I can't say I've noticed a difference in my nose per se, but I have to work HARD to stay hydrated since my ileostomy. Dry mouth for sure, and I swear when I'm dehydrated I can get a bit loopy as well.

I spoke with a top GI specialist years ago, and he said that our small intestine adapts to absorb fluids after the colon is removed, but it can take some time. Probably not to the same efficiency, but enough to be useful.

My hands during the winter always get really dry, but not the rest of my skin. I think it has more to do with windchill from bike or e-scooter riding, along with certain hand soaps.

I do keep track of my fluid intake, and I always tend to under consume water, even when I'm on long bike rides in the summer. ????

I drink a fraction of what I'm supposed to (according to what I'd need WITH a colon), so I'm working on that! I simply don't feel thirsty 90% of the time, so I'm often forcing myself to drink.

Now that you mention this this may be the reason for my dry painful skin issues. I guess it could have started after my total proctocolectomy. More so worsened and into eczema after my hernia repairs.  

Maybe because we can dehydrate so easily. We need to drink more water. I have started drinking ice water at work  or ice chips instead of soda pop. Sometimes ii buy sparkling water. I'm real bad with the coffee though and that will l dry us out. Lots of diarrhea on and off. I have to keep rice, potatoes and banana around to control it when it happens. 

Lots of dryness here. My eczema has worsened since my 1st surgery removing my large intestine then graduating with each of the following  surgeries.  I've been so dry that my hands, arms & lower legs & feet were the toughest to heal.  I could turn my socks out at the end of a day with fish scale & many smaller pieces of skin falling grossly from them. A few years back I was singing the blues to my kid sister about my dry skin & how taking my socks off had to be done over the bathtub bcuz there was so much dry  skin in them.  I had spent too much money that year trying all the "gaurenteed to stop dryness in its tracks" lotions that I felt rather desperate leaving me with a haul of tubes & bottles that I frequently just gave away bcuz they were useless to my skin.  Even tubes given by my GP never worked. 

One day from my sister a surprise in snail mail was a heavy box containing sugar scrubs, bath/shower gels & lotions galore!  They all seemed heavily scented which I avoided & typically sneezed from. Desperate to try anything, I started using the products that same day. To my surprise, everyday I started seeing improvements to my skin that continued regularly. Before long my dry skin healed up & I no longer felt like Linus from Charlie Brown walking in a dust cloud of dry skin particles!!  I still use the same products but have found their less scented ones to use.  Its from Bath & Body Works.ca or .com & you can order online.  They have good sales so keep your eyes out for them. I mostly use the cactus scent, but enjoy a few others now &  without the sneezes! Lol.  The difference... I'm not sure of bcuz other products from stores had "Shea Butter" in them, but after using this product, even my hands improved in eczema & dryness & I love using their thick creamy, non greasy lotions so much that I placed tubes throughout the house & in my purse. Living in a desert area, I was aware my skin had become drier but nothing like the dryness I had experienced after my surgeries to remove more small bowel or to the extent the gross dryness  had become. 

I had also frequently been in the ER with serious dehydration from SGS, short gut syndrome & needed IV Fluids to get caught up on fluids as I had lost all control of hydration.  * I've also noticed my dehydration symptoms have changed as I've become older, 65,  leaving me so unsure of whats going on & feeling very loopy and unable to explain how I felt but trusting the local paramedics & my GP to figure things out & get IV Fluids in me quickly sure helped even more so then before. 

Learning how to stay hydrated has been a huge part of my Ileostomy journey. I rarely drink Tea, even herbal  or coffees as they can act as diuretics & drain fluids quickly leaving me in as I've learned, a desperate situation.  I keep Gatorade around all the time now & mix it with gingerale so its palatable! Listen to your bodies & figure out whats causing issues & talking about it here helps too.  Dry sinuses, YES!- Don't ever hesitate to go to the ER if your not sure whats going on with you.  Loopy is as Loopy does & feels! I know it can be easy for me to say this living under Canadas mostly good health system, but even one bag of IV Fluids can make a difference in how I feel, but its that 2nd one that gets me back on my feet!!   

@LK - Linda, what products did you find most helpful? Was it the sugar scrub? I have eczema on my hands and tops of my feet - never ever had that before! Maybe it's just aging, maybe it's the ileostomy, but my skin is dry and just keeps getting worse as winter goes on.

I actually make all of my own skin and hair care stuff - partly to reduce my plastic use, partly because I like to play mad scientist... Most products are almost entirely water, so with a few select ingredients, and tap water, l keep my family pretty well stocked! 

I have made sugar scrub in the past but I guess I used it mostly in the bath, and I don't really take baths anymore, since the ostomy. Do you think it would be effective in the shower? 

@kirsten  Hello ! Happy New Year!  I'm sorry to take so long to get back to you!   I prefer products from Bath & Body Works.com or .ca in Canada.  They originated in the States. Containers are made with recycled plastics. I Love your mad Scientist thing!  Bcuz you make your own  products, Iast night I googled "Shea Butter" to see if it can be ordered on line as an ingriedient. From what I saw it can be,  just incase you want to make your own creams too. Is it hard to get supplies for your own products? How long before they expire? Can I ask what you all make?? How did you get started & do you just wing it or have you recipes to follow? 

The tube of  "Gingham scented *whipped Sugar Scrub"  is a fav. of mine & I did'nt need a whole tube to get the skin on my lower legs & feet into shape again like the previous tub required.  I also use the sugar scrub along side the body creams & I don't need the sugar scrub as regularly as before. 

