Was Actual Constipation More Common in the "Golden Age?"

A couple of "what?!"s

Hoseman - your "pathological" example of "comparing of symptoms" sounds pretty sensible to me

Mushroom - you're falling into a trap by trying to blame childhood enemas for frequent adult constipation (ignoring actual "lifestyle" and/or "hereditary" causes)

Worth pointing out that in the 190s and before there was a tendency to put people on bed rest for things that would actually lead to an exercise program or physiotherapy today

Squidgicunt - actually, we both attribute the constipation to lazy colon brought on by always having a laxative (sometimes two or three different ones) in our systems. Our doctors have affirmed that this is the probable culprit, although it could just be genetic.

Squidgicunt - actually, we both attribute the constipation to lazy colon brought on by always having a laxative (sometimes two or three different ones) in our systems. Our doctors have affirmed that this is the probable culprit, although it could just be genetic.

NIH has pulled from their literature "overuse of laxatives" as a cause from constipation, though I have heard that this applies to current laxatives, and in the past there may have been some that could cause long-term problems.

Or maybe it was just the realization that overuse of laxative causes other problem not so much constipation.

A lot of enemas were given in hospitals in those days. And one of the reasons was bedrest. They didn't get patients up and moving around like they do today. My mom told me about the time she had gallbladder surgery and was in the hospital several days. She checked in the evening before surgery and they gave her enemas. She got a laxative a couple of days after the surgery and another enema later before going home. Thank goodness, times change. I don't think patients or the nurses want to go through this today.

I think there were more enemas given in the hospital in years past. I see two significant reasons:

First - when I had my kids it was still standard practice to give you an enema while you were in labor. First this changed from the big soapy bag or can to a Fleet, and now I hear an enema of any kind is rarely done anymore.

Second - hospital stays were typically longer than they are now. I have a friend who was a nurse who told me there used to be a three day rule. If no bowel movement after three days, you got an enema. And, they wanted to be sure your bowels moved before you went home, so an enema before they discharged you was also common. These days you have to be really sick to be in more than three days. They get you up and moving soon after most surgeries so less constipation from laying in bed all day. And the insurance company wants you OUT.

I wonder if the use of enemas during childhood was partially due to pin worms. Enemas would clear out many of the critters and perhaps reduce the spread of them.

People generally, and women especially really did not exercise the way many do today.

Only in the 1980s did it become acceptable for a woman to be drenched with sweat from a workout.

Before that what was considered an exercise routine for women would be considered a warm-up for either gender in today.s world.

Women did most of their real sweating( or "glowing" as it was referred to at the time) in unairconditioned offices or classrooms wearing mostly rubber girdles under a slip and a dress thick enough that nothing showed through

Driveable instead of walkable communities were promoted.

Many kinds of produce were only available seasonally

And a product called "Sarutan" was advertised on television a a "Get you regular keep you regular" DAILY ue product for "Those over 35"

In that environment it' amazing there wasn't more constipation

Squidgicunt - actually, we both attribute the constipation to lazy colon brought on by always having a laxative (sometimes two or three different ones) in our systems.

You should respect that it is inadequate to generalize in this manner, for you should better differentiate between two forms of laxatives:

- With one exception all the laxatives work directly by irritating the bowels. So you will get accustomed to this and your will have a "lazy colon".

- The exception is castor oil for this will work indirectly in the human body by activating or synthesizing certain substances in the human body. So you will never get accustomed to this and your will avoid a "lazy colon".

I don't believe that actual constipation was any more common in the past. In reality, the prevalence of opioids and certain other drugs, may have increased the incidence of constipation as an unintended consequence of their use and abuse.

Lately, the advertisement of OTC digestive aids to treat constipation, is quite frequent. Clearly, the sale and use of these is significant.

It seems to me that perceptions have evolved over the decades. Constipation is usually considered to be nothing more than a nuisance that can be controlled with exercise, diet, and increased consumption of certain foods and liquids.

My mom and grandma, at the insistence of our family doctors and pediatrician, put the good old red enema bag to frequent use at the first indication that a BM was delayed for any reason. It complimented toilet training efforts and was viewed as a legitimate measure for preventative reasons. It may have also been deemed effective for other behavioral uses. It was certainly a less expensive method.

Whether, or not, the adults were fond of the other effects of a nice warm enema is hard to say. While we youngsters kicked and screamed at times, we were usually much more docile and relaxed afterward. Constipation was held at bay...until the next time.

I think it was probably more common, at least in urban areas and close suburbs because of the way people lived then.

One thing for sure it was treated more aggressively at home, before ever calling a doctor than it is now

While this board is mostly about enemas, if you start looking at magazine and newspapers from the era, there were a lot more advertisements for laxative products, and a much wider choice of products than are available now. The only rational reason for that would be that the market for those products was much larger then than it is today. Consider how many brands have disappeared in the past 35 years.

Phospho Soda Gone (It was a consumer product long before the Medical Profession and CB Fleet

decided to heavily promote for Bowel Preparation.)

