Hold Times for medical Enemas

So what is the correct holding time, if any, in a medical environment? I have been told a number of times to try and hold it for 10 minutes. In a youtube post of an emergency room enema, the nurse says “you know you have to hold this as long as you can.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKzMqLUfOGA) I had a nurse after hernia surgery before discharge give me a Soapsud Enema. She filled the bucket to the top (1500 CC) and said “I’m not going to give you the whole thing, I just need the volume for the pressure and flow”. She only gave me 750 CC and wouldn’t let me take anymore even though I said I could. She then said “now hold that for 10 minutes if you can”. So I held it for the 10 minutes and I was shocked at how effective it was with such a small volume. This was the first time I had been told to hold an enema. I had always been told to just sit on the toilet and poop after receiving an enema.

Now I know that there are protocols for Fleet, and mineral oil enemas which are necessary. After one Fleets before a hemorrhoid treatment the nurse even set a 10 minute timer. It was tough to hold it that long.

In reading comments on TikTok it seems like the standard instruction is 10 minutes for large volume Enemas. Most comments state I “couldn’t make it 10 seconds” or “I did it for 2 minutes and was proud of myself”. One time a nurse told me hold it at least 3 minutes. To tell the truth, I really haven’t noticed any difference after a full bucket.

So my question is, what is the benefit of lengthy hold times? Most people outside this forum find enemas to be very uncomfortable and difficult, is there any real benefit to extended hold times?

4 years ago I was given a small (500ml) soapsuds enema in the hospital. The nurse told me to hold it for 20 minutes. I did.

They didn’t tell me the time, since I was only given enemas when I was a child. Usually they told me to turn over on my stomach and lie down. Well, about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes this happened, sometimes I couldn’t stand it and asked to go to the toilet, or the nurse herself noticed it. Several times I could not handle the full volume of the enema. At the same time, there was always a children's potty nearby, on which, to my displeasure and shame, I was seated. Pooping on the potty was considered very shameful among children.

Longer enema hold or retention times, depending on the type of solutions used, could facilitate 1) greater medication absorption from the colon and/or rectum or greater exposure time for the enema medication to affect the bowel wall such as steroid enemas for inflammatory bowel diseases. OR, using various solutions from water to soapsuds to mineral oil, longer holds can allow greater time for dissolution or at least softening of hard or impacted feces to facilitate greater ease or comfort in removal.

Eric