Food

Take care about what you eat in order to avoid diarreah for example (and that counts mainly in the hot countries).

*
Be careful with drinking water and ice cubes. Only drink bottled water from sealed bottles or water that has boiled for at least 5 minutes. Watch out when brushing your teeth as well.

*
Also be careful with raw food and uncooked vegetables and always peel fruit (it is often washed with tap water).

*
Drink no raw/unpasturised milk.

*
Only eat meat, poultry and fish that have been well cooked.

*
Don’t eat (raw) shellfish and avoid food from stall holders.

*
If you want to eat ice-cream, choose one that is prepacked. Also watch out for mayonnaise and cream.

Return to top

Diarrhoea

If you do still get diarreah then the treatment is actually not much different than for people without a stoma. You should naturally keep on drinking a lot. With a long lasting, persistent diarreah it is sensible to use ORS (oral rehydration salt), in order to ensure that the body gets as much fluid as possible, and holds onto salt and sugars. These are packets with a saline solution which you dissolve in water, available from pharmacies and drug stores. If you do not have any to hand, you can make your own using 8 cubes of sugar and 1 teaspoon cooking salt dissolved in 1 litre of drinking water. A diarreah inhibitor (loperamide) can also be handy. Take some bouillon tablets or a couple of packets of soup on holiday with you, and crackers or biscuits. Put it in your hand baggage. For colostomists it is handy to take some ileostomy bags with you in case of diarreah.

Return to top

Ostomy supplies

Take sufficient ostomy supplies with you on holiday. You would use more supplies in a hot country than in a cold one. Reasons for more usage of materials can be: a different climate, more perspiration, different food, a lot of swimming etc.

*
Take twice as much as you would normally use at home.

*
Take, if you irrigate (rinse), also sufficient stoma supplies. Sometimes when you are on holiday irrigation cannot have the desired effect.

*
Remove the base plates and bags from their boxes and place them in (sandwich) bags, which take up less space. Many suppliers will do that automatically for you if you tell them you are going on holiday.

*
Spread the supplies (especially if you are flying/bussing) in several cases/bags and also in your hand baggage, in case you lose your baggage.

*
Your base plates can melt in a warmer temperature so do not leave them lying in a hot environment (bus, car, hotel room, tent). The most prudent way is to put all your ostomy supplies in a cool box/bag, don’t forget cool blocks!
*
A handy bag that you can insert a number of base plates in is the one from Frio. We have tested a number of models, and the expedition model came up the best. You insert the inner sleeve in water for 10 minutes, causing it to solidify and it keeps your base plates cool for a minimal of 48 hours.

*
Take the order numbers of your material with you and the telephone number of your stoma nurse. Also think about the emergency number of your supplier, in emergency cases they will even deliver to your holiday address both here and abroad.

*

Ask before you go if your supplier can send a parcel to your holiday address. Check also with your insurance company about recompense. Ostomy supplies are available at almost all foreign pharmacies (recognisable with a green cross). Delivery takes approximately 2 days and you can declare the purchase afterwards with your insurer.

*
There exist waterproof safety bags for things such as mobile phones, but you can of course also use them for your ostomy materials if you go swimming or canoeing.

Return to top

Medication/care

*
Just as with your ostomy supplies make sure you have enough medicine with you, more than you would normally use.

*
Take account of any time difference if you have to take your medicines at a certain time.

*
Due to the warm weather and drinking lots your output can become thin. There are products which exist that thicken the stool to a gel.

*
A high temperature is also not good for medicines, so keep them with your stoma materials in a cool box/bag.

*
A medicine passport can be very handy. Herein is written: the substance and brand name, the strength and dosage. Especially the active substance is important, because then a foreign doctor can determine what medicine it is. Not all medicines have the same brand name everywhere. Your personal details also stand therein. You can ask for this passport from your pharmacist.

*
If your medicine falls under the opium law, then a declaration from your doctor will be handy to prevent problems at customs.

*
Another possibility is to take a print out from the pharmacy with you on holiday.

*
If you go on holiday abroad it is necessary to ask for a European Health Insurance card, which has been obligatory since January 2006. With this European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) you have the right to emergency medical care throughout Europe, because it is proof for the foreign doctor that you are insured. Without this card you run the risk that medical care will be refused if it is not clear that the costs will be covered. Above all you can prevent having to prepay, which you then later have to claim back from your health insurer. The EHIC is not a guarantee that you will not be asked to pay costs: the amount of recompense depends upon your own insurance policy. You can request the European insurance card for free from your own insurer. The card is only valid for 1 year and per person. Every member of the family must request their own separately.

Return to top