Ileostomy Irrigation

       Once an ileostomy surgery is completed, the patient is kept within the confines of the hospital for a few weeks, just to be observed and monitored. Of course, during those weeks, the sufferer, now a pouch wearer, is taught by the ileostomy nurse everything he or she needs to know about the bag and how to maintain it. Now, people usually believe that the little pouch needs constant care and attention. Well, they would not be wrong. However, too much attention is not a good thing. For example, one of the things you should not do at home, under any circumstances, is an ileostomy irrigation.

       Not only that the ileostomy irrigation is very dangerous, but normal patients do not actually have the tools needed to irrigate the pouch correctly. Usually, this ileostomy irrigation has only one purpose: to clean a blockage of the ileostomy bag. However, this implies something much more technical than a simple cleaning of the pouch. Putting it simple, things go a little bit like this: the physician will open the pouch, remove it completely and then remove the plate that holds the pouch tied to your stoma. Only after the metal plate has been eliminated can the ileostomy irrigation begin. The medical doctor will insert a small tube through your stoma and into your inner intestinal pouch. The blockage will be drained through that tube and the ileostomy irrigation can be considered a success.

       Why ileostomy irrigation is considered dangerous? Well, the answer to that one is rather simple: because the inner pouch, the one formed from intestinal tissue, is being penetrated by the small tube used in ileostomy irrigation. If you try to do something like this at home, you will certainly not know how to seal the cut and preserve the integrity of the ileostomy bag. Not to mention that you might even enlarge the hole you less - than - skillfully created and some wastes might escape into the abdomen. That is not something that anyone would wish to happen.

       Basically, in the case of ileostomy irrigation, it is best to leave it to the experts. Also, you should try and avoid the foods that could cause a blockage, because this cleaning of the ileostomy pouch is not exactly to be done constantly or more than once every couple of years. Do it too often and you stoma could be damaged permanently.