Enema History

Thanks for an informative website.

I stumbled across your website when hunting for replacement colon tubes. Your "easy on/easy off tube" looks like a great idea that will help prevent coffee stains on the way to the toilet. I look forward to using it.

The following is a rather long story but it might be helpful to some of your younger visitors who may be hesitant to embark on a regular program of colon cleansing.

My enema experience goes back to my childhood almost 70 years ago. Diet during the Great Depression wasn’t ideal and my parents were regular laxative users. My childhood constipation was first treated with glycerin suppositories then, at about age 5, my diet was enlarged to include the family favorite: Milk of Magnesia. I quickly inherited the family habit and became laxative dependent.

At age 8, I went to visit my grandmother for several weeks. After a couple of days, I asked where she kept the Magnesia bottle. She made it very clear that the laxative habit wasn’t healthy and introduced me to the low enema. I remember her telling me that it wasn’t very smart to get the whole digestive system in an uproar to treat a problem in the last foot of the large bowel. During one summer month, she completely changed my toilet habits. I left Grandma’s without a laxative habit and needed only an occasional enema. My mom was understandably surprised when three weeks following my return home I asked her where we kept the enema bag. While she disagreed with Grandma, she relented and told me I could use her old douche bag; she bought a new one. During my teen years I found that a small, quick enema was a lot more practical than waiting hours for a laxative to work. My younger brother was curious but he stayed dependent on the laxative bottle.

Now I reflect back on the loss of both parents and my brother to colon cancer. I feel that regular use of chemical laxatives was largely responsible for their disease and early demise. My other sibling, younger than me by 10 years, has had colon polyps removed twice in a span of 12 years. With this family history, my M.D. orders a colonoscopy every four years and I’ve completed each of these with a clean bill of health.

I had suffered several back injuries over the years and at about age 45 started experiencing chronic back pain and became unable to play golf. My M.D. both diagnosed a deteriorated vertebrae and ankylosing spondylitis. The M.D. wrote standing prescriptions for muscle relaxants and multiple painkillers. He said that if simple aspirin didn’t work that I should scale up to codeine. I sought a chiropractor. After two years of treatment, the chiropractor suggested that I might be a suitable candidate for occasional colon therapy. The next week I had my first professionally administered colonic. I settled on a monthly after-work appointment for a colonic. After a colon cleanse I always felt very fit but never realized that I was usually without back pain for a week or so after the colonic. I was again golfing and credited all of my success to chiropractic manipulation.

About the time I turned 50, our state enacted public laws that nearly outlawed colon therapy. My chiropractor closed that part of his practice and dismissed a colon therapist that had helped members of our community for over 30 years. Within several months my backache had returned on a steady basis and I returned to aspirin and occasionally Tylenol with codeine. I was back off the golf course. Regular chiropractic was of some help but did not keep me pain-free.

At age 52 my doctor moved me from an annual flex-sig exam to colonoscopy. Armed with a Fleet Prep Kit and instructions for a 72-hour prep, I undertook the liquid diet, two types of laxative and two or three “large volume enemas until clear.” The next day, I recovered from the anesthesia hangover and felt remarkably good. Two days after the procedure there was no backache! Finally, I made the connection that a thorough colon cleanse might help alleviate my back pain. It had taken seven years to stumble upon this thought. I now realized that a couple of large volume enemas would yield benefits similar to those following a session on the colonic machine.

In the 1980s internet sites such as this one did not exist and information on self-treatment was limited. It took me time to evolve a routine that wasn’t time-consuming and yet gave good results. By age 55, I was well established on an every-other-week cleanse using simple soapy water followed by a tap water rinse. At the chiropractor’s suggestion I graduated to an isotonic rinse to balance electrolytes and stayed with that for another ten years. I was back on the golf course but, not wholly pain free.

Several years ago, I was on an extended but fast-moving vacation and I skipped colon care for about six weeks. One morning, following a steak dinner with plenty of red wine, I suffered acute foot pain. My wife took one look and told me I was experiencing my first attack of gout. The cruise ship’s M.D. confirmed the gout and put me on colchicine and told me to increase the dose until the pain subsided. This caused me to vomit. He also told me to avoid red meat and alcohol for the balance of my trip and the rest of my life. After returning home, I researched gout diets and treatments. I read how doctors in India dealt with gout by using seasoned oils in the basti (enema) they administered to patients. I experimented with variations in enema solutions. I juggled frequencies to keep me away from back pain and gout. I’ve settled on a conservative diet with plenty of dairy protein, occasionally some meat, plenty of fruit, and supplemental fiber.

Every other week I hydrate with drinking water and take a large garlic and fennel seed retention enema. This seems to be a good diuretic and my uric acid level is low. (It’s now 2.4 mg/liter less than it was two years ago — a far greater change than diet alone would be capable of making.) On the alternating weeks, I take a pair of coffee retention enemas as a liver cleanse and intercept the bile output with a dose of cholestyramine (a prescribed cholesterol med). My serum cholesterol is lower then it’s been in the last ten years.

My M.D. remains critical of my use of enemas. After almost 25 years of regular colon care I’m quite pain-free, maintain a regular personal fitness program, enjoy executive golf, and unlike some friends my age, I have the body flexibility to fit into and operate a sports car. I don’t have an enlarged prostate. I still enjoy sex and my first great-grandchild is expected next month. My blood pressure is 115/68. I’m not sure what it is that I’m doing wrong.

I thank Grandma that I’m still alive and quite healthy!

Michael E.