How much can one hold

How much is the maximum a person can hold? Is this something that has to be worked up to?

Assuming you're talking about enemas, there isn't any maximum (we still have to keep in mind that we're humans and not cisterns!) to what a person can hold. Practice definitely will make you hold more water as time goes by, but also how empty your bowels are. Don't expect to be able to hold much of a first enema, say, if you haven't had a bowel movement in a while.

As this is a site to discuss kinks, enemas as discussed here are infrequently medically-motivated, but some are. Mostly we ask and answer queries and discuss enemas either just for anal/rectal/abdominal sensation fun or for sexual arousal. Even if your doctor gives you one or tells you to do one yourself in preparation for a procedure, you'll likely be signing a consent form informing you of the risks, typically including many items from benign all the way to permanent injury and death.

So as with almost anything else, sexual or otherwise, a first rule of thumb is that you're responsible for whatever happens to you, however uncommon and whether you know all the risks ahead of time or not. Thus a common saying in these matters: Have fun and play safe (or at least as safe as you are willing to risk).

I don't know the largest documented colonic or enema ever known, but in 5 years here I've seen claims very commonly from 1-4 quarts of enema, my own demonstrable maximum of 5 quarts (done only once), and a few members stating they've taken on up to 6 or more. I think I recall someone mentioning 7-8 quarts once. All claims subject to documentation. What post #2 below mentions about practice to increase volume as well as the contents of your colon make good sense. What volume enema you can safely and comfortably hold is multifactorial and not even constant between days or weeks.

And volumes change for various reasons. I started trying enemas at age 15 at about the usual 2 quarts in a drugstore bag and liked it for several decades. After joining Zity in 2015, I read a lot about it here and gradually increased my preferred volumes to about 3.5-4.5 quarts with one single enema in which I took 5 quarts as an experiment. Enjoyable and no problems.

As for your own practices, if you feel like trying higher volumes, do a lot of reading, ask questions, increase volume slowly over days to months, don't ever do it to compete with anyone else for any reason, and pay attention to your body. If you feel something isn't right, stop and evaluate, and approach that particular volume with care if there's a next time. For frank pain, same rule - stop ASAP and evacuate and approach that volume more gingerly next time.

Have fun and play safe.

Eric

The most I have taken at one time is six quarts and this only once or twice. I have taken six quarts by weight several times. This includes water left in my colon from previous fillings of slightly more than one gallon. I rarely weigh myself, so I really don't know how often I retain five or six quarts before expelling.

I refuse to believe that maximum capacity is the same for everyone. People are too different! There are too many independent variables.

My OWN capacity is 4 US quarts. I have not tried 4 imperial quarts.

If I try to hold 4 quarts for more than about 9-10 minutes it makes me severely nauseous. Since I have always done smaller(either 2 or 3 quart) enemas till clear, which itself I would only do on an empty stomach, I only actually vomited ONCE! that was yellow with no food scraps.

As a result I never attempt more than 4 qts.

I use an open-top bag hung high, with enough soap in the water that it is a thick liquid.

I can't say that no one can take more than 4 qts. but I DO have my doubts as to claims of 6 qts. Not saying it's flat out impossible. but I have my doubts

I am studying this for myself a lot to keep track of what goes in, to verify when it is certainly is all gone out. That way i don't wind up in an awkward mess.

My typical biggie is only 3 quarts, but when done very warmly, a very full gallon sneaks into me and gets me quite well bigged.

For this study to happen with confidence, I weigh before during and after an enema sequence.

Use digital scales with tenth of a pound read out. Then figure 2.1 pounds as one quart of enema waters.

You can do a quick relief discharge to know more about your physiology this way too.

Of course, it is not easily done while carrying such a heavy load within, and serious clumsiness should be anticipated for safety sake with every step.

Everyone to a greater or lesser degree has their own individual anatomy and physiology and sensitivity of their nervous system. For many years, actually decades, I only took 2-2.5 quart water or saline enemas from what I had which were drugstore bags. After reading Zity the last 5 years I've learned a lot about others' practices and volumes and solutions and since I've always enjoyed the sensations of large volumes, began to gradually experiment with bigger and longer enemas. My usual went from 2.5 to 4-4.5 quarts retained solo up to an hour. One single experiment one day led me to take in 5 quarts which was enjoyable, painless, satisfying and safe for me. It's possible but not vey likely that I'll ever try above 5 simply to be on the safe side. My suspicion is that done carefully I could likely reach 6 quarts, but a) I could easily be wrong and have to stop between 5 and 6, and b) though I have great curiosity, I have no strong need or desire to try 6.

Even if you can be painless and comfortable at a given volume it's also true that if you stop enemas for awhile, probably weeks to months, you'll need to work up to your prior maximum volume again. This happened to me once with respect to several months off from doing 4 quarts.

