Stoma blockages

Stoma blockages

Hey! In this blog I hope to help some of you who are potentially preparing for surgery; or recently new to having a stoma. I have lived with my ileostomy for over 2 years now and want to share the reality of blockages for me personally.

Firstly, every single person is different so what might trigger a blockage for me isn’t necessarily the same for another person. Also, I am not a medical professional so always seek advice from your GP/Stoma nurse if in doubt!

This is my experience: 

A stoma blockage can also be known as bowel obstruction/or a partial blockage. It’s likely that at some point as an ostomate we will all face this so it’s important to know the signs and understand what this would be like.

I have suffered one hospital A&E visit and my symptoms came on fairly quickly; such as severe abdominal cramps, no stoma output, bloating and nausea. Initially I managed this at home but I got to a point where I had no output for a long period of time and the pain was unmanageable. It also occurred at night so I had to call 111 rather than reaching out to my stoma nurse/IBD team.

As well as this I have had a few other partial blockages along the way, which I have managed at home by: stopping eating solid foods, having a fizzy drink such a cola, gently massaging the area around my stoma and having a warm bath. I have seen other ostomates share that having a warm drink has helped them too, however I haven’t had this work for me.

Personally to avoid food related blockages, my advice would be:

• Eat little and often, rather than big meals.
• Drink plenty of fluids regularly throughout the day.
• Chew your food – sounds silly but taking that little extra time can really help!
• I always avoid nuts, mushrooms, chickpeas, popcorn and dried fruit – anything that is going to be tricky to digest.

Overall, I am lucky in the fact that my stoma, ‘Wilson’, tends to allow me to eat most foods and certainly a more varied diet than I could have prior to surgery. I hope this blog helps you to look out for the signs of a blockage – thank you for reading!