Also, for ileostomates, if you know that you are going to be travelling or in a situation where easy access to a rest room is not available, adjust what you eat to avoid high residue food. Instead of eating two bran muffins and a bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast, consider pancakes which have much less residue. Be aware of how fast your body responds to eating. If you know that you can expect lots of stoma activity about two hours after eating, time your eating so that you won't have to deal with a pouch approaching capacity at an inopportune time. Similarly, urostomates may want to consider temporarily adjusting their rate of fluid intake for a short time. The caution here is that urostomates should consume plenty of fluids during the day. This technique is not advisable for periods of more than a couple of hours.
Ostomates shouldn't skip meals before going out socially. In general, the less an ostomate eats, the more gas he or she will produce with its attendant problems. Actually, a quick elbow to the stoma will usually silence it if it becomes operatic at the wrong time.
