Historical amounts of glycerin

I just bought a vintage glycerin syringe (it is still underway in the mail). It holds 15cc. This got me thinking, as 15cc of straight glycerin is already quite a lot for me - would a child get a full syringe? So I searched Google Books and got some old texts. These texts recommended even more - 30cc to 60cc of glycerin. One text even stressed that a ‘full 30cc’ should be given.

So my question is, does anyone know what a usual volume of glycerin was for different ages?

I tried searching Zity but I only found recommendations of what people liked to get nowadays. I am wondering how it was back when.

Until when were there syringes still in use? Is there perhaps anyone around here that still got them? My syringe is vulcanite & plastic so it is not THAT old.

R

Virtually all of the glycerin syringes I've ever seen have had a capacity of about 8ml to 30ml. I have seen hard rubber piston syringes with rectal nozzles with larger capacity, but have not seen proof they were intended for glycerin.

It seems that the 8ml size are intended for infants and children, likely up to about 4 or 5 years old; the 15ml size for older kids through to the teens; and the 30ml size for older kids and adults. These dosages are sufficient to prompt a complete poo, even in the most constipated recipient, within an hour or less. As far as I can tell, the syringes were in fairly common use in the UK until about the 1960s. I've seen little indication they were ever widely used in the USA prior to the Fleet Applicators because bags and bulbs of water seem to have been preferred option.

Larger size, disposable glycerin enemas are used in Japan, but most of those are a 50/50 mix of glycerin and water. I've seen “clinical” enemas with volumes of 150ml, so they had 75ml of glycerin, I'd expect these to be very potent and are probably used as a prep for an exam.

Do you still have links to the books? Looking at those will help to figure out your question.

Be very careful with glycerin and what you see on the internet. You can injure yourself

@moliere I don't have the links, but it's no use anyway. They were just single sentences displayed by Google Books while the rest of the book remained hidden…

Here is a picture of a vintage Glycerin Syringe with rectal nozzle, obviously intended to make someone poo. The capacity is listed as 2 Drams which equals about 7 ½ ml….. about the same as an adult Fleet Liquid Glycerin Applicator.

https://ibb.co/YkrdZ6X

https://www.fleetlabs.com/constipation-relief-products/suppositories/fleet-liquid-glycerin-suppositories

As Toshe said, you need to be cautious about what you read on the web about glycerin, or anything for that matter. Some have advocated huge glycerin enemas of a pint or more. IMO, this is not only stupid, it's damn stupid and dangerous. About 30ml is more than enough to make anybody poo. If you don't believe me, try not to poo for an hour after getting that dose.

By far the largest glycerin containing enema I've ever see is the CLISMASAC ENTEROCLISMA 5% 2 lt, sold in Italy. It is a 2000ml disposable enema bag kit, containing 100ml of glycerin. Warm water is added to make 2000ml of enema solution. It is intended as a quick, complete bowel clean out before surgery or other procedures. I'd expect that getting one of those would be an experience few would have any desire to repeat because of the severe cramping.

@toshe63,

Being a nurse, what is YOUR recommendation for the amount and dilution of glycerin?

Be very careful with glycerin and what you see on the internet. You can injure yourself

Regarding the safe source of glycerin to use in an enema, one can buy it in the pharmacy department of Walmart stores and I suspect in pharmacies and drugstores , too. In the U.S, at least one arts & craft store sold small bottles of glycerin in the cake decorating area since glycerin is or can be used in icing on cakes and cupcakes. If it is safe to use in food that you eat, I would think that it should be safe to use in an enema, or to inject straight into the rectum like the Fleet Glycerin Suppositories. Personally I would never buy glycerin from the Internet. One never knows that you may get.

Regarding Fleet Glycerin Suppositories, the very first time I ever used one I was sitting on the edge and hanging over the inside of the bathtub when I injected it. WOW!!! The effect was immediate and I had to go so badly that all I could do is scoot up so I was sitting on the edge of the tub, push my cheeks together and sit so all of my weight was on my bottom. It took a good five minutes or more before I could safely move to the toilet to expel, without risking messing up the bathroom floor. The next time I used one of the Fleet Glycerin Suppositories, the effect was not nearly so dramatic, with no “absolutely-immediate-must-go-now” feeling and I could safely move to expel after a few minutes. It was as if my rectum was used to this new intruder and so saw no extreme urgency to expel. I guess it was no longer as sensitive to glycerin after that first time. That has been the case for every times I have used them since that first time. Maybe someone can explain why that was the case with my first-time use and then the other times I have used it.

Whether I use glycerin suppositories or liquid, the first three to five minutes, I feel a rather strong urge to go but it goes away after that time and returns after some fifteen to twenty minutes slowly building until I can no longer resist the urge to go. An anal vibrator help to retain it a little longer but eventually the glycerin wins out.

By far the largest glycerin containing enema I've ever see is the CLISMASAC ENTEROCLISMA 5% 2 lt, sold in Italy. It is a 2000ml disposable enema bag kit, containing 100ml of glycerin. Warm water is added to make 2000ml of enema solution. It is intended as a quick, complete bowel clean out before surgery or other procedures. I'd expect that getting one of those would be an experience few would have any desire to repeat because of the severe cramping.

Actually a large volume 5% is not that strong at all. You have to get up to 10% plus to get much of a strong urge. But somewhere I did read that 5% was a historically used large volume cleanout for procedures prior to the now much used oral preps.

Too bad Susie isn't around d to comment on this. She seemed to be the enema solution expert and could supply some good solid facts, advice, safety measures and seriously sick/delightful t of enhancing your enemas!!! 😄 I believe glycerin was one of the key ingredients in Susies Rough Ride Enema.

I have a lube shooter and have injected 5.5ml of pure glycerin into my rectum. The lube shooter goes about 4 inches deep into my rectum. I can say this amount is very potent and works in minutes if not less than a minute. I saw where the Fleet glycerin enema squeeze bulb contains 7.5ml. If you are new to glycerin, I would start with relatively small amounts whether you are injecting pure glycerin or mixing with water for an enema. Once it's inside your body, you will have to ride it out and it could be very uncomfortable or worse do harm.

I have always tried to use common sense when I experiment with new ingredients that I am putting into my enemas or injecting into rectum. It pays to do just a simple Google search and look at a variety of sources before trying something new. And of course do a search here on this site and see what others might have tried and how their bodies reacted to a specific ingredient. Better to be safe than sorry.

Sean, I have used a Clismasac twice. I got badly constipated on a trip to Italy a few years ago. I went to a farmacia to buy a Fleet-type disposable enema but the pharmacist offered me a Clismasac as well. You can guess which of the enemas I purcahsed. I took the full two liter enema in my hotel room. I expected a crampy explosive result but it was no different for me than taking two liters of tap water. The 5% glycerin solution was too dilute to cause mass peristalsis. I had the same result for the second one that I took about a week later.