Not being a Cymed user, I kept my quiet. Being an ostomate,  I am ready to open my mouth.

For a time, I dealt with a product that i was happy with.  Then , it developed a manufacturing defect similar to the above headaches. 

I contacted the factory rep. She was useful to tell me to call the office directly. But she is a nice person, trying to earn a living.

Called the office. They sent out a replacement box. Good.

Box had 3/10 bad bags. No good. 

Called office again. Sent me bag of samples to replace the 3. Ok.

1 was bad. We were improving .

I researched another company and bought their product. 

Why? Because live stinks, manure happens and if after i tell quality control the problem and they don't correct it, I am out of there. I do know how hard it is to gain a customer and how easy it is to lose one. Just treat them like sh♡t. 

We have enough poop problems. 

I mourn , with you, the loss of Nina's job. Nah, I  don't .

Please add any and all info/complaints, threads regarding this subject. I know they have been getting complaints, but sporadic is one thing, a concentrated amount may make the higher ups re think their decisions. 

it would be nice to start a topic on cymed users who have a 2nd best choice, and maybe why?

the microskin is really the only reason I stay with cymed, 6-8day wear time with lots of warning of approaching failure. another plus is, it does stay close to the body, some bags droop forward sticking out of tee shirts.

hollisters wafer crumbles on me 2-3 days being real active, then you get an unexpected stink boomb.

coloplast mio de-laminates from my skin in 2-3days being real active. but they start peeling from the outside, a plus that might be fixed with a microskin secondary cover.

I've realize with low profile velcro from walmart I can modify any tail, I think, to what is easy cleaning and draining. sticky contact paper might be easier to make fold tabs with, than trying to heat seal laminating plastic for tabs.

the surgical incision drape appears to be the same material as microskin, though it would cost $2/bag, still cheaper than replacing 5$ bags twice as often.   I will test a coloplast  mio with incise drape next week.

jp

I really hope these posts are going to be sent to Cymed. I Hope the company realises a numbers of points! Firstly they take onboard the distress and worry and upset this causes to the user. it is like being thrown back to square one!!!! Second Vegan Ostomy is a very large forum of Ostomates!! World Wide in fact, its founder Eric Polsinelli is a well respected voice at many medical conferences. Please Cymed get your act together listen to customer feed back and sort this out. In the meant time I am sure the current users will rally round and share thoughts and experiences of other products and review the VO product reviews as well.

For full disclosure  on 5/26 I send the below to qc@cymed.us 

My husband has probably written to you by now or at least to the company.  He has had an ostomy since child hood so for a long time.  Your product was a way to a better life for both of us.

I am very upset & at the same time feeling very trapped and not sure how to proceed with finding another ostomy pouch supplier that would work for my husband.

Your materials have changed from really soft and quiet to soft but it makes crinkling noises when he moves or bends or sleeps.

The drain has changed and is harder for him to open and close as opposed to the old one.  It is also longer and hard to sleep on or tuck into your clothes without being stabbed by the darn thing.

The bags seep around the outside edges.  They are not reflux any longer though they are advertised that way.

We went on a 3 day vacation trip.   During which the front of Don’s shirt got wet during dinner, at an event and a walk from the bag seeping on the outside edges. Of course we had to leave each place run back to the room change clothes & bags amidst the stares of strangers.  He woke up 2 of the mornings with wet night clothes and sheets due to the seepage & again more bags.  The bags are not cheap.  We were spoiled by the amazing quality of the old style and honestly if you have someone you can recommend or if you have any authority to make a change it would be life-changing for us.  Back to way it used to be.  He leaked in a business meeting the other day with one of our top clients can you imagine being him for one second with pee down the front of your shirt trying to make a sale?  I am calling our supplier and demanding our money back on the last packages.  I am searching for everywhere I can leave a bad review and I am doing so. I know these are your products & you can do what you want. However you have changed the nature of my husbands very life to much more challenging and I will fight for his right to live without added physical bonds that had been  made bearable by Cymend and have now been destroyed by Cymed.   I found this on an ostomy website the very first I went to, to make a complaint) and there were already complaints that match my husbands terrible experiences with the new pouches perfectly.  I have also complained on AMAZON.  I'm glad I'm not the only one complaining.     

Nina did answer back wanted my husband to reach out which he has already done and has not had any luck resolving the issue and is now being ignored.  I told her that unless they were fixing the product there was no need for him to write but I felt I should let them know we and many others are shopping for new supplier & I am calling United Healthcare today and Edgepark who supplies us with their product and that she should look at this forum and any other out there.   I have also included her information for you to write to.

Nina Vollmer, PhD - Product Development Engineer / QC Manager - CYMED - 1123 North Market Blvd, Ste 5 - Sacramento, CA 95834 - P: 800-582-0707 x709 - F: 800-582-0707 - www.cymed.us

Noted I am writing to Nina Vollmer in the morning.

I switched back to convatecs. Frankly even with Cymeds I would rarely get more than 3 days, max 4 wear before I had to replace them.

For me it was about the skin under the wafer and the clear flexible plastic film. As hair grew in, (and I'm really not that hairy a guy), it would get crazy itchy. And the wafer would wear enough around the stoma to let the skin get exposed to the content, causing a rash.

So for me, 3 days is my regular wear (now with Convatec given all the cymed problems).

Ken

I sent a lengthy email to Nina yesterday. Apparently the person I spoke to earlier last week was actually Nicholas the CEO of Cymed. That surprised me, but also made me feel that they are taking these things seriously. I forwarded on this thread, I hope that it links without them being a member, so they can read all of these comments. 