Personal reactions to given volumes and times and solutions are also widely variable among users. I've taken enemas for >55 years and never ever encountered even a hint of nausea no matter how long the retention time. My switch Domme ex used to force 3-4 quart enemas into me during D/s evenings and make me hold for 2-4 hours. A few times she wanted even longer periods of being Domme and insisted I hold them for her overnight, which amounted to probably 6-10 hour enjoyable erotic hold times without any problem.

So I suppose I'm a bit skeptical too reading about claims of >6 quart enemas taken, but I could certainly be mistaken. I only hope anyone truly enamored of even larger volumes than me will be safe doing them in the midst of their enjoyment.

Eric

My new limit today is up to six quarts but it took years to get there.

20 years ago I could barely take 4 quarts. 5 years ago I started my routine with 5 quarts. This morning I took 6 quarts.

@Fivequarts - I know you don’t want to hear this, however, it needs to be said.

A number of years ago, my brother blew his transverse colon out playing games, not unlike you. It got repaired with two surgeries, wearing a bag on his left side in between the two operations, ninety days apart. It was no picnic and taught not only him, but others, a good lesson. When all was said and done, his GI doctor told him, “no more games, you or your wife could have died. Enemas are one thing, but the type of things you two were playing with are dangerous. Stick to normal enemas and enema play an you’ll be fine.” He got the message, I only hope you do.

As @Rick6981 said, this is no joking matter. You can easily die of peritonitis. I have been in surgeries where ruptured colons were the reason, and you will have a 10+ inch vertical incision up your abdomen to they can clean out the feculent fluids, irrigate the site, find the rupture and repair that, do a second incision for a colostomy and attach a bag. Hope you don't get a residual infection or have severe complications in healing after the first surgery when your exploded colon spewed infectious shitty water and all the bacteria through out your abdominal cavity during the time the colon is sewn back together, giving time to heal before the colostomy can be reversed.

Prepare to be on a wound vac and a slew of IV and oral antibiotics you never heard of before. You really have no idea how serious and complicated the healing of this sort of thing is.

The second surgery to reverse the colostomy is no fun either.

As @Rick6981 said, this is no joking matter. You can easily die of peritonitis. I have been in surgeries where ruptured colons were the reason, and you will have a 10+ inch vertical incision up your abdomen to they can clean out the feculent fluids, irrigate the site, find the rupture and repair that, do a second incision for a colostomy and attach a bag. Hope you don't get a residual infection or have severe complications in healing after the first surgery when your exploded colon spewed shitty water and all the bacteria through out your abdominal cavity during the time the colon is sewn back together, giving time to heal before the colostomy can be reversed.

Prepare to be on a wound vac and a slew of IV and oral antibiotics you never heard of before. You really have no idea how serious and complicated the healing of this sort of thing is.

The second surgery to reverse the colostomy is no fun either.

This type of surgery is what the late moderator Mashie was recovering from when she passed away. I am not aware of exactly what, but she went through all of the things that you listed including a colostomy bag. It is something I would not wish on anyone.

I was reading this posting for general interest in enema's, as I do for a cleaning purpose before anal play. I want to thank the great advise given by the experts, I am sticking with the 2qt bag I have been using with the needed results, aka clean discharge after 4 uses, usually in less than 1 hour.

The reason I am here looking around is that I was having cramps yesterday, after what I think, was to much of an attempt to discharge the last 1lbs. I use a digital scale to measure my intake and discharge. I think it might have been a scale failure not showing correctly. Anyway I usually have no problems with 2 qt's. and I only attempted 3qt's once, resulting in the last discharge to be like 16 to 20 hours later, while at work.

BTW, I could not do my planned colon depth play, as the colon snake was probably getting into a fight with gas or air, in the sigmoid colon. I could hear it making noise when inserting a buttplug.

I'm a 2qt girl and sticking with it. Play safe.

Erin

Wow! Lots to comment on here.

1. Thank you all to have answered my question and put your own story.

2. I didn't even realize that one could take to much liquid. Makes sense though.

3. This certainly gives me something to work on.

Colostomies are horrible you’ll never find shoes to match you bag.......just saying

Given that I do enemas for health and pleasure, there is no way that I would do anything; volume, exotic "substance" or size or length of nozzle which might endanger my health. My wonderful colon hydrotherapist works on a colo-rectal ward in the local hospital and has some absolute horror stories to tell. She has always advocated not being "competitive"!! If you want a really thorough clean out go to a properly qualified hydrotherapist and have a series of closed colonics.

I think the maximum depends on the individual and varies from as little as 3 quarts for some people to as much as 6 quarts for others.

Seems to be a very individual thing

I am highly skeptical of claims of more than 6 quarts.

Clearly not everyone can take that much!

As for reports of people "increasing" capacity.

I'm not saying never, but again take those claims with a grain(if not a substantial bolder) of salt, just because of the number of independent variables.

My own experience has been that, not only is my capacity 4qts but I think that by taking 4qts, I did not increase my overall capacity.

