Do you wake up if your stoma bag needs emptying at night?

[UnXmas]

Usually I don't need to get up in the night to empty my ileostomy bag. Some output often does come out during the night, but not enough to make it worth emptying. But last night for some unknown reason I had an upset stomach and my bag filled up about four times throughout the night. Each time I woke up and noticed it was full and emptied it and then when right back to sleep again.

How did I know it was full? I often wake up in the night to pee, but the times I was up last night, I didn't pee, so it's not that it was my bladder was waking me up and then I noticed my bag was full when I was awake anyway. It's not just that I was woken by the feeling of the stoma working, because it often does work a bit at night and it doesn't wake me. Maybe the sensation of it working was stronger than usual, and that's what woke me?

Do other people wake up automatically to empty? Generally I'm a very good, deep sleeper. I'm good at sleeping anyway, and with my sleep-meds as well I'm out for the count, so I'd have thought I'd be the type of person to sleep through the stoma working and wake up in the morning with a very full bag (or worse ).

 

[DJW]

I'm a very light sleeper and I don't sleep through the night so I'm alway up to empty.

 

[Absentminded]

I only had my Stoma for three months but found that I would wake up automatically when my bag needed emptying.

 

[cleuger]

I wake up at least once to empty I don't know what makes me wake up. I recently had an episode of my bags filling several times through the night and what woke me was the bags were leaking. Last night I didn't even wake up to empty I slept a until a out 6:30 am then emptied but I don't know why my body knows to get up when my bag needs to be emptied it's strange. I use to be a very light sleeper with insomnia as of lately I've been sleeping like a rock.

 

[robbo87]

I wake up atleast once if not twice a night to empty, I think it's just become habit. After I first had my stoma i would sometimes set an alarm to wake me up as i do have a high output and it would be ready to burst if i didn't wake up.

 

[glum chump]

I only wake up at night to empty if I've had alcohol or lots of sweets close to bedtime. My bag fills much quicker with those two things! But if I've ever had a leak, or if my bag fills up quickly, somehow, my body wakes me up before it gets too out of control. I don't know why that is, but it somehow, my body communicates with my brain and I'm up. But I normally sleep through the night without waking up to empty.

Kismet

 

[2thFairy]

I automatically wake up when it is full, even if it's just gas.

 

[VeganOstomy]

I was waking up often for the months following my surgery, but now I can go through the night without having to empty my pouch - if I go to bed too early (before 11pm), then I'll likely be up at 5am to empty, but most nights it'll go until about 7am (when I have to get up anyway).

 

[Claire617]

I miss a full nights sleep, at its worse it's like every couple of hours, luckily I can get straight back to sleep lol