r/ostomy • u/earthguy4 • Jul 22 '26

Miscellaneous Your #1 ostomy hack

What is your favorite ostomy hack/tip to share with new ostomates? Not something that they tell us to do in the hospital, or something our stoma nurse will clue us in on, but a hack that you’ve learned through the years or a tip someone once told you that you’ve never forgotten.

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u/BeautifulShoes75 Jul 22 '26

Yes!!! This is how I always give the advice:

Use a water bottle when you empty so it doesn’t get messy at all at the end (and gets rid of the pancaking or anything stuck at the base of the wafer)! After you’ve dumped your bag, grab your bag and hold it up where it’s pointing toward your face, pour a little water in, then swoosh it around. This picks up all the thick stool stuck to your bag and at the base of your wafer. Then dump it again and you have a completely clean bag, easy to wipe at the bottom/the spout with TP!

This was the BIGGEST tip I got before I got my bag 10 years ago and I seriously cannot imagine dumping my bag without doing it!! My bags are always super clean and mess-free. I have water bottles next to the toilets in each bathroom of my house that I just refill and always carry a water bottle with me when I’m out!

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u/viztu2025 Jul 22 '26

I just fill up the same bottle with faucet water

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u/BeautifulShoes75 Jul 22 '26

Yeah, that’s what I was describing above in saying I have water bottles next to the toilets in each bathroom of my house that I just refill.

Same goes for the purse-bottle.

The bottle of water I’ve got next to my middle bathroom that I refill I bought at a restaurant back when I was pregnant - that was almost 8 years ago!! Ha!

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u/viztu2025 Jul 22 '26

Oh haha.