Retracted stoma! Can't get a good seal!

I'm literally losing my mind! I can barely focus to type this. I had my second surgery Dec. 9th. I now have a loop ileostomy. It's beginning to retract and it's causing my stoma to push stool under my wafer. I have seriously tried everything. Barriers, paste, convex wafers. Even different combinations. I've seen my stoma nurse. She says it's really bad. She helped the best she could but unfortunately couldn't do much for me other than what I've already been doing. I have an appointment with my surgeon tomorrow and I'm going to demand he do at least a revision of my stoma, if not the takedown. I can't handle this. I'm losing it! Has anyone experienced this and what do I do to get some relief? Please help!

I hate you're having to go through this. It's awful. It's getting to be everyday now I have to change. I just seen the doc and stoma nurse. Nurse tried another brand of convex wafer and a piece of barrier strip. Coloplast brand. It's working so far but it's only been a couple hours so we shall see. Doc scheduled a barium enema for the 23rd, then I follow up with him a week or so after that for results. Hoping for takedown soon!

I'm sorry your pouch didn't work out. That makes me sad for you. =(

Oh! I don't know how I forgot. (Must be all the meds I've taken over the last year and a half. They mess with my memory.) My skin is really burnt from the stomach acid, which causes weeping and redness with all the pain and itching. I'm sure you know. The stoma nurse told me to try nystatin powder again for yeast infection, which is caused by the stool getting on my skin. Kind of an important point to forget, huh? My skin was actually purplish yesterday. It looked so bad. Do you have any? The doc had to write a script for it. She told me if I get that cleared up it may help me get a better seal. Doesn't change the condition of my stoma but it may help give me some relief. I hope so.

Also, I've learned to spread out my fluid intake by drinking a cup of liquid an hour, always with a few chips or something. Limiting liquids slows down output and helps with dehydration because it reduces diarrhea. When you drink too much fluid at one time it goes straight through because your intestines actually uses water to push it (water) out of the bowel as if it were food. At least this is the conclusion I've come to with research. Point is, thicker output doesn't break down the barrier as quickly as liquid. I don't know if you have that problem but that's been a major difficulty for me.

I hope things work out for her soon. I know she is miserable. Poor thing. :(