Colostomy bags

[Worried offspring]

Hi. My dad is struggling with the clip on his colostomy bag as it is very fiddly. He used to be fine with it but after a couple of accidents has lost all confidence, resulting in more accidents. Does anyone have any recommendations about what I can do?
He also is emptying it very frequently. I tell him it should be twice a day, which he says he knows, but is still emptying 4-5 times a day when not needed. Does anyone have any tips as to how to make this information stick in his memory?
Thanks

 

[Amethyst59]

Hello, welcome to Talking Point. There seem to be quite a few people on the forum at the moment who are dealing with stomas, so you might get more helpful or up to date knowledge than I have. Is your dad using a two part system, with a base plate that needs changing only every few days? I wonder if this is the clip you mean, like the ‘tupperware’ seal? Or do you mean a clip on the bottom of the actual bag?
It might be worth seeing the stoma nurse and trying a different style of bag, to see if that solves the problem.
As far as the frequency of emptying is concerned, that is probably harder to deal with. Dementia seems (in my experience) to make the person focus on one or two things that become almost an obsession. In my husband’s case it is ‘timing’. He will forego one activity for fear of missing another. It sounds as if your dad is concentrating all his attention to the stoma. Would it be possible for him to have support (from a carer?) twice a day to empty or change the bag? And maybe add some different activities to his day, so he has other stuff to concentrate on?