What To Do To Adjust to Life After a Colostomy Surgery

What To Do To Adjust to Life After a Colostomy Surgery

No matter how well we take care of ourselves, various medical conditions will develop as we age. For some of us, the only fix might be colostomy surgery. This is one of those procedures that may upset you just to think about.

However, it’s not as bad as some people make it out to be. In fact, your current lifestyle is likely manageable with just a few changes. So without further ado, here’s what you need to do to adjust to your new life after a colostomy surgery.

Take Some Time To Heal

Obviously, the time right after your surgery will involve a bit of change. Since the procedure resulted in you gaining a stoma, it’ll need time to heal. While bed rest will be the best thing for it, doctors will encourage you to remain somewhat active during your recovery. Just be sure not to strain yourself. Moving around the house or going on a short walk will help you heal both physically and mentally.

Make Changes to Your Daily Routine

Once you’ve fully recovered, the next thing you’ll have to do to adjust to your new life after a colostomy surgery is to figure out your new daily routine. Pretty much everything except when you go to the bathroom may remain the same. Now that you will relieve bowel movements through your stoma into an ostomy bag, you’ll need to find times throughout the day to empty the bag.

The upside to this, though, is you won’t have to rush to a bathroom every time you have to go anymore. You just need to make sure your bag doesn’t fill up too much. Once you get used to this process, it might even take less time than the old method of going to the restroom did.

Watch What You Eat

This step is most important right after the surgery, but it’s never a bad idea to be careful of what you eat when using an ostomy bag, especially on busier days. Avoid low-fiber meals or anything that can cause excessive gas or blockages. It’ll take some time, but you’ll need to guess and check when figuring out which foods agree with you. Overall, though, you shouldn’t have to restrict your diet to any extreme levels.

Continue To Live Your Life

In the end, the main thing you have to remember is your life is far from over, so you need to keep on living it. Some people go through depression post-surgery because they believe they can’t do anything anymore—this is far from the truth.

You can still live an active lifestyle, go out with friends, and vacation with your family. There are plenty of tips for traveling with an ostomy bag that make it a breeze. The key is to not give up on life. There’s so much that you can still do, and you have the ability to go out there and do them.

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