As far as bath & showering... I often take a long hot bath due to being so achey from Fibromyalgia & Arthritis.  If your avoiding a bath because of your pouch I'd say... if you enjoyed it before then take a bath even if its occasional, just time it with a pouch change . Its a nice treat. I squeeze in the bath & hydrating?  shower gel into my running water just for the simple joy of relaxing & being immersed in water & bubbles! Its easier to use sugar scrub & exfoliate too.  The tapes on my pouch hold firmly as does the wafer. I use Holister 8531 one piece combined with Coloplast stretchy C SHAPED tapes. It takes 2 per pouch. The C  tapes  do get soft in the water if I'm in over 30 min.  but I've never had pouch come away from me in the water. 

The skin dryness reacted best to the  ""24 hour moisture ultimate hydration BODY CREAM with Shea Butter & Hyaluronic Acid.""  *In the STARS* is a gentle scent as well as Cactus & lately I enjoy "INTO THE NIGHT". 

Now, as far as Eczema... I've had it all my life!! My parents took me at an early age to have Chiropractor adjustments & they always saw big improvments to my skin after treatments. When I was a teen & started working I kept up with chiropractic adjustments bcuz I too saw the difference it made to my skin & even with my Asthma. After my Ileostomy I had a breakout of Eczema & very dry skin around the tapes of my pouch.  For my Eczema which is spotty everywhere my GP prescribes a cream, not ointment, called Betaderm Cream 0.1% or also called Betamethasone Valerate 0.1%, in a 60 GM size little tub. I started using a small amount around the edges of my tapes & this works well if I need to fix the issues of dryness & eczema there. Bcuz its a cream & not an ointment I've even used it on a stubborn output burn from a nasty leak under my wafer & talk about a difference it made in my skin healing. I applied the cream & then stoma powder using a straw to blow excess off the area. The wafer stuck on with no leak issues. Over Christmas I broke oyt in 5 nasty eczema finger tip skin splits between my two hands. I heal that up quicker by putting eczema cream to the size of a melted chocolate chip & a single layer of gauze & then using paper tape as I'm allergic to others, I seal the gauze in with the tape & right over the tip of my fingers too. I remove it in the a.m. & often see a huge improvement in my splits. They heal from the inside out & over the years have left me with wider finger tips then previous. Am I having fun yet?!!! Lol! 

Speaking of getting older... I'm 65 &  about 15 yrs in with my ostomy & yes, I find the dry skin issues worsening almost yearly with age. Maybe this is part of the "ashes to ashes, dust to dust thing!" Lol! My face is not without dry skin challenges either. So I thought that if the Bath & Body Works products worked on my other skin elsewhere on my wretched body then why not shampoo with the shower gels too & then also use a light application of the creams on my face. The difference was almost overnight! Now don't think I've gone totally off the wall here but even my Hair has suffered. Some of that is likely due to severe Anemia & ongoing  struggles with Pottasium absorption. So, at night about 2ce a week I'll lay a hand towel on my pillow  & once the B&B Works Cream is rubbed into my hands, arms & elbows & legs, feet too,  I'll even run my hands over/thru my hair applying the cream to my hair as well. Not heavy, I don't want to walk around gross looking hair, but just enough to help give it some extra moisture that it seems to desperatly need.  

I'm sorry this has been long, but if you have anymore questions please just ask. Have a lovely goodbye say to 2023 & enjoy being a year further from covid. I'm going to bed early! Lol! 

@dlkfiretruck Happy New Year! 

Well, I started making soap years and years ago just because I've always been a make-your-own kinda' girl! I certified as a herbalist about 25 years ago, and have always used herbs and herbal extracts (oils, tinctures etc) for skin issues, bathing, scalp issues and so on. I especially like bath 'teas' made with herbs like mint and lavender, along with sea salt, magnesium salts and/or Epsom salts for the bath. I started dabbling in more complex oils, butters and chemicals a few years back. Things like shea butter, cocoa butter, and more exotic oils like meadowfoam, raspberry seed, rosehip oil... I also use refined additives like silk protein, niacin, hyaluronic acid and others to make things more equivalent to some of the higher-end products on the market. I make a lovely oil-based facial cleanser, for example, using castor oil, squalene, blackberry seed oil, carrot seed oil and vitamin B5. Another favourite of mine is a green tea, French green clay, coconut oil cleansing balm. 

In all, I make shampoo, conditioner, facial cleansers, soap, body wash, bubble bath, facial toner, masks... As well as soap. I get recipes from some reputable websites like Humblebee and Me, Nerdy Farm Wife, Brambleberry, and of course from a soap making forum I belong to. Supplies I try to get in Canada. I like Windy Point Soap Making out of Calgary. Purple Citrus and Brambleberry are good too. I definitely riff on recipes and tweak for my own needs, but I'm careful about keeping things in a proper pH range and I pay attention to usage rates recommended by the various regulatory bodies. It's a fairly involved hobby, but I really like what I make and I find it pretty effective. I just made a skin lotion using various oils, waxes and butters along with some urea and a salicylic acid (that I extracted from Birch leaves and bark) that seems to have cleared up my latest bout of eczema!

I make small amounts, so I don't worry much about expiration. Some oils go bad faster than others, but I add a rosemary extract or vitamin E oil to those as a natural preservative. Any water-based product includes an eco-friendly preservative. I don't need mold in my hair! I try to avoid jumping on to the flavor of the week bandwagon and keep my supplies reasonable, but you know what they say - She who dies with the most crafting supplies (insert: fabric, yarn, seeds...) wins!

Whew! That looks like a lot when I put it all in one place.