Living and supporting life with stoma

What to eat

Living and supporting life with stoma

• When you have ileostomy, you will have about 800 ml of discharge that include electrolytes causing electrolyte imbalance and you might feel faint or dizzy or get dehydrated. Take precautions to keep the fluid and electolyte balanced.
• Drink a lot of liquid and sport drinks or take some supplements that include electrolytes.
• Drink 1.5 to 2 liters of liquids daily. Liquids can be taken not only as water but also as soft drinks, soup or watery vegetables and fruits.
• Drinks with caffeine like coffee and tea have diuretic effects, so avoid drinking them too much or drink a lot of water when drinking them.
• Take salt when you eat.
• If your output is more than 1 liter or dehydration does not get better, go see your doctor.

To avoid food blockage

• The ileum is narrower that the colon, so there are cases where pieces of food get clogged in the strand blocking the flow of digestive fluid and feces. This is called food blockage.
• As symptoms, you may get spastic pain in your belly, have watery output with strong odor, stiffening of your belly, swollen stoma, etc. If the ileum is completely clogged, you will have less or completely no stool output. Also, you may be nauseated or vomit. Food rich in fiber increases the amount of stool and food residues, so taking too much of such kind of food may cause food blockage. When you eat fibrous food, do not eat too much at one time, cut up the food into small pieces and chew well. If you are having bowel movement and the situation is getting better, you can stay home and wait to see if you recover. If you have completely no discharge of stool for more than 24 hours, consult your doctor or nurse.

Precautions when taking medications

There are medicines that are made to dissolve slowly in the ileum or colon (enteric, sustained release, etc.). In case of ileostomy, since you have shorter intestines, the medicine may be discharged from the stoma before it is completely dissolved. Observe your stool well to check if the medicine is not output from the stoma and if you do find any remaining pills in the stoma, ask your doctor to prescribe powder or liquid medicines instead. When you see a doctor, let the doctor know that you have an ileostomy. Consult your doctor before you take laxatives since it might cause severe dehydration or electrolytes imbalance.