Louise Thompson has candidly opened up about a suffering ‘horrendously debilitating’ stoma leak while out in central London on Tuesday morning.
The former Made in Chelsea star, 30, who nearly died when giving birth to her son in 2021, revealed last April that she had been fitted with a stoma after years of battling with ulcerative colitis.
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic bowel condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed and small ulcers develop on the colon’s lining, which can bleed.
A stoma is a surgically-created opening made on the abdomen, which is made to divert the flow of body waste into a medical device, that the person can then empty.
Since her diagnosis, Louise has continued to spread awareness and proudly show off her stoma, which she’s nicknamed Winnie, in a hilarious reference to Winnie The Pooh.
However, taking to her Instagram on Wednesday, she revealed she’d had a leak the day before, which left her in tears and needing some time out by herself.
Louise Thompson has candidly opened up about a suffering ‘horrendously debilitating’ stoma leak while out in central London on Tuesday morning
The former Made in Chelsea star, 30, who nearly died when giving birth to her son in 2021, revealed last April that she had been fitted with a stoma after years of battling with ulcerative colitis
She explained she had headed to Marylebone with her fiancé Ryan Libbey on his motorbike for an appointment and a coffee, before going to record a podcast.
She explained she had headed to Marylebone with her fiancé Ryan Libbey on his motorbike for an appointment and a coffee, before going to record a podcast.
However, Louise explained that despite their ‘great start’, she suddenly realised her stoma bag had unfortunately leaked, forcing her to rush to the nearest hospital for supplies.
Sharing several selfies of her and Ryan on their bike journey before everything went wrong, she wrote: ‘Yesterday I found myself in a really depressing situation.
‘l had a great start to the day. I had a medical appointment at @avenues.life in the morning with Ryan… we biked there to get ahead of the traffic and managed to shave off 20 minutes from the journey.
‘Then was off to record a podcast with 2x good friends which has been in the diary for ages. Had a lot of excited energy in my belly following a c**p week of of c**p health.
‘We got off the bike in Marylebone blissfully happy and headed to @watchhouse for some delicious coffee and cookies pre-recording because we were a smidge early, but then I felt something a bit wet in my pocket. I looked down and had had the most horrendously debilitating stoma leak.’
She recounted how she was left ‘too overwhelmed’ to explain the situation, but Ryan had stepped in, while she was left in a bathroom for an hour waiting for staff to try and source any new stoma bags, while ‘covered in mess’.
Louise said: ‘I had to hobble to the nearest hospital which was a private one so a bit awkward. I was actually too overwhelmed to speak when we got to reception so thankfully Ryan who I was with handled it for me.
However, Louise explained that despite their ‘great start’, she suddenly realised her stoma bag had unfortunately leaked, forcing her to rush to the nearest hospital for supplies
She recounted how she was left ‘too overwhelmed’ to explain the situation, but Ryan had stepped in, while she was left in a bathroom for an hour waiting for staff to try and source any new stoma bags, while ‘covered in mess’
Sharing a photo of the bag they had found, she explained she’d had to painfully rip off her old one and cut down the new device, while her assistant rushed to buy her a new pair of trousers and she struggled to pull herself together
‘I then literally waited locked in a bathroom for an hour sat on the loo covered in mess whilst they dug around to see if they had any stoma bags for any of their [sic] inpatients.’
Sharing a photo of the bag they had found, she explained she’d had to painfully rip off her old one and cut down the new device, while her assistant rushed to buy her a new pair of trousers and she struggled to pull herself together.
She penned: ‘Ryan then came out with this. I had to rip the one attached to my body off with no anti adhesive spray which was really painful.
‘Meanwhile my lovely assistant had to head to the high street [sic] to buy me jeans from sezanne that were about 10 inches too long.
‘I tried to pull myself together. I cleaned up in the sink, I then had to ask for scissors to cut this to the right size (while my small intestine was free and active and hanging out of a gaping hole in my stomach), glued this contraption – that I’m not v familiar with – on to my body and put on some fresh, clean, but really long trousers.
