Knowing where to look is half the battle sometimes. Rather you are in business or just going through life it can be who you know and where they are that matters more than anything. I think the same thing applies for when you are looking for ostomy gear as well. I am a firm believer that we should be using the best gear for us and not what someone says is best. This goes for a lot of the world today and that people push their opinions and agendas on us with only their intentions in mind. For myself, I like to let people choose what works best and I am a firm believer that when it comes to your stoma that only you can be the judge of this. I learned that everyone is different and that what works best for say the best athlete in the world doesn't work best for me. The one thing I want to go over is ways to shop for the gear you need on a daily basis and for how you may find the best products in the process.
Now, luckily I had a great ostomy nurse that taught me lots of things and how to live when I left the hospital. She gave me advice on what to look for and who to talk to about learning even more about my stoma and how to find good gear. Her first advice to me was to go and talk to many local pharmacies and to see what brands they carried and why. This was a great way for me to get out and talk about my condition with others, which I was really afraid to do. But I took her advice and learned a whole lot from different perspectives. Pharmacists knew a lot about different brands and purchased items for their customers based on good solid feedback and sales. Those two things combined usually meant quality.
Now, luckily I had a great ostomy nurse that taught me lots of things and how to live when I left the hospital. She gave me advice on what to look for and who to talk to about learning even more about my stoma and how to find good gear. Her first advice to me was to go and talk to many local pharmacies and to see what brands they carried and why. This was a great way for me to get out and talk about my condition with others, which I was really afraid to do. But I took her advice and learned a whole lot from different perspectives. Pharmacists knew a lot about different brands and purchased items for their customers based on good solid feedback and sales. Those two things combined usually meant quality.
From that point on I decided to do some of my own research and call those companies to see what items may be best. THeir catalogs of items were drastic and huge and I didn't know what I was getting into. So I talked with a lot of representatives and even some higher up designers and engineers and found things out about hi activity items or swimming items. Different philosophies of gear and why people made items. It was an amazing base to see what may work for me.
Then I took that information and started to look online at what people were doing and how they were living. I saw social media starts and people paid to promote. I found forums with lots of different people's ideas on topics that some made no sense. But all in all, it was a super cool and awesome situation. With all of this in mind, I took a lot of information and started to move it into my life and get samples of items that I thought would fit my lifestyle best. I found that purchasing online was the best price, but that I would be at the mercy of not knowing it if would work first. So companies would directly send samples to me for free and that allowed me to shop more wisely after trying the item. I suggest doing this before buying. Just call these guys up and they usually are great at helping.
Then I took that information and started to look online at what people were doing and how they were living. I saw social media starts and people paid to promote. I found forums with lots of different people's ideas on topics that some made no sense. But all in all, it was a super cool and awesome situation. With all of this in mind, I took a lot of information and started to move it into my life and get samples of items that I thought would fit my lifestyle best. I found that purchasing online was the best price, but that I would be at the mercy of not knowing it if would work first. So companies would directly send samples to me for free and that allowed me to shop more wisely after trying the item. I suggest doing this before buying. Just call these guys up and they usually are great at helping.