That smell!
To be honest I am not sure if this even entered my mind pre-op but post-op after that first bag empty it sure did and I despondently concluded that I was going to smell like the Labyrinth’s bog of eternal stench for the rest of my life. This was not helped by the fact that my senses were on high alert and I had a flat stoma and skin issues that had resulted in a number of leaks. This combination had me convinced that every offending odour I smelt radiating from my ostomy bag, even though this is improbable if not impossible. In all seriousness though, what person with an ileostomy wouldn’t come to the same conclusion this after the myriad of smells that areis experienced while visiting the throne room. Some could no joke kill the best Strongman while others smell like they just came out of the oven or off the stove. However, my paranoia of the smell along with the itch of burning skin led me to develop an unnerving habit of continually checking and adjusting my ostomy appliances to see if they had sprung a leak. Sadly, what happens when you fidget with something you draw attention to it, which in turn triggered my anxiety and the cycle would start again.
When you’re not fidgeting you’re very beautiful. and very tall. Pretty Woman
This luckily didn’t last for ever, I found products that worked for me which in turn stopped the leaks and over time reduced the paranoia. Now to find out all things smell and the bigger question of solutions the best source of information I found was talking to other like-minded people that have been through it all before. So here is what I have compiled over my ostomy life. First off there are food products that are going to affect the output smell more than others, please note that this list is not exhaustive and every ostomate is different and therefore products will affect you differently so it’s a trial and error process. I kept a food diary for about 3-6 months after I first became an ostomate, to monitor the effects foods were having on my output.
