Fluid Discharge

Hi Wendy,
What kind of fluid are you talking about? Clear? Coloured? Pinkish or stool coloured? I have an indentation in my valve (actually in the length of the valve that leads into the pouch) that collects 'stuff'...so that about a couple of minute to 1/2hr after intubating I get a spurt or squirt or drip out of the stoma..it is not mucous but just a mix of mucous with whatever remained in my valve after intubation...sometimes it is a drop or 2 and others it is a tbls. worth (I even get undigested peices occasionnaly)....I have learned that it is not the sign of a problem...it just is and I change my pad more often to accomodate it.
Sharon

Hi Wendy,
I, too, have an extraordinary amount of a clear, watery substance that leaks out of my stoma constantly - a real nusance to have to deal with. I have to change my dressing almost every hour to sop up the amount of water leakage coming out. As well, my valve seems to change position occasionally & I have to try different angles of inserting my catheter. I've had a pouchogram done & have been assured by my surgeon that there is nothing wrong. He doesn't know why the water leakage is happening as it happens to some of us & not to others. - Dixie

Wendy,
Can I ask you a few questions?
How often do you intubate? When you intubate, how many times do you push in and take out the tube (ex: to unclog), how much lube do you use? (a drop or a dollop?) Do you irrigate a lot (injecting water into your pouch through your tube)? What kind of diet do you eat? Mostly carbs and starches? Mostly protiens like fish and chicken? Vegetables? Fruits? and in what quantities? Milk products?
Do you eat a lot of salt? Junk food? How much water do you drink?
What you eat can effect the moisture in your valve, can irritate it or dry it out...When, like now, I cut out the carbs completely and eat nothing but veggies, fruits and meats/fish/chicken then I find that my vavle is wetter...I need to intubate more often because the veggies and fruits don't digest as easily as bread products/pasta/rice and leave chuncky residue so I need to remove my tube a lot to clean it out and put it back in...needless to say my patch is constanly wet and needs changing every hr or more...When I eat complex carbs like whole grain pasta/bread then my pouch slows, I empty only every 5-7hrs and my patch stays dry. Milk products make it more mucousy too.
So, try to keep a food journal and include the output and dampness.
Sharon

My first thought is a food allergy or food sensitivity. Antihistamines can help with this issue. I have more mucous after I empty my pouch. As I have had my pouch now for 34 1/2 years, I have less mucous than I did when I first received my Kock Pouch. One thing I noticed that affected me was milk, so I must have a milk sensitivity. If it's clear or mucous...it's normal.

Hi Wendy, I was just wondering if you were taking a probiotic! I started taking one and a couple weeks after I started I was noticing more clear liquid coming out. When I go to empty my pouch my dressing is soaked. So I'm going to stop taking the probiotic and see if it stops or even slows it down! I'll post in a few days to let you know the results. grandma64

It's been 9 days since I stopped the probiotics and the fluid that was coming out has reduced a lot, I do believe the probiotics was the cause. grandma64

When I am in a state that I have an allergy issue it is as if a swimming pool comes out of me. When I visit Florida where I have no allergies I don't even need to use a stoma cover. I am in the DC area and I am not as watery but in Dallas it was horrible. I mentioned allergies and doctors looked at me weird. I think they are all idiots some times.

anyway, no allergy medicine in the world would help for that even though I tried. Just something to factor in.

Ps. Probiotics mess me up!

After years of working out the problem of clear fluid I have now proved for me it is any form of fats in my diet. I know I do have gallstones which were found by accident following a scan.
Veg etc., pasta and rice gives me no problems re this fluid.