I have one other issue that happened this morning, I suffer with severe fibromyalgia, I was in a hot bath this morning at 6am, I got out and was surprised that my bag was half full of water? 🤷🏽‍♀️Of course my first thought is did I wear a sticker on the filter, yep, is it sealed all the way around the wafer, absolutely completely sealed. There were no problems that I could are structurally with the products so I have to assume that the construction is poor and this product is no longer leak proof, despite user error. 

I have just contacted Nina Vollmer, every little bit will help in this quest!!

Hi, After an email exchange with Nina she says that these decisions are out of her hands. She give me a contact number 1-800-582-0707 extension 704 or 705. its the same number as given by Mermaidspla2 above!! The buck will keep getting passed and yes Nina is the gate keeper constant pressure may be the only way to get some where. very frustrating!

Nina did write me back.  Said she did respond back to hubby the day before (he had not checked his email yet)  She said she had not sent out replacements that our Supplier Edgepark must have sent them. So I guess we paid for the second bad batch and as Edgepark is just a distributor and not the maker of the product I am not sure where that part of the conversation was going.  She said she now has Dons mailing address from him and is sending a label so he can return the two bad boxes and once received will send out replacements.  However there is no mention of whether the replacements will be better.   Will let you know.  Doorbell just rang, did receive the labels & one box of supplies.  

I ordered a Convatec and it does not work for him.  I myself did not like the plug. It was hard for me to open & close without it being on anyone's body.  The rubber seal is large & on Don's body it concaves out so the pouch is held out away from his skin which seems that it would add extra stress would be more noticable.  Maybe Edgepark will have some suggestions for us.  Nina basically told me the same thing that she does not make the decisions.   Will let you know if the replacements work better or not.

You are right to be searching for other system as this product may not be fixed any time soon. I use convatec 2 piece myself but with another body shape I except it may not be suitable. I was given a salts 1 piece as a sample by my stoma nurse which I have never tried, but from the point of being a neat compact bag it looks good, cant say any thing about how well it performs!! Check out some of the reviews on the site

Salts works great. The company, based in England, has super customer support. They do not have a distributor in the US. I get mine thru Argile Med in Canada. I gave up on CY-Med.

Ok guys. I’m desperate. This is no longer a, I think I can handle this until they change it back, issue. I cant leave the house. Sent another email to Nina last night asking/begging her to tell me the old product (every single part of it) would come back. I haven’t heard anything yet. Here is the number for Nicholas the CEO 800-582-0707 ext 706, I KNOW the extension is him because I called back last week and spoke directly to him. I haven’t been able to find where there is a specific spot where the leaks are happening. I am a colostomate so my output is more solid so literally leaking isn’t a usual thing for me just the constant smell. I can only assume that the bags are not odor proof any longer. So, thank you @veganostomy for your very large compiled list of ostomy bag providers, I have started down the list requesting trials. I wore a closed end 8” bag, wafer cut to fit up to 1 1/2 inches. Anyone have something that they swear by, I’m all ears. Actually I’m begging. 🙏🏽 I will still be calling Nick later today. 

Hi Momof3boys, Ok take a deep breath as when we are fried nothing will seem possible, Using the Cymed bags ain,t working so any new appliance is going to be better. A wee while back Mark had posted that he had done a promotional video for B braun a product which seems to have served him well. Mark I hope you don,t mind me bring this up!

https://www.myosto-mylife.com/en.html.

Starting with a new product even if and a mean if you had to over come problems would be better than putting up with the problems with cymed

Actually thank you for this! B. braun was one of the first companies I emailed yesterday and they responded already this morning. I have A sample already in the mail. I copied and pasted below the latest reply from Nina.  

We are talking with our old product vendor. Unfortunately, I don’t have a time frame or time line, and I am not involved in the conversation. So as of right now that’s all the information I have. I’m sorry.

If you’d like to check back in a couple weeks I should have more info for you then.

Kind Regards,

If these companies don,t get feed back and complaints they will get away with bad service!! but no ostomate can put their life on hold until they get their act together!! illness did that for too many years. Normality will return for you :-) 

@momof3boys I can understand your frustration and desperation. 

The only thing you can do right now (because even if Cymed were to bring back their old products, it wouldn't happen overnight) is to sample as many different appliances as you can. 

Some will simply not work for you or you have a preference with how they feel or look, but there are so many out there that one of them has to work for you and anything will be better than what's going on right now.

Thank you Mom of 3 boys,    This gives me hope that Cymed is listening to us.  I sent Nina an email thanking her for her response and help in pushing this up the ladder for attention.   I know I will be checking back with her.  Cymed products were dope and made my husband's life and therefore mine too, so much easier and unimpeded. 

Hoping for cake by the ocean, where we can once again snorkel for hours and travel without embarrassing accidents in airports and restaurants and hoping to toast the return of super Cymed.    Thank you everybody who called and emailed.  Let's keep encouraging them to work on this.

So, I contacted Salts in the U.K. their product actually looks amazing! First obvious problem is I am in the U.S. and they don’t have a distributor, they did however offer to send me trials which I put An order in for. Two questions I have, 1-How do I order direct from the company and still have my Insurance cover? (Total lane change here) 2-Does anyone have any idea why the U.K. seems to be so far advanced on Ostomy supplies and Ostomy information? I totally understand that their is a stigma, but it has questioned me for years as to why this seems to be a more prominant and open discussion in the UK? Is this a more common surgery? maybe I’m completely off base,  it has just seemed that a lot of information comes from the other side of the pond?