Hi,

I had surgery a month ago and ended up with a temporary colostomy bag. I saw my surgeon yesterday for a follow up and it looks like I’m going to have it for another few months, at least.

I remember a thread on here some time ago about riding with a colostomy, but I can’t seem to find it with the search function.

Does anyone have any tips or experience of riding with a bag? I’m feeling healed up enough now to try a mellow pedally trail ride this evening and I’m planning on using some 3m medical tape to double up on the adhesive on the bag. I’ve also picked up a cheapo neoprene and velcro waist support belt to hopefully keep everything in place.

Any helpful suggestions very welcome!

Cheers.

Don’t get it mixed up with your camelbak reservoir

No help to offer other than this:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/living-and-riding-post-colostomy

Thanks scaled!

Been living and riding with an Ileostomy (similar to colostomy but from small intestine) for many years.

Might be best to finish your tea/supper before reading on.

As your’s is off the large intestine, issues with fluid balance should be minimised, but will depend on where they’ve “diverted” from as a temporary measure, the less large intestine that is currently active the less ability to absorb “fluid” you’ll have. I just make sure I have plenty of fluid going in.

How big is the survey scar (not the stoma)? If it’s like mine, then your stomach muscles will be significantly weakened, even if they feel OK walking around now. They will get better.

Bag management – I use one-piece drainable bags – an old sock over the end can help prevent the clip from rubbing. I always wear lycra or proper liners under baggies, it helps keep things where they should be. I tend to try and always have a bit of air in the bag, as this can prevent pancaking (stoma squashed flat and output then heads under the flange). Drainable also means that you can empty mid ride easily, without having to take a load of kit with you. Two-piece system non-drainables could all help in this regard.
Tried a basic support belt early on, but didn’t really do anything for me. Cut-out a kind of support/guard from an old bit of camping mat to slip around the bag – think flat donut to sit over the flange with the bag poking through – didn’t seem to help much so abandoned that. Tape around the edge, I normally make sue I’ve got a base layer of some sort on, waist band of shorts then sit on top, not direct onto the skin/flange.

Actually riding, no real issues, can’t achieve the classic XC/Road head down/arse up riding position, but that sadly isn’t my only excuse for being slow.

Most important, get out there and enjoy the ride, and try to avoid crashing, worst thing for an ostomist is having your shoes match your bag!

Not sure if you can email me from inside STW, but feel free to PM me on RetroBike[1] if you have more questions.

[1] Same user name as here.

Hi TedC,

Thanks for your reply. My scar is about 18cm long, but it seems to have healed up well over the last month. I taped everything up, wrapped on my neoprene corset and survived a 1 1/2 hour ride yesterday evening without incident. I was riding very nervously but it was great to be out in the forest on the bike again.

Hi sodadr you’ll be fine i did it for three years and had a few crashes including falling on my belly but it was always my body and face that took the impact! Just as TedC says, if you’ve had a laparotomy then don’t push it at first and recover well between rides of you’ll end up with a hernia.

Poobag update…just incase anyone’s reading this with the same sense of dread of riding with a colostomy that I had when I originally posted.

Soon after posting I purchased one of the mesh fabric hernia style belts with a hole to push the crap bag through that helps hold the adhesive flange in place. This, along with a lot of 3m medical tape on the flange worked to keep it stuck on, bar one leakage that was more down to going out for a ride too early in the morning before my guts had done their thing (it’s not like you can hold it in or push it out to shift things along you know…it’s all about getting a routine. Coffee helps though). Anyway, this belt was worth every overpriced cent. After about five weeks from my operation when my infection ravaged body had some time to build back some of the muscle I lost before surgery I was able to ride pretty much normally, although I did avoid any backcountry overnighters this summer not really for colostomy hygiene issues more hernia concerns. Anyway, I still managed about 15 days at Whistler riding everything up to and including the double black tech GNAR trails with only a fractured thumb from a typical first day of the season crash (which was resolved a week later with a plastic brace created by a wonderful occupational therapist at my local hospital), and no leakage or inhibition from the bag. I was really happy to find that I could ride all the same local trails, crash a few times without major incident, work on trails and just generally realise that having the colostomy was just an inconvenience and not nearly as limiting as I thought it was going to be.

I had surgery to reattach what’s left of my colon about six weeks ago and have been enjoying pooing and farting again like nobodies business.

Anyway, If anyone finds themselves in this unexpected situation and is feeling a bit morose about it all, don’t be.

Blimey! All sounds very positive and great news that you are now pooing and farting like nobodies business!!

Not had experience of what you have gone through, but great that you have posted it up for others to find who might be going through the same thing who can take positivity and motivation from your experience!

Nice one…..

Great thread. Threads like this where people offer helpful practical advice are brilliant!

So glad the riding hasn’t had to stop for you guys!

inspiring thread that has made me smile. Heading for prostate surgery in 10 days and needing cheered up !

Good work sodadr, is that you in the pic ?

– can’t even see the scar when you’re in a bikini

iainc – Member
inspiring thread that has made me smile. Heading for prostate surgery in 10 days and needing cheered up !

Best of luck and heal soon.

^^ thanks jamj, not a good time, cheers

Oh – so colostomy bag isn’t the new 29er from cove…?

Late to the thread as usual but my Dad lived with a colostomy for years and was an active mountaineer. He used to do a washout in the mornings, equivalent to an enema I guess and rather time-consuming but it meant that for the rest of the day he could dispense with the bag and use a sticky plaster.

Which was fine until he got diarrhoea….

scaredypants – Member

Good work sodadr, is that you in the pic ?

– can’t even see the scar when you’re in a bikini

Yup, that’s me and my poobag on Samurai Pizza Cat at Whistler during the summer. I’ve got six months or so before I get my shirt off in public, plenty of time to get creative with tales explaining the origin of the scars!