‘The whole time I thought I could still crack on with the podcast recording because I’m hella resilient and am used to this crazy s**t happening to me all the time at this point.
‘4 of my team members had schlepped over to central to come enjoy the day/support too so I wanted to make it happen for everyone.’
However, she soon broke down after the ordeal and realised that she was unable to continue with her work commitments, needing to prioritise her mental health.
However, she soon broke down after the ordeal and realised that she was unable to continue with her work commitments, needing to prioritise her mental health
Bravely trying to stay positive, Louise reflected on her difficult experience and explained how she had taken the day to relax in the sun and read
Louise admitted: ‘But then as I was leaving I caught sight of myself in the mirror and I just felt so f**king sorry for myself I burst into tears.
‘I called Ryan and told him to come in and I just said I couldn’t bloody do it anymore. I though it would make for a good story but I just couldn’t.
‘Sometimes, on a rare occasion I have a human reaction and I realise I’m not that strong and I need to be kind to myself and just call it a day and look after myself and my mental health. Work often comes first, but in this instance it was tm to push on. I cancelled everything.’
Bravely trying to stay positive, Louise reflected on her difficult experience and explained how she had taken the day to relax in the sun and read.
She said: ‘Stupid bloody life saving stoma bag. I’ve never considered a reversal more. But hey then I might have c****ed myself out of my bum and that would have been worse visually as people would know what that was. At least mess out of my hip just looks like I’ve spilled something.
‘I lay down in the sun and read a book for a few hours and it kind of helped. I can’t remember the last time I did this, I think it was on holiday in St Lucia in 2023. I had one hour by the pool to myself and read the book option B by Sheryl Sandberg.
‘I finally got 100 pages into this book I’ve been working my way into all year. The secret history. Donna Tartt is formidable.
‘Oh and the good thing about being on the antibiotics is that they stop poo from smelling of ANYTHING! Isn’t that remarkable. Every cloud.’
In her latest Daily Mail column , Louise opened up about her decision to get a stoma and the lead-up to her surgery, saying: ‘My stoma was the start of my new life’
She detailed how her ulcerative colitis symptoms had worsened to the point that during a trip to the Alps, she was ‘pooing upwards of 15 times a day and losing cupfuls of blood from my rectum each time’ (seen with Ryan and Leo)
In her latest Daily Mail column, Louise opened up about her decision to get a stoma and the lead-up to her surgery, saying: ‘My stoma was the start of my new life.’
She detailed how her ulcerative colitis symptoms had worsened to the point that during a trip to the Alps, she was ‘pooing upwards of 15 times a day and losing cupfuls of blood from my rectum each time.’
She went on to explain how things then took an even more severe turn during a family holiday to Antigua, writing: ‘I was constantly on the loo, I was passing out on the beach and I was bleeding out of my bum. Oh, and to top things off, I also suffered a rectal prolapse.
‘I was trying to parent Leo, put on a show of having a good time myself, make sure Ryan, my dad and his girlfriend were enjoying their holiday, while at the same time I was in agony and having to push this prolapse back into my bottom.’
Louise and Ryan decided to cut the holiday short and return home and she recalled: ‘I spent most of the flight sitting on the aeroplane loo – and by the time we got a taxi into London (me wearing a nappy), this stuff was pouring out of me.’
Going straight to the hospital, she admitted she was ‘so fragile and depleted’ and that despite doctors’ attempts to medicate her, ‘it was like this gradual, unstoppable decline into hopelessness.’
She recalled: ‘I was going to the loo more than 20 times a day – I’m not even joking when I say I’d celebrate if I had a two-hour window where there wasn’t a load of blood coming out of me. My whole world had ground to a halt.’
She went on: ‘And so when, after a week, they raised the possibility of a stoma, I was thrilled. I know that might sound like a bonkers reaction to the prospect of having my colon removed and pooing through my stomach into a bag for, perhaps, the rest of my life.
