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Ostomy surgery of the bowel: the stoma and the pouch, ileostomy, colostomy and the other types, getting ready, the pouch and the skin, food and daily life, and when to get help right away
For anyone who will have, or has had, an ileostomy, a colostomy or another bowel ostomy, and the people who help them. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what an ostomy and a stoma are, and why people need one; the types, temporary or permanent; getting ready and the surgery; the pouch and the skin, food in the first weeks, getting back to activities, and the feelings that come with it; and the problems to watch for, with the signs that need help right away. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card. Nothing is saved.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- The stoma changes size, shape, color or odor; heavy bleeding that does not stop; cramping for more than 2 or 3 hours; no gas or stool for 4 to 6 hours with cramping and nausea; vomiting or watery output that will not stop? NIDDK says to seek medical help right away: call your surgeon or ostomy nurse now, or go to urgent care or an emergency room (where to go: ours).
- Fainting, struggling to breathe, or confused or very ill? Call 911 (ours).
- Thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- The bowel on this site: Short bowel syndrome · Crohn’s disease · Ulcerative colitis · Diverticulitis · Abdominal adhesions · Bowel control problems · The stomach and bowel: find the right page.
- Related: How digestion works · Urinary diversion · When the doctor says cancer · Symptom diary.
- For you: Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
An upset stomach, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for throwing up, diarrhea, heartburn and constipation, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Ostomy Surgery of the Bowel, all six sections, last reviewed in June 2021. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; where to go for help right away; keeping a spare pouching system with you; writing down the ostomy nurse’s and the after-hours numbers; asking before any big change to food or medicine; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: its section on clinical research, its references and the outside guides they cite, its drawings, and the other pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.