Cleansing Enema Solutions

Epsom Salt and soapsuds together in the same 2qt warm but not hot water enema, retained 15 minutes is about the best first round enema.

Then follow up with anywhere from 2-4 rounds of soapsuds only and you should get a clear return

Have you tried this without one of the components? Either Epsom and water (or glycerin) or soap and water (or glycerin)... or even a hypertonic sodium chloride/bicarbonate solution?

I tried the Epsom salt/soapsuds once when things were not working well because you were always so positive about it, and even though I made sure to move fast (dissolve Epsom salts in small quantity of hot water, mix up soapsuds solution, hang bag, purge tube, lubricate and insert, mix together and quickly take) it behaved exactly as theory predicted and formed a bunch of insoluble precipitate that was hard to clean (and didn't work very well as an enema, either, because the soap and Epsom salt had been "neutralized").

Three Dulcolax suppositories dissolved in three quarts of water with two tablespoons of baby shampoo (generic) seems to work very well. I used this prior to a colonoscopy prep and there was no solid stool expelled afterward. The prep was a monster: Mg Citrate followed by two rounds of sixty-four ounces of gatorade with 1/2 of a big bottle of miralax. The second round was in the AM before the procedure. I jazzed it up with 20 mg of bisacodyl both for both rounds. At the end, I was passing cloudy green water ( the gatorade was blue, adding with yellow bile made green)! No repeat prep needed, by George!

Moliere:

Sounds like you have hard water.

Had that one place I lived for a few months right after college.

I ended up having to use distilled water for my enemas.

LisaK said:

Moliere:

Sounds like you have hard water.

Had that one place I lived for a few months right after college.

I ended up having to use distilled water for my enemas.

It's NOT hard water that causes the reaction. I have had the same thing and I have soft water.

Q: What is the reaction with Epsom salt and soap?

A: It is mostly a gooey precipitation reaction.

Epson salt (Magnesium sulfate) combined with Soap or detergent(fatty acid salt) forms a sulfate-salt and a magnesium-fatty acid. The magnesium-fatty acid does not dissolve in water very well, so it precipitates as a flocculation (comes out of solution as a goo).

Thanks, Peter E. Hughes, Ph.D. Milford, NH

LisaK, in case you want a reference from a chemist here it is:

https://stab-iitb.org/newton-mirror/askasci/chem07/chem07760.htm