Enema bag at school nurse’s office?

So I have memories of seeing a red bag and coil of tubing hanging on the bathroom door in the nurse’s office when I was in high school. At the time I didn’t know what the equipment was for and never asked. Now though I think it was likely an enema bag.

This realization certainly creates some fantasies in my head about being sent to the nurse’s office and having her fill me up with hot, soapy water. Perhaps as punishment for doing poorly on an exam or as a routine procedure all students were forced to receive or as genuine treatment if I complained about constipation.

Does anyone have similar fantasies or real life experience seeing the supplies or receiving an enema at public school?

I do have similar fantasies, working either as a school principal or doctor employing such unorthodox means of punishment or behavior-modifying incentives as enemas, among other things. They're certainly fun… as least to the giving party! *grins*

The nurse at my school certainly had enema equipment, and I'm sure it got used fairly often. However it was not a bag. She had a white enamel irrigating can, hanging on the wall, in each of the infirmary's treatment rooms. They all had about 6 feet of amber latex tubing and a red rubber colon tube coiled over the can as well, ready for use.

If the nurse thought you were constipated, she had no hesitation about filling the can with warm water and giving you a mighty enema. In the times I was there, I heard another boy get filled several times, then hasten to the toilet at the end of the hall. There were only curtains… no doors… so everything was clearly audible. Her enemas always worked very powerfully

@fantasypatient How old are you? Or, more precisely: what years was this? 1960s?

Way back… like the late 1950's--early 1960's it was a different World. I don't recall my Elementary school even having a resident Nurse. If there was a child health issue they called a ambulance and/or called the parent(s) Post WW2 to about 1963 the United States was basically run in Old School mode. Anyone born in 1970 or after has no actual experience how it was.

Went to elementary school in the 50's…..recall we had a “Nurses” office, but never remember an enema bag or hearing of anyone who got one at school. Typically, the school nurse took a students temp and decided if they could return to class or call the parents. Maybe goober them an aspirin. She also treated minor cuts and scrapes from the playground.

@gwhap I indeed wonder why a school nurse would give an enema to a child. If a child is constipated and complains about it, just notice the parents.

This would of course be different in a boarding school.

@gwhap I indeed wonder why a school nurse would give an enema to a child. If a child is constipated and complains about it, just notice the parents.

This would of course be different in a boarding school.

In a Catholic school, if a child was constipated, didn't the Nuns just beat the shit out of them? 😄

I highly doubt any school nurses gave enemas but it is good fodder for someone's fantasies. It may even qualify as child sexual abuse. I do remember my years in a catholic school, we had physicals every year. They would bring a doctor in then have each student go one at a time into the principals office. For the boys, the doctor would have you drop your undies and he would check your testicle area for hernias by having you cough. I can't remember for sure, but I want to say that the old female principal nun was standing nearby watching.

@Easy3 I also find it hard to believe a school nurse would give a child an enema. As far as the boys hernia checks at a Catholic school, I think the Priests were more interested in observing than the Nuns!

@12bumblebees

Post WW2 to about 1963 the United States was basically run in Old School mode. Anyone born in 1970 or after has no actual experience how it was.

So very true. That is the US I was brought up in. I can tell from so many responses on Zity that when members start talking about growing up in the 70-80-90s it sounds like they are describing a foreign country, one I don't recognize.

Anyway, that said, I went to both Catholic and public schools in the period in the US. The Catholic schools were too tight-fisted and cheap to even think about having a school nurse.

And in the two public schools I attended, I only went to a nurse's office once to make up an excuse for being late for class. And even though I gave the classic ‘my stomach aches’, none of that resulted in anything other than getting a note for the teacher allowing me a valid excuse for being late.

I attended public schools in the US (1957 - 1969) in a small city of 35,000. If you were ill and needed medical care of any description, your parents or family were contacted to pick you up. The closest thing to a school nurse was the teacher who might pick you up off the playground if you fell down and she might wipe away a tear. By 7th grade if you did not get up off the ground yourself, either your parents were called or an ambulance. The closest thing to a hot water bottle I remember was a Thermos bottle you carried hot soup in for lunch, if you brought your own lunch.

Many years ago I was at a Club Med in Mexico and had diarrhea. I went to the nurses office and there was an enema bulb in the glass door cabinet. I thought to myself that the bulb enema got minimal use as most had some sort of diarrhea.

