Having Trouble With Your Stoma?

I know from personal experience that living with a stoma is never an easy thing. After my ostomy, it took me a long time to figure out what I was doing with my life. It is easy to feel like your entire life is being turned upside down with the new addition of your stoma. However, I happen to know from my own experience with a stoma that it does in fact get better. If you’re anything like me recently recovering from an ostomy, you may be worried about how you will accommodate back to your normal life and routine. Well lucky for you, I’m here to tell you that it definitely can get better! You can actually do most, if not all, of the things you would find yourself doing before your surgery.

More people have had ostomies than you would think. I think it’s definitely true that there are people walking around all over the place with hidden stomas that you would never think are there. In fact, one statistic that I just now made up is that 1 out of every 6 people you see in any given Walmart likely have had some sort of ostomy and do indeed have a stoma. People with stomas can do all sorts of things that you wouldn’t expect! There are professional athletes with stomas I am sure. In addition, it is totally possible to do things like exercise while you have a stoma, just make sure you are cleared for exercise from your doctors and other medical personnel that you have in your life. I don’t want you to be afraid of living your life with a stoma. In fact, there are support groups for people like you who have had ostomies and are trying to adjust back to a normal lifestyle.

I hate the stigma associated with stomas and I really wish that more people would realize that ostomies are really not that big of a deal. Sure, it is definitely not convenient to have a weird medical pouch full of your own waste attached to you at all times, but there are worse things that could happen to you for sure. My hope for you going forward is that you don’t feel defined by your ostomy and your stoma; rather, I hope you can see that life will continue to improve for you and you will get used to living with your stoma. It was a hard adjustment for me, but things will always get easier.

People also worry about how eating will affect their stoma and whatnot. The good news is that, in most cases, you can usually go back to eating your normal diet after a few weeks of recovering from your ostomy. Obviously you will want to introduce yourself slowly to newer foods to see how it will affect your digestive system with your new stoma. Everyone’s body is different, so it is important to figure out what works best for you. Certain foods may impact your digestive tract worse than others, and it’s essential to figure out what your body is trying to tell you in these situations. I hope this article will help you in your stoma journey, and I hope that life gets easier for you. Ostomies are a weird thing for sure, but I don’t want you to think your life is defined by your stoma.