 minutes, if at all possible, I avoided bending or sitting so as not to put any wrinkles in the wafer and give it a good time to set. I know that sounds like an involved process, but honestly I found (after a lot of trial and error; after all, I had a ileostomy for 2.5 years), that putting a little extra time into applying the system extended the life and significantly reduced the number of leaks I had.

Hope this helps a bit!

my two cents worth:

with the end ileostomy I had a nice spouting stoma and never had any issues with leaks once I learned how to put on the appliance properly

with the loop, it took me a while to find a system that worked, but after 3 or 4 weeks of trying different bags I came across the convatec 2 piece system.

I now don't have leaks but I did notice a problem when the output was really thick.

I was having a massage, lying flat down on my belly for 90 mins and the output couldn't move down the bag. it was thick output so it just started spreading out around the stoma and started coming out the bag. luckily it didn't make too much of a mess but ever since then I've been very careful to avoid pancaking.

if my output is thick I constantly feel around the stoma and push output down the pouch. I also make sure when I lie down that my stoma is raised above the mattress so output has room to move down. I find a pillow just under the legs/hips is enough to make sure the output doesn't get stuck.

hope this helps

The adhesive shouldn't be affected by the cold. As I recall, the adhesive "activates" at body temperature. Sometimes, you just have a bad o-ring. Perhaps your skin was not completely dry or you had some stoma powder that was still lingering when you applied the wafer. Or, you might have done everything right and your loop-ileo (if you have one) is to blame.

When I had my loop-ileo, I ended up having to change appliances more frequently than with an end-ileo b/c the adhesive would weaken faster with the loop-ileo.

Hi,

I've had my permanent ileostomy since 2007. What has happened to you (and has happened to me on rare occasions) is while sleeping your fecal material pooled around your stoma and wasn't able to move its way down. Consequently, stool sat around the stoma and then found another way out. What you need to start doing once or twice through the night is to use your finger and swab around the outside of the bag and move the stool down. It will become part of your nightly routine, and you'll get so you're doing it automatically in your sleep. I love to sleep on my back and on those rare occasions when I have had a leak, it was because I was in a deep sleep on my back and the stool pooled. I figure it's happened probably four times since 2007--no big deal. Don't loose confidence; all is well.

Caty

Thanks all for the feedback. my ostomy "temp" maybe, but i had requested an end-ileo thinking i would get a spout type deal but its not that much different looking than my previous loop ileo. i do believe the problem then was pancaking. this is the first type of instance where that has happened and it does have me a bit scared to sleep tonight. i try to sleep on an incline sometimes so the output would just naturally slide down but always end up on my side. appreciate all of you come in here.