Sal Hepatica Gone

Correctol Gone

Feen-a-mint Gone

Haleys-MO Gone

Carter's Little pills Gone

Prulet Gone

Caroid&Bile Salts Gone

Admittedly some of these disappeared because of changes mandated by the FDA, but others were simply reformulated to comply with new regulation. However the fact remains there were a lot more products available then there are today, and the most likely reason is demand was higher.

Those products had a list of overlapping ingredients. Many of which are still available.

The big thing was the removal of phenolphthalein. I know it was a choice of my mother's May have been her preferred laxative Back then it was the active ingredient in Ex Lax and was available generically. It had a lot going for it. The Extra strength was 1.5 times the dose of the regular strength Regular strength was 30 mg Extra strength was 45 mg so that two extra strength tablets was 3 regular strength tablets.

Also it tended NOT to be "one and done" the way bisacodyl reacts. Bisacodyl essentially takes on an empty stomach 4-6 hours to work, produces one large evacuation and is done. Phenolptheline at least stayed in the system for 8-12 hours

Phenolphthalein - in the late 1970s the FDA called it "NOT safe and effective" and it was removed from preparations in the US.

While this board is mostly about enemas, if you start looking at magazine and newspapers from the era, there were a lot more advertisements for laxative products...

Same with television and radio, as I recall, well into the 1970's and even 80's. Ex-Lax, Philips MoM, Pepto-Bismol (remember the "Pepto UUUURRRP Bismol" campaign?) proliferated during the family TV watching primetime. Other gastro-intestinal issue-addressing products too - Alka Seltzer's "I can't believe I hate the whole thing..." and "Plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is..." campaigns were legend, along with being the seed stuff of crude playground jokes.

In once saw a mainstream movie (La baule les pins) set in the 1950s, where the bourgeois mother of two girls has them take a glycerin suppository every evening. When a girl says she had a bowel movement in the morning, to avoid taking the suppository, the maid tells her it's twice a day.

The movie does not imply the mother is crazy or anything, so it may have been not so rare in that time for parents to enforce daily bowel movements.

I'm a member of a "vintage ads" group on Facebook and there is a running gag there about how many laxative ads there were in the 1940s-1950s, as well as old ads for products like Crisco bragging that "finally" pie (or other things) were "digestible" enough for kids to eat. So, yeah, constipation used to be more of a thing. Our food in some ways got worse (junk food is more plentiful than ever), but in many MORE ways, it got better over the years.

Magazines in the sixties, like Redbook and Good Housekeeping were full of ads for laxatives like Milk of Magnesia, Ex-Lax, Feenamint, as well as suppositories. I vividly remember the various ads for Fleet enemas as well. I don't know if constipation was more of an issue back then, but there was certainly more attention paid to regularity.

La Baule-Les Pins...

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Baule-les-Pins_(film)

Mondoi: I read the movie is largely autobiographical, about the director's childhood. I wonder whether the evening suppositories subplot comes from that, or was invented for the movie.

Can't answer the question as to yes or no but I do know as a child of the decade of the 1950's that many more home enemas were given than seemingly today . Like several posters to this thread have commented , I to enjoyed ' ladies magazines ' of the day and I often saw advertisements for such ' innovative gadgets ' as in ' the enema bag holder ' which were heavy plastic ' s- hooks ' from which the enema syringe's bag could be attached at one end and the other end suspended from a shower rod and / or towel rack which would , according to the advertisement , ' leave the hands free for easier administration of douches and enemas ' . There were also a number of ' hospital stay articles ' which either eluded to or reviewed the female author's hospital enema experience(s) which were for a ' budding klismo boy ' such as myself very erotic and interesting to read indeed .

Speaking from my own experiences only, I believe there was maybe similar rates of constipation in years past but back then an enema was more often the preferred relief rather than a laxative as it is today.

I remember sometimes my mom giving me a choice, enema or laxative, and it did not take many times choosing the laxative for me to decide the enema was much preferred. And back then it was not a Fleet type, but an enema with the bulb, or later the bag.

I was born into the so-called "Golden Age of Enemas". I seriously doubt that constipation was more prevalent, but I know that enemas were far more common as the treatment of choice. As the youngest of four children, and the only boy, I suffered from constipation a lot. One of my sisters had the same problem. Mom was a big believer in the health benefits of being clean inside. All four of us got chocolate Ex-Lax every Friday at bedtime. The two "normal" girls got a BM first thing Saturday morning. Most times, Lisa, the second oldest, and I did, too. Those times when we didn't, we sometimes got a suppository if Mom had someplace to go or something to do that day. To avoid a problem on days when we both needed a suppository, Lisa always got hers first, and usually I got mine after she pooped. If Mom had time for it, we got soapy enemas instead. Again, Lisa got hers first, but then she had to hold hers while Mom gave me mine. That way, she had to wait while her enema had time to work better. I had to hold mine until Lisa pooped, because we only had one bathroom.

