Sudden low output with ileostomy

[guest78]

Hello!
Hope you can help. I have had my ileostomy for two years and have never had any issues. But my ileostomy pretty much stopped functioning for over 12 hours.
Hospital found no blockage or flare and bloods were fine. I was in no pain and not sick or nauseous.
They gave me domperidone to help get things moving which did work a bit and I had some output again.
It's not back to normal but I've been sent home as I'm completely feeling well and in no pain etc.
they've not actually told me why or what they think has caused this, just what hasn't.
It's still not functioning normally and I'm now not sure what to do to increase the output. I'm eating and drinking normally. I'm getting anxious.
Thanks so much
Gabi

 

[DJW]

Hey,
I wouldn't stress to much. You've been checked out, no pain, nausea, or vomiting. If any of that changes go back and get it checked.

I'd suggest drinking more water and play it by ear.

 

[UnXmas]

I often go 12 hours with no ileostomy output. My output usually starts around 6pm, and by the time I wake up the next morning it's stopped. Though I do have the odd trickle of output in between.

So it's not necessarily a problem or a sign of something wrong. Though I understand that if it's not normal for you you need to consider whether the sudden change indicates something serious, if the doctors see no signs of a problem and you're getting no other symptoms, I don't think you need to worry too much.

If you've not eaten or drank anything different, you've probably ruled out other obvious potential causes: e.g. taken any different medication? Become dehydrated?

Is the output that you have had during this time been watery or was it thick?

Sometimes something internal that I'm unaware of causes a fluctuation in my output, so I may suddenly have a day where I get watery output during the day for no reason that I can see, then it goes back to my usual pattern. If you feel ok, it may just be that this is a natural fluctuation and you'll return to normal soon. I don't think you should try to do anything to increase your output. Just keep monitoring for any signs that it's a blockage. If you find that this goes on with you having no signs of a blockage, but you start feeling full and bloated and having only a small volume of output day after day, you could start thinking about diet changes to counter this constipation (I describe my low output stoma as constipated).

Check with the hospital again if you start getting other symptoms, but it may resolve on its own.

 

[UnXmas]

Also I think domperidone increases the speed at which food leaves your stomach, it's not a laxative and doesn't speed things through your intestine, so you wouldn't expect much output as a result of domperidone. They probably gave it to you to ease any nausea or bloating. I know you weren't having any but I think they probably gave it to you anyway in case those symptoms developed, I can't see that it would increase output. (But I'm not an expert, obviously.)