Work with ileostomy

[brad1025]

Does anyone think I will be able to go back to my construction job with my ileostomy? I really want to. Just wanna go back to my normal way a life before this flare started. I do have to do some heavy lifting and sometimes it can be a lot of stress on the body.

 

[Nyx]

Do you have an ileostomy now? Or are you pondering getting one? Either way, you can pretty much do anything you did before you got it. I have a colostomy and do everything I ever did prior to having it. If you're really concerned about damaging it, there are stoma protectors that you can buy. Remarkably, stomas are pretty durable...my (then) 5 year old stepdaughter kicked me right in the stoma once. It bruised, but it was fine.

 

[brad1025]

I have one its just my boss said with the work I do maybe hard. Because I work on the pipeline and its a lot of hours andnphysical

 

[Nyx]

I would think that as long as you can get somewhere to empty your bag, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Nyx]

I guess I should also ask how long you've had your stoma? They say for the first few months not to lift anything too heavy. After that, you can buy hernia belts to keep things in place if you need to do lifting.

 

[brad1025]

Well this one I only had for a week now. But I was just wondering in 6 weeks could I go back

 

[Nyx]

Talk to your doctor and you'll just have to see how you feel. Do you do a lot of heavy lifting in your job?

 

[brad1025]

Yes I work on the gas lines. So sometimes I swing a sledge hammer all day. Or picking up 30 pound wood planks that we set the pipe on

 

[Nyx]

I'd talk to your doctor about that. The worry is that you'll get a hernia and require further surgery.

 

[Grotbags]

From what my stoma nurses have said, I'd say six weeks is way to early.
They didn't even want me to lift sacks of hen feed ( 20kg ), but your doctor or stoma nurse will be best placed to advise.
I would strongly suggest you do get a stoma protector at the very least, and a hernia belt if possible.
You can get a belt and protector combo from Comfizz ( UK ) but you may be able to get something closer to home.

 

[brad1025]

Thanks guys talk to the surgeon he said he would rather me wait the 6 months till I reverse it to go back to work. He said my job is to body demanding right now
Guess it wouldn't be a bad time to go back to school. And maybe go further into my career so I don't have to do the heavy lifting