Hello, everybody, I would like to share the results of my experiments with improving ventilation of ostomy pouch. Ballooning was often for me a problem, so I tried OSTO E-Z Vent. But there was a problem - I had to be awake to open the vent. Also, reaching for the vent's plug was inconvenient. Closing the vent was also sometimes difficult. All these problems are solved for me, since I invented and made quite different Vent. I bought a "lay flat tubing" which is 1 inch wide, on a roll, the foil is 4 mil, which I cut for straps 9" long and weld one end with lunch bag thermal sealer. I use strong, 1 inch wide two sided glue tape made by Tesa. I attach a rectangle of said tape, 1-1/4 long, to the upper front side of no-fabric Coloplast bag. To this tape I attach the strap, its weld just below lower edge of 2-sided tape. I have to cut the bigger opening in the bag for my stoma, and then I insert a long and thin strap of plywood into the plastic strap, for punching out a hole, 1/4" dia, using standard pipe-like punch. The hole is punched through the bag's wall, the Tesa tape and through one side of plastic strap (the plywood saves the second strap's wall from punching). I need to insert into the plastic vent sort of wall separator, another flat strap with meshed walls, because without it the walls of lay-flat tubing tended to cling together, disabling gas escape. The vent's upper end is reaching above my waist line, and when flatulence happens, I am the first one to smell it, as the gas travels just under my shirt. This allows me to excuse myself from any social gathering for a while, before anybody else can smell anything. Before night sleep, I insert a piece of toilet paper, to the top end of vent, this prevents small leaks of any possible liquid output. Now I can sleep without fear that the pouch ballooning would explode and soil my bed. Another advantage of this vent is possibility to rinse the stoma - and with a lot of water, much more than rinsing through osto-E-Z vent. I use small funnel inserted in the top end of vent. This vent has many advantages compared to E-Z Vent, especially it can be made by ostomy bag users who have some basic skills. Cheers, polgyver Colostomy April 2016 Glad you made it to the forums, Andrzej! Thank you for sharing this. Feel free to add a photo of your invention to the topic. Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate. @veganostomy Hi, Eric, I still need to figure out how to add a photo to a post... I am curious if there are members of this Forum who would like to try out how my Vent works. Perhaps the pouch balooning is not a problem for majority of ostomates, but the Osto E-Z vent is still selling, despite its shortcomings, so it means many people need it. What I am hoping for, is change in ostomy pouch usage: change from tightly CLOSED bag to permanently, partially OPEN bag. No more "burping" of pouch nor partially opening for gas release. The long flat Vent will prevent any overpressure in the pouch, thus preventing separation between wafer's glue and skin. Ease of stoma rinsing will help keeping it clean and prevent erosion of glue by acidic bag contents. These 2 factors would enable to keep the pouch for longer times than usual 1 week. I am willing to give away some of Vents (which I already made), to any Forum members who would like to try them out. In what way to distribute the Vents? Please, make suggestions... I live in East Scarborough, if someone lives in this area, the Vents could be picked from my home. Otherwise, I could mail them to Forum members who are interested in trying them out. Regards, polgyver Colostomy April 2016 See the attached photo for how to attach a photo :) Members are welcome to private message you if they are interested in trying your product, but I would like to keep commercial posts off the forum as I didn't set it up for others to profit from it directly. If members who have tried this product would like to add their feedback, they are more than welcome to.  Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate. I need to add some info about specific problems which I have with my stoma : the stoma is prolapsing, so, when I walk or sit, it sticks out into the pouch. As it has rather larger diameter, it is not possible for me to replace pouch standing in front of a mirror. Before changing pouch, I have to lie down for a few minutes to make the sticking out stoma "sink" into my belly. After that I detach the old pouch, next I clean the area and finally I can attach new pouch. To be able to see what I am doing, I use a mirror on a stand next to bed, the mirror twisted 45 degrees towards me. For easier guiding the pouch, I use plastic "fork" to which I attach temporarily the pouch using medical glue tape. I intended to add a photo, but - instead of expected : "Attach file" and "choose file" - I see only "Preview" and "4 Revisions" and "saved" below ONLY... Cheers, polgyver   Colostomy April 2016 Hi mate it is I think a common problem that I have come to believe depending on the current intestinal action that the stoma will prolapse when stood up and retract when lying down, partially I think due to the cut of the abdominal muscles around the stoma. My Stoma nurse also stated that sometime the intestines bulge behind the stoma and retract relax when lying down so a small hernia will retract also. IS something we often find out for ourselves. Additionally I when lying down attempt to stretch the skin to reduce the dragging cause by gravity. we all learn these tricks as we go along. Cheers, Chris and Bagpus Colostomy Jan 2020 @veganostomy Hi, Eric, I still could not upload a photo, as I did not have the option to see the "radiobutton" with name "Choose file" below the area for posting the text. Could it be that some Forums prevent photos until the member submits more than 5 posts? Regards, polgyver Colostomy April 2016 @veganostomy Hi, Eric, I still could not upload a photo, as I did not have the option to see the "radiobutton" with name "Choose file" below the area for posting the text. Could it be that some Forums prevent photos until the member submits more than 5 posts? Regards, polgyver Ah, yes! There is a minimum 5 post limit before attachments can be added to posts. You're nearly there 😀 Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate. @veganostomy That's OK, as the popular saying goes, the picture is worth a thousand words... I would like to share with this Forum members some more ideas about ostomy care, and photo seems the easiest way to convey an idea. Cheers, polgyver Colostomy April 2016 Looks like you got your fifth post so pictures soon :-) Looking forward to your ideas sharing is great when it helps someone and I'm sure you will. Chris Colostomy Jan 2020 I still do not see the "choose file" button for adding photo to my reply, despite reaching total 5 posts on this forum... Therefore I decided to bring up a slightly different topic, still within "tips and tricks" but now concerning procedure called Barium Enema: A few months ago I was directed (by my surgeon) to another hospital - to be tested for possible fistula. The doctor in charge of performing Barium Enema Test suggested that I remove my Coloplast pouch, but I was able to convince him that it is better to leave the pouch and to insert the thin hose (tubing) into my stoma through the opening in the pouch, similarly like it can be done when doing Colonoscopy. The thin hose was inserted, but, after a while, it came off, and my belly was flooded with sticky liquid. The hose was inserted again and now secured with medical tape, but - due to buoyancy(?) or other reason, after pouring more Barium, it came out again. The doctor decided that this test can not be done, and suggested MRI instead. I was puzzled, why the test team did not attempt to raise my pouch to vertical position and secure it in this position so the hose would be prevented from shifting out of stoma? Another tip, why there was no sort of nipple, made of sponge, on the hose, such a nipple (shaped as a cone or cylinder) could provide tighter fit to the stoma? Are there any Members of this Forum who have had the Barium Enema Test done with better results? Regards, polgyver Colostomy April 2016 Hello, Now I can add photo (after 6 posts). I do not keep pouches THAT long as descripted in annotated photo: however, I was curious for how long a pouch can last - when rinsed frequently through my Long Vent - before developing small leak between skin and ring. Well... it seems there is still a problem to upload my photo : Now I can see buttons "Attach file" and "Browse" - that's OK. But, after choosing my photo and clicking "open" - nothing arrives in this post... Please, help.  Colostomy April 2016 OK, I did not realize that the photo will show up AFTER clicking :Add Reply". It is different from US Satellite Guys Forum, where I uploaded photos and could see them before "Add Reply". But that's OK, my lack of experience... Colostomy April 2016 Now, another photo (I understand there is a limit of ONE photo per post)  Colostomy April 2016
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
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