Valve Self-repair

Creampuff, 

Those are 2 different problems...A slipped valve and a crooked valve.

A slipped valve has usually something to do with some sutures inside the valve letting go or ripping or the staples popping out and the valve no longer being continent.

A crooked or angled or twisted valve are totally different.

Sometimes the valve can heal too quickly on one side more than the other or your stoma can 'sink and cause the valve to twist (like a corkscrew) as it sinks into the valve (think socks falling down your ankle).

Then there is a 'divot' from continuously hitting the wrong spot inside of the valve when you push your tube in. It eventually causes one side of the valve to become shorter than the other and it develops an elbow or twists sideways.

Then there are hernias or peristomal hernias (a hernia that happens in the muscle that holds the stoma/valve tight). A peristomal hernia can cause the whole pouch to twist or just the valve leading to difficulty intubating, finding the right angle of entry or the valve popping open due to the twist.

Finally, the pouch can 'slip down off of the wall' partially or totally. When the pouch unhooks or slides down the wall it can end up hanging sideways (causing again trajectory problems, inability to intubate or incontinence), If it falls off completely then you can end up with it crushing the organs beneath it (the bladder, uterus...) and leading to problems with urination, infections...or adhesions that stick the pouch to the other organs.

These are just a few of the possibilities...I do not know all of them...fortunately!

Most of them do not require the removal of the pouch or the valve...but it does take a good diagnostician to figure out which problem it is and do 'just enough' and not too much.

Keeping the tube in can work if your valve is slightly twisted, angled or has a mild slip...it allows the valve to 'scar in' and reinforce the position...how often it works? I don't know...I have never been that lucky.

Sharon