Ostomy solutions…?

(minor TMI warning)

I’ve been having watery and acidic output for a while now. I asked my GP and stoma nurses what I could do about it as I was already taking loperamide twice a day. My nurse suggested doubling the dose as well as the number of time I was taking it and my GP gave me a prescription for codeine due to its constipation side effect. I started taking codeine in the morning and evening before bed and two loperamide before lunch and before dinner every day. This seemed to work for a while but I’ve noticed it’s not working as well as it used to.

I then decided to try and tackle this with diet as well by snacking on marshmallows every now and then as well as continuing with a low fibre diet. This also doesn’t seem to be working as the marshmallows only seem to have any effect when eaten in excess (ie. half a bag or more of big marshmallows).

Now, I read an article recently that was about which foods helped for someone with a colon and who was experiencing IBS symptoms. Among other things, it suggested porridge/oatmeal so I gave it a try. It sort of worked, as in the oats thickened my output for about a day. This is a huge improvement so I’m going to keep having the porridge daily, if I can (as I’m sure I’ve already mentioned, I don’t usually have breakfast). I’m also going to continue with the meds and marshmallows so, hopefully, with all of this combined, I’ll have a less watery output. We’ll see.