For those who grew up in the 50s

One factor in the early 1950s that drove the kids getting home enemas was Polio epidemic. The early symptoms of the awful disease were similar to constipation. Family Doctors would order mother to first give the sick child an enema than call back in a couple hours to see if that solved the problem.

One factor in the early 1950s that drove the kids getting home enemas was Polio epidemic. The early symptoms of the awful disease were similar to constipation. Family Doctors would order mother to first give the sick child an enema than call back in a couple hours to see if that solved the problem.

Do you have a reference for that??? I grew up in the midwest in the fifties - never heard of that.

I would think that the enema would "cure" the constipation but would not provide any help in diagnosing the polio. So , the Dr. would not know any more than they did before the enema.

One factor in the early 1950s that drove the kids getting home enemas was Polio epidemic. The early symptoms of the awful disease were similar to constipation. Family Doctors would order mother to first give the sick child an enema than call back in a couple hours to see if that solved the problem.

They gave enemas for just about everything in the 50's but I never heard that one. Sounds like an urban myth to me. I did know a guy that got polio and he said they would check the whole ward every day and anyone that didn't have a BM got one. As a diagnostic tool for polio I have to call Bullshit.

Whatever the reason. I got lots of 50s enemas from mom and loved each and every one!

I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and my mom was EneMom. I spent countless hours as a boy lying on old towels while mom flushed out my bowels with copious amounts of warm soapy water.

At the end of the day, something is gained and lost with each passing age. In many ways we live in much better times now, but in other ways I'd say things are not so fun. Of course I was born in the 80s, so I can't really talk, but there was certainly a hell of a lot more good entertainment back then haha. The thing is, for those who live in a certain age, they don't know any different, it's just modern life. It's only when we start making comparrisons from our future perspective that any age looks particularly grim or happy. I reckon most periods came out about 50/50. There's never been a time when everyone went about extatically happy, or horribly miserable.

This is just being silly, but one could perhaps argue that had those who had cancer lived in the 50s, they might not have got it owing to the more processed foods we eat today, or the greater amount of artificial chemicals in everything. I don't know if that's true, but I have heard such things as cancer are on the rise. Also of course, heartless as it seems to say it, the advance in medical knowledge is having its downside with ageing populations, meaning more people who need care and can't pay for it. I don't think there are many advances that don't come with their downsides. I might well reckon 10 years off my life... as long as I lived at least till 70 haha, was worth having all the wonderful stylish cars and pretty girls in pretty clothes instead of the ugly jeans they will insist on waring. And to have good comedy and drama on the radio, TV that took its time and in which actors didn't mumble and whisper, and not to have everyone walking around with their heads stuck in damned smartphones. On the other hand of course, I'd have no outlet such as zity for discussing my fetishes or to post my writing. Ups and downs, swings and roundabouts, so the world turns.

As a youngster in the late 40's and early 50's, a good Ivory SSE was the cure-all from my mother for whatever ailed me at the time. The only time I ever recall seeing a doctor was for my annual shots, and when I had my tonsils removed, and that was done in the doctors office. Enema's were just one of a few home remedies that my mother used to keep us well. I guess they worked, because I always got well in relatively short order.