Stoma hernia

[lari]

stoma hernia

I am new to this forum. I have read many of the posts and learned a great deal. My problem is I have a hernia under my stoma. This is the second time this ha happened to me. I have had my colostomy for 8yrs. I had surgery a few years ago to remove a huge hernia under my colostomy. The doc re-routed my stoma to the other side. Now again I am getting a hernia under the stoma and it keeps getting bigger. Do others with colostomies have this problem?

 

[Terriernut]

I think you will find that yes, we do! Or I certainly did.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=21297

I just had surgery 7th of September for Ollie..the parastomal hernia. Yes, he was so big he had his own name.

 

[lari]

Thanks for your story. I didn't have a name for mine but I carried that football around in my lap fir a year. I think you can understand why I am so paranoid now as I watch a new hernia growing in the same spot. And another hernia on the other side of my belly. I am too high risk to have any more surgeries.... so I just try different things... like wearing a belt. Any other ideas?

 

[Terriernut]

I do have an idea. Laproscopic mesh surgery. You say you are too high risk now?

The best thing I can suggest is looking for hernia support garments. If you google, you'll find ALOT there. A ring to the stoma nurses for suggestions in suppliers might be a good idea. Alot of times these things are covered on insurance.

I dont know what country you are in, otherwise I could suggest suppliers to you?

 

[lari]

I am in USA. I will have to look into the garments. I have a belt but it is too uncomfortable.

 

[Guest9283]

A weight belt might help. Doctors have all told me to wear a belt whenever i lift heavy to help avoid a hernia.

 

[BlueSky]

Peristomal hernias are common, especially with colostomies over time. I've seen studies that as many as 50% of people with a colostomy will develop one, and that number might close to 100% for people with a permanent colostomy. Revisions lower the percent. Its a hard reality. I only mention it, because I don't think surgeons discuss hernias proactively enough. Many people are dealing with the psychological adjustment to an ostomy, and surgeons shy away from adding more. Hernia repair also has lower long-term success rates than one would hope for. The good news is ostomies do greatly improve quality of life for most; there is new push to find better surgical repair techniques, including biological mesh which has much better repair success rates, although those studies are still new and there is some risk. Because so many more people are getting ostomies at a younger age, the population and demand for a good repair technique is growing. I'm hopeful that new and better techiques are around the corner.