However, she insisted that she soon saw her stoma as liberating and ‘an end to the suffering’, with her son Leo, three, being the only one to see it
Louise recently published her book Lucky which details her health battles over the past three years, and decision to share her stoma news with her Instagram followers (seen last week)
‘But to me it was the only answer I had left. It was a way to escape the suffering. I was exhausted and out of my depth. I didn’t want to live like this any more. This wasn’t living.
‘My family felt differently and were completely devastated. But nothing – absolutely nada – will ever be as punishing as the mental anguish I’ve fought since childbirth.’
Louise admitted: ‘Having said that, I’m not going to lie, the first time I saw the stoma itself knocked me sideways. Without the ileostomy bag attached, it looks quite shocking, like a big sea anemone. I wasn’t even sure if I could bring myself to touch it.’
However, she insisted that she soon saw her stoma as liberating and ‘an end to the suffering’, with her son Leo, three, being the only one to see it.
Louise said: ‘My recovery at home was quick, which I think everyone around me found rather alarming. “Poor Louise, she’s got a bag of s*** attached to her stomach. How can she possibly live like that?” is what they thought.
‘It’s never been like that for me. I don’t see my stoma as something limiting or disabling. Quite the opposite. It’s freedom, an end to the suffering.
‘Changing my bag takes two minutes twice a day – it’s never more than a mild inconvenience and most of the time it’s not even that. My stoma was the start of my new life.
‘Ryan has always been extremely respectful of the situation although he’s never actually seen the stoma. Not because he’s repulsed by it, I’ve just never felt the need to show him. There’s no reason for him to see it.
‘Let’s face it, it’s not the sort of thing you sit down and have a romantic moment together over! Stomas aren’t exactly beautiful and I don’t need to scar Ryan’s brain with that.
‘In fact, the only person who has seen it is Leo. This completely innocent little human has watched me change my bag (which I’ve nicknamed Winnie, as in ‘The Pooh’) in the bathroom, he knows that poo comes out of my stomach and it’s totally normal to him.’
Louise recently published her book Lucky which details her health battles over the past three years, and decision to share her stoma news with her Instagram followers, as she bravely admitted it is ‘not something she wanted to hide forever’.
What is a stoma?
A stoma is a surgically-created opening made on the abdomen, which is made to divert the flow of urine and faeces.
According to the NHS, this procedure may be needed if you cannot pass stools through your anus, which could be the result of an illness, injury or problem with your digestive system.
In the UK, it is estimated that one in 335 people have had the surgery.
The procedure can be part treatment for a number of illnesses, including cancer, diverticulitis, Crohn’s disease or any trauma to the abdomen.
The stoma will generally be ‘pink and most – like the inside of our mouths’. After the surgery, it will be swollen, but this will reduce in six to eight weeks.
There is no sensation to touching a stoma – as there are no nerves – but different people will have theirs in a different size or shape.
It is also possible to have a temporary stoma, which could later be reversed, if the diseased or damaged area in the bowel needs to heal over time.
A stoma is a surgically-created opening made on the abdomen, which is made to divert the flow of urine and faeces. Stock image used
TYPES OF STOMA
COLOSTOMY
This refers to an opening in the colon – the large intestine. During the operation, a part of the colon will be brought from inside the body through their abdomen. The output from this ‘often resembles a traditional stool’ and functions around one to three times a day.
ILEOSTOMY
For this procedure, the surgeon will bring a part of the small intestine – the ileum specifically – from inside the patient’s body and bring it through the abdomen, stitching it down to secure it. The output for an ileostomy is looser than that of a colostomy. An ileostomy bag – which enables drainage into the toilet between three to six times a day’ – is also worn.
UROSTOMY
A urostomy refers to an opening for a person’s urine specifically. For this, the surgeon will take a piece of someone’s small intestine and attach it to the ureters. This will ‘form a passageway for urine to pass through’. For this, one of the tube is brought out through the abdomen. A urostomy bag will also have a ‘bung or tap on the bottom to allow urine to be drained at regular intervals into the toilet’.
Source: Colostomy UK, NHS