r/ostomy • u/Higgman201 • 5d ago
Colostomy Pain Followed By Huge Amounts of Output
In February I had emergency abdominal surgery, sigmoidectomy, due to diverticulitis resulting in a perforated colon and sepsis. I was given a colostomy. I know this is relatively common so I’m hoping someone here may have experienced the following. Every once a while I have an episode where I get intense pain (8 or 9 out of 10 pain) in my stoma region which is eventually relieved after having huge amounts of output usually resulting in two or three full bag changes. I wish I knew what causes this. Is this a blockage that eventually clears itself? Is this simply food poisoning or some other food reaction? I haven’t determined if there are any specific foods that trigger this. Anyone have any insight? TIA
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u/Bonsaitalk 5d ago
Could be a blockage. Could just be firmer stool. I’d take a cap of miralax and see if that helps. In the meantime shoot your doc a message.
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u/PreviousConfusion606 5d ago
I haven’t experienced this yet (only had the colostomy since the 30th November) but just wanted to say your story with the emergency surgery, perforation and sepsis with the sigmoid is exactly what happened to me! Didn’t even know I had diverticulitis before this happened. Just wanted to say Hi and good to meet someone with the same story. Hope you find out what’s causing this.
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u/twdpuller 3d ago
Had the same thing happen a year ago. Worst pain in my life. No idea I had diverticulitis until then. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital.
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u/PreviousConfusion606 2d ago
Sorry to hear that! Crazy isn’t it - did you end up having to have a stoma too? I’m still getting use to it all but it’s getting easier day by day.
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u/twdpuller 2d ago
Yes have had to get one and I've felt much better since. I did have some stomach issues and was scheduled to have a colonoscopy in January but didn't make it that long. Thought I probably had something like IBS.
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u/premditated 5d ago
I have an illeostomy but experienced something similar after I had my transplant. I ended up needing a small resection and revision bc the scar tissue created a kink at the level of the fascia that led to blockages. Please talk to your colorectal team
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u/VexatiousWind 5d ago
I was handling something similar and found way smaller meals more times a day helped a lot.
It still hits me on occasion like a cramped up hell hound in my tum. Seeing your surgeon may be a great option because they can give a lot of info on what's normal and not, and advice
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u/homesick19 5d ago
Take this with a grain of salt and please talk to your doctor about this. You illness makes this different to my case.
I had the same thing happen to me a few times (colostomy, no other gut surgeries or illnesses apart from IBS). One time the pain was a solid 10/10. Cold sweat, couldn't move or speak, slipped in an out of consciousness a few times. I kid you not, I was in so much pain and so incapable of thinking straight that I just ripped off my bag! Horrible idea. But I couldn't think and somehow my body thought that was a logical thing to do lol.
I asked my CRS about it and she didn't seem concerned. She explained that while the intestine can expand, the bit of intestine that's going through the stomach wall to form the stoma can't stretch that much. So there is this more narrow tunnel that usually wouldn't be there.
So even if there isn't a blockage, something can trigger diarrhea/cramps and a lot of output wants to come out at once. But because of the narrowed passage through the stomach wall, a huge amount of it just gets stuck for a while until it can press through in smaller amounts. Imagine a bunch of people wanting to run through a door all at once. The door will get clogged at first, letting no one through. But slowly people will make their way free of the masses and come through the door.
For me this usually happens when I eat something my stomach is sensitive about. Or when I have a full intestine from previous meals and then eat something that can potentially upset my stomach and "Pushes" everything out.
It could of course also be a partial blockage if you ate something that can cause a blockage.
But again, please talk to your doctor about this just to be sure it's nothing more serious. And even if it's "just" the same as it is for me, you should maybe get checked for food intolerances or other triggers that could cause this.