Passing mucous

I know that passing small amounts of mucous is normal after an ileostomy if you still have a stump, but I noticed this evening that the mucous on the loo paper had a slight brownish tinge.
Is this normal ?.

Unfortunately the Stoma nurses don't work night or at the weekend, so I can't ask them.

When did you have your surgery?
Even tons of mucus can be normal. A little residual poop is ok too especially in the weeks after surgery.

Just over a month ago
What was there wasn't like proper poo, it was the mucous itself that seem to have a slight colour to it, there was only a tiny bit.
I think I'm going to try and resist the urge to push it out, I think because I've had Crohn's for so long, I've become overly alert to any signs of needing to go, I have very strong sphincter control so I've never had leakage with it.

Wonder if it's just old blood cells getting moved out with the mucous from the surgery ?.
I've only been passing mucous for the past three days, there was nothing before that.

What you're experiencing is normal. As long as you have a stump you will pass mucus.

I only ever passed mucus in the first few days after surgery, and it was completely clear, no colour. I've had three stoma surgeries and that was the same every time, clear mucus soon after surgery, then nothing at all after that. I think it depends on the state your rectum is in. Do you have a loop or end ileostomy? Is it quite small amounts of mucus you're passing? Also have you passed gas through your rectum?

DJW said:

What you're experiencing is normal. As long as you have a stump you will pass mucus.

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I have a stump and never pass any mucus, except straight after surgery, as I said in my post above.

I know the official advice is that mucus is normal, but the one time I did begin passing things (first gas, then mucus) through the rectum after having my first stoma for a few months, it was because something was very wrong. It's better to get it checked out if things change, just in case.

It's an end ileostomy, no gas at all, and very small amount of mucous.
I'll give the stoma nurse a phone on Monday, just to be sure, I feel fine though, no sign of fever or discomfort.

1 month. Totally normal. Go ahead and poop it out. The body has mucus, poop, blood and all that still clearing out. Don't worry if it's not excessive stuff coming.

No it's hardly any, and as I said, the staining is slight and only visible on the loo paper.
Whew !

I'm sure it's fine - I deliberated quite a bit about how to respond to your post, because I know the problem that caused me to start passing mucus was highly unusual and that mucus is so very often normal..... but because I know that it can be a sign of trouble, I didn't feel I could tell you it's definitely fine, even if 99% of the time it is. I'll spare you the details of what happened to me, unless you're interested and sure it won't cause you unnecessary worry. When it happened, I had a loop ileostomy, and the problem I had could only happen with a loop, so I can now tell you with absolute certainty that you're not having the problem I had!

Now I'm wondering if I'm unusual because I never pass mucus. Very occasionally I get a feeling that I need to pass something, but I always just ignore the feeling and it goes away very quickly.

Let us know what your stoma nurse says.

I know what you mean, you have to be so careful replying to posts to not make the person panic :eek2:
From what I can see from medical sites, it tends to be a problem if there's a lot of blood, or if there's yellow or green pus as it could signal an infection.
I'll only phone the nurse if I'm still passing the stained mucous on Monday, no point bothering her if it's cleared up.
I am curious as to what happened to you, some folk seem to have more than their fair share of bad luck with their stoma's, but I guess a lot of people use this forum because they are having problems.

UnXmas said:

I have a stump and never pass any mucus, except straight after surgery, as I said in my post above.

I know the official advice is that mucus is normal, but the one time I did begin passing things (first gas, then mucus) through the rectum after having my first stoma for a few months, it was because something was very wrong. It's better to get it checked out if things change, just in case.

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I never passed gas. That would concern me. It take time for things to settle after surgery so mucus is normal.

Grotbags said:

I know what you mean, you have to be so careful replying to posts to not make the person panic :eek2:
From what I can see from medical sites, it tends to be a problem if there's a lot of blood, or if there's yellow or green pus as it could signal an infection.
I'll only phone the nurse if I'm still passing the stained mucous on Monday, no point bothering her if it's cleared up.
I am curious as to what happened to you, some folk seem to have more than their fair share of bad luck with their stoma's, but I guess a lot of people use this forum because they are having problems.

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I have a lot of problems because I have other, far more serious health problems as well. I don't feel I've been unlucky with my stoma, because it's improved my life so much, and I've had hardly any problems with leaks or skin issues. I have had major problems which affected my stoma, but I have major problems with every other part of me as well!

If you are curious, here's my threads which explain the problem, which occurred with my first stoma and led to me getting my second stoma. The first thread also shows how I incorrectly thought nothing was wrong at first. I don't think I posted about how I started passing gas, then mucus, then stool when it was actually happening. I know that started pretty soon after I started the first thread, but I didn't post about it at that time. I posted about it later, in the second thread. (How I ended up with my third stoma is an entirely different story....)

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=61510&highlight=disappeared

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=68331&highlight=disappearing

Good god, you've really been through the wringer :ghug::ghug::ghug:

Yes, but I really am an exception - I think if you just have Crohn's, you're not going to have the problems with your stoma that I had, so don't worry. I think you're right that people who have horror stories to tell are more likely to be posting about them online than those who have a stoma and just carry on with no major problems.

So anyway: mucus is not a sign of anything terrible, unless you happen to have a load of really weird medical problems as well.

It has been over ayear since I got my colostomy and I pass mucus about 4 days in a week however it can be up to 5 times a day. It is always a brownish tinge and sometimes have blood. I have been told it is normal.

Hope this helps

Thank you, it does put my mind at ease

Fififluff said:

It has been over ayear since I got my colostomy and I pass mucus about 4 days in a week however it can be up to 5 times a day. It is always a brownish tinge and sometimes have blood. I have been told it is normal.

Hope this helps

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Doesn't that kind of defeat one of the purposes of a stoma? Stopping all the terrible rectum problems I had was one of the main reasons I got a stoma, I'd be devastated if I had my ileostomy and was still regularly passing things rectally - I was devastated when that happened with my first stoma, and was so glad it was fixed right away. I realise it must be different if you don't have disease affecting the rectum that badly, but it still seems a shame that you have to deal with passing mucus regularly despite a stoma.

It is a bit of a pain, I quite often feel out of sorts when I have mucus. Kind of 'washed out'. I think most people with colostomys get it.
I had no choice about the stoma, I had no obvious problems with my bowel ( after joining here I see a lot of similarities with other people) I had complications from an overy removal which led to a perforated bowel.
Looking on here I think I have it easy as that is all the side effects I have.

I have a loop ileostomy and pass mucus every time I go to urinate. I don't think much of it. It is nothing like passing stool....then I would be devastated!

2thFairy said:

I have a loop ileostomy and pass mucus every time I go to urinate. I don't think much of it. It is nothing like passing stool....then I would be devastated!

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Passing mucus was horrible and painful for me, almost as bad as stool was (and passing blood was also horrible, though I didn't do that very often).

I haven't phoned the nurse today, as I had no mucous yesterday, but if it starts again and is still stained, I'll give her a bell.

I ended up phoning the nurse concerning my pouch prescription, so asked her anyway, and it's perfectly fine to have brown staining :ysmile:

Glad to hear it. Sorry if I did cause you any unnecessary worry.

I'm a professional worrier :ylol2:

Grotbags said:

I'm a professional worrier :ylol2:

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Wouldn't it be great if we could get paid for it? Hahaha!