It has only taken me 6 months but I found a method of stopping my prolapse.
I have had a loop colostomy since September 2011 and ever since I came out of hospital it has been prolapsing. It prolapses from both stomas up to a maximum length of about 20cm. The bowel still works fine and there is no pain but I feel a little vulnerable with it sticking out and also it doesn't look great to have a great big lump on my stomach! I had learned to manage it fine by putting an upturned bowl over the bag and a hernia belt over that but wanted to see if I could figure a way of stopping it prolapsing at all. This would be useful for when I went out in the evening and when changing a bag it would save time not having to push all the bowel back in again!
These so called 'prolapse belts' didn't seem to be any good because they are made of material and are stretchy. My prolapse is quite powerful, more powerful than my hernia belt so I didn't bother buying an expensive prolapse belt. Instead I dug out my narrow stretchy belt that attaches to my stoma protective cap (which was now too small). I realised that the ends of the belt fit perfectly inside a cd. I then place the cd centrally over the bag, centring it over the stoma and tighten my hernia belt over the top and VOILA! The stoma cannot prolapse against the rigid CD. The CD usually breaks fairly soon afterwards but even with a break, it still does the job and you can always tape up the break. You might find that the stoma will prolapse if the CD slips out of position but it is easy to lie down on your back, push the prolapse back in through your bag and reposition the CD.
The only down side I have found to this method is there is a slight increased chance of leakage. I put this down to the increased pressure caused by the CD covering the stoma. Because of this I save the CD method for weekends and when I go out socially when I can be more aware of my bag. During the week when I am working, I use the bowl method and let my prolapse hang out.
Let me know if you have another method or if you have success trying my method.
Emma x
I have had a loop colostomy since September 2011 and ever since I came out of hospital it has been prolapsing. It prolapses from both stomas up to a maximum length of about 20cm. The bowel still works fine and there is no pain but I feel a little vulnerable with it sticking out and also it doesn't look great to have a great big lump on my stomach! I had learned to manage it fine by putting an upturned bowl over the bag and a hernia belt over that but wanted to see if I could figure a way of stopping it prolapsing at all. This would be useful for when I went out in the evening and when changing a bag it would save time not having to push all the bowel back in again!
These so called 'prolapse belts' didn't seem to be any good because they are made of material and are stretchy. My prolapse is quite powerful, more powerful than my hernia belt so I didn't bother buying an expensive prolapse belt. Instead I dug out my narrow stretchy belt that attaches to my stoma protective cap (which was now too small). I realised that the ends of the belt fit perfectly inside a cd. I then place the cd centrally over the bag, centring it over the stoma and tighten my hernia belt over the top and VOILA! The stoma cannot prolapse against the rigid CD. The CD usually breaks fairly soon afterwards but even with a break, it still does the job and you can always tape up the break. You might find that the stoma will prolapse if the CD slips out of position but it is easy to lie down on your back, push the prolapse back in through your bag and reposition the CD.
The only down side I have found to this method is there is a slight increased chance of leakage. I put this down to the increased pressure caused by the CD covering the stoma. Because of this I save the CD method for weekends and when I go out socially when I can be more aware of my bag. During the week when I am working, I use the bowl method and let my prolapse hang out.
Let me know if you have another method or if you have success trying my method.
Emma x