I don’t think it’s at all common, but it’s not a never occurrence in my experience. I went to boarding school most of my childhood. I had one enema from the school matron, but it was a highly unusual occurrence - I only knew one other girl who had a similar experience, although I’ll admit it’s not something I frequently discussed with the other girls. the nurse was elderly, so perhaps she wouldn’t have been opposed to using an enema more often, but it was definitely not a popular remedy in my childhood or at my school (though it was not uncommon in my household). I was particularly constipated, and laxatives and two suppositories had failed to do anything but make me nauseated. I had a fever, was very uncomfortable and remember spending most of the day curled up in bed. the matron suggested an enema as a last resort before I’d have to go to A&E, but she also had to get permission from my parents before she gave it to me. I’m not even certain it was the nurses idea - it could easily have been my mum’s suggestion when the school phoned about my condition.

This would have been about 2005, and it was a disposable enema not a reusable bag.

I was at my grammar school nurse's office a number of times in the early 1950's, but never saw any enema equipment.

For me, a trip to the school nurse's office always meant I'd first get my temp taken rectally, but no enemas

Never saw an enema bag at school , but it was not uncommon to get an enema at home when you were sick. My first time age 11 I was bed ridden for about a week.After the second day my mother told me I was going to get an enema. Two day later you gave me another one. Mother frequently told neighboring mother there children that they needed an enema. Age four I saw her giving an enema to a neighbor's child .

If enemas were given in school and at colleges i would have stayed and gotten a PHD or something , hell i might have never left and been sick a lot !

@ Annie 2 LOL

The nurse at the summer camp I attended for several years was the school nurse for the local Catholic school. I know from other campers and personal experience, that if you went to the infirmary with “tummy troubles” Mrs. C. would certainly administer a soapsuds enema to fix you up.

I knew kids who attended the school where she was a nurse and we talked about enemas at camp - especially if one of our campmates stayed overnight in the infirmary. None of the kids from the Catholic school ever said anything about enemas at school. Plenty at home, but not at school.

I was a public school kid and that would have never happened in our school.

At the boarding school I attended in the 60’s, an ex-army nurse ran the infirmary. The students almost always referred to her as Enema Annie. It was claimed if you stayed in the infirmary overnight, for whatever reason, you could count on receiving an enema from her big red enema bag. I never had occasion to find out firsthan.

I went to both Catholic and public schools in the period in the US. The Catholic schools were too tight-fisted and cheap to even think about having a school nurse.

And in the two public schools I attended, I only went to a nurse's office once to make up an excuse for being late for class. And even though I gave the classic ‘my stomach aches’, none of that resulted in anything other than getting a note for the teacher allowing me a valid excuse for being late.

As with @agracier i too attended both a Private Catholic School & a co - ed public school

The former were a tight fisted lot with little chance of a lay nurse let alone any kind of medical personnel .

Aside from this there was one time in second class when the teacher…a nun, contacted my parents as they were going to send me home because it was determined I had diarrhea.

I didn't but it felt like it as I'd consumed a Tetra Pak of strawberry milk at morning playtime that tasted warm & could have started to go off.

Anyway my mother turned up with me standing at the front gate, where I'd been instructed to wait & feeling pretty dodgy. When we arrived home mum sent me to my room to lay down, no sooner had I got sort of comfy she turned up holding the Enema apparatus & in what seemed no time at all I was on my side being given an Enema.

@That_Australian Based on a couple of your posts, sounds like you had an “enemated” childhood!

I attended what at the time was a mid-sized public school district (HS graduating class was between 400-500 if I recall correctly) from the early 60's through the mid-70s. To my best recollection we had a school nurse throughout that entire period though she never did more than administer first aid and aspirins etc. or call parents to come pick a child who was especially sick.

@gwhap remarks

@That_Australian Based on a couple of your posts, sounds like you had an “enemated” childhood!

It would cum and go.😎

Enema bag and hose at school. You certaintly have a good imagination.

Did not happen in my time.

@will44

To whom are you referring ??

Only thing I remember were nit pickers.

@Pecan_nutjob I was actually born in 1995. Which is why I find it kind of odd. I feel like enemas aren’t really as common now especially in a school. I never saw the stuff get used so maybe it was actually for something else? I’m not sure. Interesting fantasy either way, haha.

@fantasypatient

You are correct. The usage of enema bags (and douche bags) decreased dramatically in about the 1970s. That's the era in which disposable enemas (Fleets) and disposable douches were heavily marketed. Before then, enemas or douches were mostly from a bag, with some, especially in hospitals, from an irrigating can.

The introduction of Fleet enemas and their Summer's Eve douches essentially killed the market for bags. The feminist movement and the pill also changed attitudes about that same time. A douche bag was something your mom used.