What is the difference between a colostomy and an ileostomy?
Each involves the user wearing a bag attached to their body into which waste matter – that would normally be dealt with by the body’s own processes of elimination – is discharged. An ileostomy applies when the problem is with the stomach or other gastric processes; a colostomy collects the contents of the bowel. They can be temporary or permanent: for example, someone with serious stomach ulcers might be given a temporary ileostomy while the ulcer is treated; a temporary colostomy might apply if you had a ruptured bowel (which happened to me) and when all’s healed the bowel is sewn together again. There has to be quite a lot of damage for the ostomy to be permanent. If you’re worried, might I offer a spot of reassurance and say that when I had a temporary colostomy it was very easy to ‘train’ so that it didn’t spring into action without warning, provided that one ate sensibly. And they make special filters to take care of the ‘whiff’ problem. Hope that helps, even if it’s more than you
