Living with a stoma during winter

Living with a stoma during winter

Hey Pelican Readers!

I write this blog in mid-winter and wanted to share with you my experience of how I manage living with a stoma during the winter period and what I do to help look after myself and Wilson (my Stoma’s name for any new readers!).

Firstly and the number one thing for me is skin care. The peristomal skin (skin around my stoma) gets very red and dry during the winter. I have always suffered with sensitive skin so this was always a concern for me.

There are a few things I do to ease this and try to keep my skin as settled as possible:

• Let my skin get some air – this is easier said than done! With a busy life, sitting and letting your skin get some air can be tricky. However, I always do my best to have a bagless shower once a week and then sit and let some vitamin E moisturiser soak in for 20 mins or so. Again, you will definitely need wipes within easy reach as this can be messy!
• I change my bag every day during the winter rather than every other in the summer. Again, this is to just keep my skin nice and clean – fresh.
• Stoma powder – I probably get through double the amount of stoma powder in the winter! This stuff is great for the skin directly around the stoma, and you can use as much and as often as you need!

Secondly, the other area I try and control is diet during the winter – and especially the festive season! There is just so much food and drink which can mean a change to my output. I find little and often is the best way to cope with this – it means you still get to enjoy the good stuff but in small doses which suits me so much better!

Lots of love!

Charlotte xxx
@char.crohnsftwilson