For people who wear two-piece appliances, gas can easily be released by “burping” the pouch. Slightly separate the pouch from the flange at the top of the appliance (complete removal of the pouch is not required) to allow the gas to escape. Once the pouch is empty, reattach the pouch to the flange.
If your current stoma bag has a filter and you are still experiencing ballooning problems, it may be suffering from excess wind. Spicy foods, some particular vegetables (onions, cabbages, peas, and beans) and fizzy drinks have been known to increase wind, so we would recommend avoiding these in your diet.
Ostomy gas
Gas can be caused by the foods you eat. It can also be the result of swallowing air. Drinking carbonated beverages, smoking, chewing gum and chewing with your mouth open can all increase the amount of air you swallow. If you are concerned about gas, you can use a pouch with a filter.
Sometimes carbonated drinks may help. Massage your tunny around the area and also your stoma to try and encourage the blockage to work its way out. Lie on the floor, on your back and roll from side to side with your knees up to your chest. Try a hot bath for 15-20mins to help relax the muscles in your tummy.
Ballooning occurs when your stoma bag blows up with wind. This is usually due to the filter becoming wet or blocked from stoma output. This can cause the bag to come away from the body. Please note: Stoma ballooning can happen with a colostomy or occasionally with an ileostomy.
Food and drinks such as carbonated beverages, beer, onions, milk, melons, cucumbers, chewing gum, or drinking through a straw can cause gas in the bag. Try to avoid having more than one of those during a single meal.
Some common complications of stoma include poor siting, parastomal hernia (PH), prolapse, retraction, ischemia/necrosis, peristomal dermatologic problems, mucocutaneous separation, and pyoderma gangrenosum. Each will be discussed separately in further detail.
Skin irritation around your stoma is usually caused by leakage from your ostomy pouch and the output from your stoma getting underneath the adhesive and onto your skin. It is uncomfortable and can stop your pouch from working well. The skin around your stoma should look similar to the skin on the rest of your body.
You may feel concerned about getting your stoma or skin wet, but normal exposure to water and air will not harm your stoma in any way.
Try several different body positions, such as a knee-chest position, or lie on the side of your stoma with knees bent, as it might help move the blockage forward. Massage the abdominal area and the area around your stoma. Most food blockages occur just below the stoma and this may help dislodge the blockage.
Burping the bag
Burping your ostomy pouch to let the gas out is one way to prevent ballooning. It's best done in the bathroom since the smell is more prominent. You can also use an ostomy deodorant or lubricator if you tend to burp your bag a lot, together with an odor-reducing spray.
The best position to sleep in when you have a stoma is on your back, or on your side. If you prefer to sleep on your stomach, this will be fine at the beginning of the night but increases the chances of leaks as the night progresses and your bag fills.
You must still include fibre in your diet. Choose some foods from the following list daily: Wholemeal bread. High fibre cereal e.g. Weetabix, porridge.
Raw vegetables, including salad e.g. lettuce, celery, raw bell-peppers and spring onions. Hard to digest vegetables, including beans like butter beans or green/runner beans, sweetcorn, peas, mushrooms, cabbage, brussel sprouts, spinach, kale and spring greens.
Air from the stoma causes the bag to expand and detach from the skin (ballooning) Ballooning occurs when air from the stoma inflates the bag and cannot escape through the filter. The resulting air pressure can cause the adhesive to detach from the skin.
Taking a Skin Break
Many people enjoy leaving their skin uncovered for 15 to 30 minutes after taking their pouching system off. This is called a skin break. Taking a skin break can help with irritation or keep it from happening. You can decide if you want to take a skin break.
Making sure your bag is secure
Another cause of stoma bag leakages at night could simply be because you haven't secured your bag properly before you get into bed. Check that your seal is secure getting in to bed so that you don't wake up to any unwelcome surprises.
Eating and drinking directly before bed can cause your stoma to be more active overnight and will result in a full bag. If you find that, regardless of what you do, your stoma is very active at night, you can try taking something like Imodium to slow down your output.
What does it mean to burp your ostomy bag, you may ask? For those who have not have heard of the term ballooning before, it is used to refer to an ostomy bag that is blown up (like a pufferfish). This happens when gas from the digestive tract exits through the stoma into a person's ostomy bag.
This depends on what type of stoma operation you had but it will most likely vary anywhere between three and 10 days as long as there aren't any additional complications.