Swimming With Colostomy Bag - All You Need To Know

Swimming with a colostomy bag can be a nerve-racking experience. Not because anything going to happen, but instead because you think something might. But the truth is, if you prepare properly, nothing will go wrong. Everything will go exactly as it should. Frankly, you probably won't even notice you're using a colostomy bag. Nowadays the large majority of colostomy bags are waterproof. And we don't mean water-resistant, we mean you could submerge underneath the water to the same depth as anyone else. Most waterproof colostomy bags nowadays are designed to handle the same stress as regular clothing. As long as you do your research and choose a colostomy bag that will certainly handle the stress of swimming, you should have no problem whatsoever.

Unfortunately, even with waterproof pouches in mind, a lot of people refuse to do it because they're embarrassed and even at times ashamed. Well, we have a solution for those people as well. Nowadays you can actually go out and buy accessories that hide the pouch completely. Using these accessories will make it so that nobody will even notice you have the pouch attached to you. And no we're not talking about some weird small company selling a pipe dream, we're talking about medically approved products designed to benefit people with ostomy pouches. And interestingly enough, this doesn't stop swimming. You can get accessories to hide your ostomy pouch on the regular.

For the more adventurous people out there, you can actually choose to embrace the pouch and turn it into somewhat of a fashion statement. Yes, it's true. There are a lot of products out there designed to make your ostomy pouch normal, and even cool looking. No better way to embrace your ailment than to make it part of your wardrobe. There are even fashion trends now that suit the pouch look well. For when you're not swimming you can actually disguise the pouch as something like a fanny pack. In the water, you men can actually get shorts that ride high up and hide the pouch really well. The same goes for women who use one-piece bathing suits. In the past, a lot of women had trouble with this because you could still see the outline, but with today's new advances in technology and fashion, it's unlikely you'll even notice its there.

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the health-related issues at hand. First of all, is the actual activity. Excess stress on the body has been known to make ostomy bags burst open. Thankfully there's a way around this! All you need to do is exercise. Simple workouts strengthen your body. We recommend you gradually work up to the same severity as swimming, as if you do so, swimming will put little to no pressure on the pouch because your body isn't working as hard as it once needed to. You're also going to want to avoid foods that cause gas. Foods like broccoli and fish are big ones that definitely need to be avoided. Gas inducing foods not only make your body work harder but can burst the bag all their own. Its generally a good idea to avoid these foods when not swimming as well, for they can cause some rancid smells and burst the pouch even when your body isn't working hard.

For more information on how to swim with a colostomy bag, we recommend you visit your family doctor or a medical professional you trust. Swimming should be fun for everyone. Prepare properly and you should have no problems whatsoever when swimming. We hope this guide helped you figure out how to swim with a colostomy bag. Now get out there and make us proud. Swimming with an ostomy pouch has never been so stress-free!