You should be able to live a normal life once your stoma has settled. Although there are going to be a few ostomy related issues you may have to live with but that shouldn’t be a big concern. Over time, you will consider your ostomy as hardly something problematic given that how committed you are with your resolve to live a normal and healthy life.

But things do not remain ideal the entire time. Ostomy issues can happen more likely than you expect while you are adjusting to a life with stoma. These issues can act like obstructions in your way to be mentally and physically fit. However, the good news is that there are some solutions that you can consider in order to get rid of those issues and prevent them from happening in future.

It may be worth mentioning here that majority of problems that tend to happen with your ostomy have something or everything to do with how carefully you apply the pouching system and how well you take care of the hygiene of stoma and skin around it. Any issue in the digestive or urinary tract can lead to certain complications in the management of ostomy pouching system but you can still prevent those issues from becoming the ostomy problems if you are good with the ostomy management.

Having that said, it may be worth talking about the common ostomy problems and their solutions.

Leakage

Leakage occurs when the stomal output seeps under the barrier and finds a way out rather than falling into the bag. A lot depends on how well you have prepared the part of your skin that has to be covered under the skin barrier. As a best practice, you have to clean and dry your skin before applying the pouching system. You can use an absorbing powder, also known as stomal powder, if you are unable dry the skin.

Skin problems

The skin around your stoma is called peristomal skin. This part of the skin should be as healthy and smooth as the rest of your skin. Irritation or redness in this part of the skin can cause several problems related to ostomy pouching management. A lot depends on how clean and dry the skin is around your stoma before you attach a pouching system. You might have a concern about the adhesive residue removing which turns out to be the tough ask. The best thing you can do to counter this issue is to use an adhesive remover.

Odor

The sound and odor emanating from your pouch can cause real embarrassment and frustration in you. As a precautionary measure and good healthy practice, you need to watch your diet. To ensure proper prevention of odor, you can use pouching system with filter. The best thing about a pouch with filter is the pouch is not going to inflate like a balloon.