I have had Crohn's Disease for 27 years and a colostomy bag for the last 5. I have a couple of problems and I wondered if anyone out there has either or even both.
1. Prolapse: My stoma has been prolapsing since I was in hospital. It is a loop colostomy which I believe are most prone to prolapse and I usually have to wear a belt to keep the prolapse in. If I don't wear a belt and often sometimes even if I do, my bowel can prolapse by up to 10-15cm. It isn't painful; sometimes it is uncomfortable, but mostly it is just a pain in the ass! It causes no end of leaks, and often pushes the bag clean off. Also I don't feel very sexy, at least if it didn't prolapse I could wear a simple bag cover. The support belt is not very sexy! I need to either get the damn thing re-sited as an end colostomy or reversed. The problem is I don't know which. This brings me nicely onto my next problem.
2. A few months ago, I noticed some hard faeces sticking out of my distal opening of the stoma while I was changing my bag. I had been experiencing about 10 days of constant bowel cramps and tenesmus. For some unknown reason, I pulled it. A dark brown rubbery inspissated faecal 'rope' appeared. This rope came all the way up out of my stomal opening without breaking and measured nearly 24" long and approx. 3/4" across. It smelt horrendous. I have informed my medical team although I am yet to see my specialist about it but I cannot find anything on the internet about this strange phenomenon. The main question for me is, why didn't I pass it out through my anus? My anus is still connected and I regularly pass mucus and small amounts of liquid faeces through it. My concern is that there is still a narrowing there which may prevent me from having a reversal.
Anyone else have experience of either of these two problems?
1. Prolapse: My stoma has been prolapsing since I was in hospital. It is a loop colostomy which I believe are most prone to prolapse and I usually have to wear a belt to keep the prolapse in. If I don't wear a belt and often sometimes even if I do, my bowel can prolapse by up to 10-15cm. It isn't painful; sometimes it is uncomfortable, but mostly it is just a pain in the ass! It causes no end of leaks, and often pushes the bag clean off. Also I don't feel very sexy, at least if it didn't prolapse I could wear a simple bag cover. The support belt is not very sexy! I need to either get the damn thing re-sited as an end colostomy or reversed. The problem is I don't know which. This brings me nicely onto my next problem.
2. A few months ago, I noticed some hard faeces sticking out of my distal opening of the stoma while I was changing my bag. I had been experiencing about 10 days of constant bowel cramps and tenesmus. For some unknown reason, I pulled it. A dark brown rubbery inspissated faecal 'rope' appeared. This rope came all the way up out of my stomal opening without breaking and measured nearly 24" long and approx. 3/4" across. It smelt horrendous. I have informed my medical team although I am yet to see my specialist about it but I cannot find anything on the internet about this strange phenomenon. The main question for me is, why didn't I pass it out through my anus? My anus is still connected and I regularly pass mucus and small amounts of liquid faeces through it. My concern is that there is still a narrowing there which may prevent me from having a reversal.
Anyone else have experience of either of these two problems?
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