FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

After postoperative recovery, your stoma should not prevent you from doing any kind of work. However, if your job involves significant physical effort, consult your doctor and your stoma therapist to avoid any problems.

There is no answer to this question that applies to every person. When and to whom you should tell that you have a stoma is your personal decision. Your closest people will probably know about it, and when you feel the need, you can also tell others if you feel that it would be better if they knew it.

In some cases, concealing the stoma can be challenging and impractical — for example, if your job involves changing in a common locker room.

In practice, it might be easier if people who are close to you and your colleagues know about it. In this way, unpleasant situations can be avoided and the stress of wondering: What if they find out? In any case, don’t rush, share your ostomy story with others when you feel it’s necessary and when you feel confident enough.

As a rule, you can practice most of the sports and other physical activities that you have before. You can, for example, hike, run, play tennis, cycle and even swim because ostomy systems are waterproof.

However, contact sports require additional caution as accidents are always possible, and depending on your specific case, your doctor may also advise you to avoid them. The same applies to weightlifting, so it is best to consult a doctor before engaging in that activity. 

It is important that you recover from the procedure first and that you return to physical activities gradually, listening to the advice of health professionals.

Once you have recovered from the procedure, you can, as a rule, continue to have intimate relationships. However, ostomy can affect your impression of your own body at first, which will consequently also affect your intimate life. Your stoma will probably look foreign to your body until you get used to it over time.

Open communication with your partner is very important for intimacy after ostomy, it can encourage you and make it easier for you to get used to your new state.

It usually takes a few weeks of recovery after ostomy surgery for a person to start driving a car again. It is certainly important that you recover enough to be able to meet all the requirements of safe driving. As the answer to this question depends on your specific case and the duration of your recovery, it is best to consult your doctor and/or stoma therapist about driving.