Sexual relationships after you’ve had a stoma formed can feel complicated. It’s not just physical changes, but emotional changes to factor in too. I spoke to others in the community because I know we all have different concerns and experiences, and I wanted to be able to serve a wider audience.
I tried to cover all aspects of sexual relationships in this blog in the hope that our shared experiences will help fellow ostomates that might be worried heading into it, or that are experiencing any difficulties. We talk about what our initial concerns were, practical issues after surgery, and how we overcame our challenges. It’s a very frank and honest post with nothing off limits!
Here’s a quick intro to the people I chatted to, including relevant details such as gender and sexual preference for context in the later quotes.
- Andy is a heterosexual male. He lives with an ileostomy and has his rectum intact.
- Dave is a bisexual male. He lives with a colostomy and has had his rectum removed. Dave uses a wheelchair due to a below-the-knee amputation (left) in 99, and a below-the-knee amputation (right) more recently, due to spina bifida.
- Our anonymous male (I’m calling him Mr. X) is a polyamorous heterosexual. He lives with an Ileostomy and has had his rectum removed.
- Chris is a gay male. He lives with an Ileostomy and has had his rectum removed.
- Brandon is a heterosexual woman. She lives with a colostomy and has had her rectum removed.
- Sarah is a lesbian female. She lives with an ileostomy and has her rectum intact.
- I am a heterosexual female. I live with an ileostomy and have had my rectum removed.
Read the full article at https://www.fittleworth.com/advice-centre/stoma/sex-after-stoma-surgery/
Sahara was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of 19, after just two weeks of being incredibly unwell. One week later, she had emergency surgery to remove her colon and rectum and had her first ileostomy. A turbulent journey followed; a multitude of treatments, complications, seven surgeries, a failed J-Pouch, and three ileostomies later, she is living with a permanent stoma and is a pro-active IBD and ostomy advocate. 
Sahara joined the online IBD and ostomy community in 2014, and it very quickly became apparent to her that whilst awareness is important, even more, important than that is providing support to others as they navigate the stormy waters of life with IBD, or an ostomy.
She runs #IBDSuperHeroes fundraising and awareness campaign, and the Facebook support group. She is a blogger for InflammatortyBowelDisease.net and an IBD Patient Consultant for merakoi – bridging the gap between patients and healthcare. She gets involved with research whenever she can, and is a volunteer for Cure Crohn’s Colitis, where she donates her time and expertise in social media marketing and content creation.