Our two "normal" sisters teased us when Mom wasn't in hearing range. They would say things like, "Little babies! You're going to get an enema!" One day, I guess when she was twelve or thirteen, Lisa blurted out, "I hope so, I like getting them!" The other two shut up after that. Although I was 4 years younger than Lisa, when I heard it, I realized that I, too, was beginning to enjoy my enemas. I guess because we both needed enemas, Shortly after that, Mom surprised us both one Saturday when I needed one by asking Lisa to give me my enema. Mom talked her through that first one, but after that, Many of my enemas were done by Lisa. I got my last enema from Lisa when she was in college, and I was 19. Our two "normal" sisters grew up with "normal" views of enemas, but Lisa and I became hooked on them, and would sneak them when alone in the house. The other two have passed now, but Lisa is still alive, and we both still enjoy the pleasures of enemas.

Cheryl said:

Hospital stays were typically longer than they are now. I have a friend who was a nurse who told me there used to be a three day rule. If no bowel movement after three days, you got an enema. And, they wanted to be sure your bowels moved before you went home, so an enema before they discharged you was also common. These days you have to be really sick to be in more than three days. They get you up and moving soon after most surgeries so less constipation from laying in bed all day. And the insurance company wants you OUT.

I had a bypass about a decade ago and they were still pretty interested in my bowels and were asking every few hours. I went into the bathroom and tried and the nurse heard me passing gas and asked if I went. I told her I had just to avoid an enema. It was a motha when I got home though. The stool softeners kept it from getting hard but passing that gooey mess to everything I had. I still preferred that over an enema though.

Regarding hospital stays, it's true that laying down all day (as was common in hospital decades ago) + painkillers are likely to get you constipated. I think for instance treatment for broken bones was often basically plaster + not moving...

Must not have been fun getting an enema with a broken leg!

Since decades women have been more constipated than men. So women knew always better than men what should be done in the case of a constipation: in several countries they have taken enemas, in other countries a soap stick has done its duty or the bottle filled with castor oil has been ready to hand.

I suspect constipation was more common when I was growing up than it is today. Even in low income families I think what kids are eating today better than what a low income family was eating in the Golden Age. For higher income families the diet today would be way better. One example: Back then fruit in January was pretty much apples, stored in boxes in a basement cold room since the fall and a trip to a grocery store --- and compared to today they were very small stores --- fruit would have been pretty much apples and sometimes bananas. Vegetables, aside from a brief period of 'fresh' at harvest time, was what had been canned at home, or canned peas and corn from the store. Also, I'm willing to bet potato consumption per person was higher --- at least the baked, boiled, potato sort. The McDonalds fries of today come with so much cooking oil deep fried in they are likely more of a laxative, than constipating. I also think we were bigger meat eaters, as a proportion of our diet, than now. I'd not be surprised if we consumed, per person, more ounces of meat now than back in the Golden Age, but the constipating affect of mom's pot roast to deep fried Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Chicken McNuggets, would be far greater. Back then I don't remember a salad as part of a meal except on High and Holy occasions and never in the restaurants we'd sometimes eat at when traveling, or out for a special occasion. Today, granted, we have a nation of couch potatoes and obesity from eating fats and sugars, still the diet back then was more constipating than today. Take sugar. Now we consume gallons of sugar drinks and snacks. Back then sugar, at least my main sugar intake was chocolate bars, and chocolates in a box. I don't know how they made those suckers compared to today but I do know an over indulgence in a chocolate bar, or candies, often would lead to constipation. It was almost as if the makers of chocolate bars had shares in suppository makers as well and likely in whatever company made red rubber and black Bakelite too.

I suspect constipation was more common when I was growing up than it is today. Even in low income families I think what kids are eating today better than what a low income family was eating in the Golden Age. For higher income families the diet today would be way better. One example: Back then fruit in January was pretty much apples, stored in boxes in a basement cold room since the fall and a trip to a grocery store --- and compared to today they were very small stores --- fruit would have been pretty much apples and sometimes bananas. Vegetables, aside from a brief period of 'fresh' at harvest time, was what had been canned at home, or canned peas and corn from the store. Diet back then was more constipating than today. Take sugar. Now we consume gallons of sugar drinks and snacks.

I'm not sure I buy it. We had lots of oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My mom and grandmother canned all kinds of stuff so we had fruit and veggies that way during the winter. There was also dried fruit including dates and prunes. With all the fast food now I think it is worse now then back then.

I'm not sure I buy it. We had lots of oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My mom and grandmother canned all kinds of stuff so we had fruit and veggies that way during the winter. There was also dried fruit including dates and prunes. With all the fast food now I think it is worse now then back then.

You may well be right, Moppys Jalopy. I wonder though if you grew up in an area of the country that had more access to fruits and veggies than we did.

It may also be mothers of yesteryear paid more attention to bowels than modern mothers do. Back then keeping regular was how one kept healthy. Not sure mothers believe that now.