What I HAVE experienced is this:

When I first got my 4qt bag I was in a hurry to try it!

I had to wait until Saturday when I didn't have to go to school, but Dad had to go to work.

I WAS able to fast all day Friday, even at school to prep myself for a Saturday cleanse.

I got to the point of fully cleansed at about 10:30 am Saturday.

I waited for things to settle down and I mixed a very soapy solution for the new bag

I got the whole 4qts in on one valve opening. I can't say there was no pain, I can say that it was not as bad as the worst period I had had up to that time.

I DID retain it 9 minutes, with moderate nausea!

It DID come out clear, so my cleanse had been successful.

It was weeks later during the NEXT time I took a round of enemas that the full effect was felt.

2qts just did NOT feel like it had always felt. It felt like about a quart.

That prompted me to order a 3qt HWB-type bag from the same vendor I had gotten the 4qt from.

Since then I have always needed the 3qts to get the same sensation I previously got from 2qts.

I have used the 4qt bag a number of times since and the pattern is the same.

@Rick6981

I would really like to know exactly what your brother was doing when he had his problem. Too much water or air? Perforation by a long colon tube?

""@Rick6981

I would really like to know exactly what your brother was doing when he had his problem. Too much water or air? Perforation by a long colon tube?""

I'm going to second this comment. Doesn't sound like the entire story. There was a note on one of these discussions where someone was given a 5 quart enema for medical reasons, and the receiver ask if there was any danger of blowing up the colon. The medical person stated no.

My personal opinion is, if your are normally healthy the answer is a minimum of 4 quarts, but you never know what birth defect you could have been born with and lived with until it fails.

@Fivequarts said,

I would really like to know exactly what your brother was doing when he had his problem. Too much water or air? Perforation by a long colon tube?

Then

@water_wetter said,

I'm going to second this comment. Doesn't sound like the entire story. There was a note on one of these discussions where someone was given a 5 quart enema for medical reasons, and the receiver ask if there was any danger of blowing up the colon. The medical person stated no.

My personal opinion is, if your are normally healthy the answer is a minimum of 4 quarts, but you never know what birth defect you could have been born with and lived with until it fails.

My brother is a member of zity and reads my post. If he wants to go into more detail, that’s his decision, not mine.

ThenMy brother is a member of zity and reads my post. If he wants to go into more detail, that’s his decision, not mine.

Your posts prompted me to look up your profile.

WOW! You're old!!!!!! 😁 😁 😁

Old is good. It's nice to see old farts still enjoying themselves.

I am anxious to hear what your brother might say.

Have a terrific weekend.

Your posts prompted me to look up your profile.

WOW! You're old!!!!!! 😁 😁 😁

Old is good. It's nice to see old farts still enjoying themselves.

I am anxious to hear what your brother might say.

Have a terrific weekend.

Old is better than the alternative!

Thanks guys, your making me feel even younger...

My brother is a member of zity and reads my post. If he wants to go into more detail, that’s his decision, not mine.

Rick6981,

I agree that it's up to your brother but I'll just put in another vote of curiosity about the citcumstances causing his colon injury that you described. As many here know, I'm a definite fan of large enemas for enjoyment and arousal alone or with my prior Domme GF. My usual is 4 quarts but one single time I took 5, again enjoyable without pain or complications. As an enema enthusiast able to safely enjoy 5 quarts, as well as a retired physician, I'm very curious about what might have injured your brother. For me and I imagine others here, I have no desire to expose or embarrass your brother, only to learn what might be of benefit and increase the safety of our members. I won't mention it again here, and I hope he continues to enjoy life and his healthy colon. Thanks,

Eric

I can do four quarts but that is my limit. I'm not willing to bust a gut trying to do 5 quarts.

ONE MORE THING:

Just because your expelled solution is completely clear, does NOT mean it ISN'T very infectious.

If your colon ruptures from trying to hold too much, you will still need the same surgery to clean out the peritoneal cavity that I described earlier.

Bottom line

There are legit safety issues over about 4qts

It's better NOT to keep trying if you can't get past that!

ROFL. How many klysmo folk are on Zity? That is a likely number of opinions there are in here on this well traveled subject. I'll simply say I am a high volume user, and stay out of the declarations.

This topic is like discussing driver's habits. Anyone going slower than you is a slowpoke who should be pushed off the road and anyone who drives faster than you is dangerous.

It's the same for enema volumes. A person who takes less than you is a novice who isn't really trying, and anyone who takes more than you is insane.

Colon length varies a lot. Some folks have such a long one that their cecums can't be viewed during a colonoscopy. So it makes sense that enema capacity would vary too. No need to turn it into a competition!

Old is good. It's nice to see old farts still enjoying themselves.

Just turning 76 - so guess I'm in the old fart category; but at least this forum keeps me from getting stale... 😃 . Enjoy all the enemas you can, and don't go crazy pushing volume limits.