Are enemas really healthy for you?

Every day 30 + years plain water 2-3 qts each fill up

never sick no health issues other that i now seem to have a supercolon that can do some pretty wild things......to each his own but i,m drug free always been that way and it makes me feel awesome i enjoy every single day!

Moliere, we do because we like enemas, and my meds constipate me.

Like shitting a brick without

That's a valid medical reason as well, as (I hope) is my use of enemas regularly to manage my IBS and make my life much more comfortable. With me there are times (unfortunately frequent) when I just don't go without heavy duty help, and when that happens it makes me sick and turns off the appetite. Likewise there are many people here who have (is organic the right term? Whatever the ones that aren't functional issues and include aftereffects from surgery and IBD and the like) colon disorders and use enemas to make their lives livable. I never intended to imply that there weren't any medical reasons, just that there are some rationalizations that do not have any strong supporting evidence (autointoxication, toxins, "it prevents colon cancer," etc.).

The essay says that the excess of everything is harmful, having regular enema helps a lot healt satus.

I think that most Golden Age moms considered enemas as a tool to be used when really needed. They would pay close attention to our BMs, especially when sick,, on the idea that a cleaned-out colon was a good aid in helping the healing process, and they just may have been right when we think about it years later.

A calculated estimate is that I have taken over 19,000 gallons of water into my colon in the form of enemas. I am 75 years old and find no detrimental effects from having done so. Death starts in the colon! Enemas are an old and proven prophylactic health maintenance practice that dates back over 3,000 years and were known in ancient Egypt. They may be habit forming but so is a good brushing of the teeth or eating a healthy meal. These habits and numerous others, contribute to making our lives enjoyable.

Indeed, most of the members of this Web site find enemas not only healthy but also quite pleasurable.

The proof of the health aspect of an enema a day comes from not taking them. That is, each time when we defecate without an enema, we may leave some fecal material in the colon and over time can become profoundly constipated. I am a proponent of not only enemas but also Colon Hydrotherapy. Both of these therapies irrigate the colon to rid it of the colonic poisons that, if left untreated with enemas, can lead to serious illness.

You asked, "Are enemas really healthy for you?" I ask you, " how can you afford not to use them?"

In conclusion, let no MD dissuade you because an enema a day keeps the doctor away!

Putting it simply: If I'm feeling like an enema will help relieve an illness, discomfort (like my insides acting up) or otherwise help me feel better after returning home from being snowed in at O'Hare Airport, I consider that time in the bathroom (or curled up in bed) invested in my good health. However, too many enemas creating health issues? Could be. I do them only in moderation.

As for too many enemas causing health issues.... Not in me.... Probably has kept me out of doctor's offices for years.... Except for some hip joint issues and an L5 slip, health is not bad for a 63 year old.... An enema a day has definitely kept the doctors away in my case.

I am brand new to Zity having just found this site recently. I hesitated to join but after looking at some of the content, I think it might be interesting and informative for myself.

That being said, I admit to being a firm believer in regular enemas which I think helps keep one's plumbing cleared out of anything that might lead to health issues. There is also tremendous amount of pleasure that can be enjoyed during a good enema session.

Denise

Personally I credit driving my car several times a week with my success at avoiding cancer so far 😉 . The wind in my hair detoxes me, and I've never been diagnosed with cancer so it must work!

I have to admit that after Liquidsky's citation of the study potentially showing a correlation between constipation and colon cancer I am no longer as convinced that there is no link. I did see one initially good study where they grabbed a bunch of people with "chronic constipation", gave them colonoscopies, and didn't see a higher rate of polyps - BUT they didn't specify what they meant by "long-term constipation," so it could have been merely a year or two, so I'm still thinking that you know, maybe there might be something to the bile salts hypothesis.

Even with that doubt I'd still be very careful about saying that enemas help prevent long term health issues. I know that regular enemas make me feel better and help stabilize my weight (it's very specific to me and my IBS, so "don't try this at home and expect the same results"), but long term? Can't say much - other than they're unlikely to cause any harm because I'm careful with them and don't puncture my intestine or use stupid solutions.

I'm interested in what people here are saying about enemas and health benefits. There are some people who are saying that they keep you healthy and some that say they do it just because it feels good.

It seems to me that there are just about as many people who give themselves enemas for health reasons as there are those who do it for pleasure. Are daily enemas really needed to be healthy as compared to daily exercise and eating right?

If the plumbing is backed up, everything attached to it malfunctions. Routine cleansing helps appliances to function normally. Likewise it makes sense to cleanse the colon as needed to assist the liver and immune system to defend against sickness. If enemas bring pleasure, then good health makes a double blessing.

I was given enemas as far back as I can remember and since my teenage years have given them to myself. The frequency has tended to increase over the years. I am now in my 70s. Years ago, I called a health hotline and asked a question about enemas. The nurse said to me "We don't recommend that you do that to yourself." Later, I had a chiropractor tell me that frequent use of enemas would lead to dependence on them and he claimed he knew a woman who could not have a bowel movement without an enema. I have heard that opinion from others as well. After all these years, however, that has not been my experience.

At the age of five, for a reason I don't know, I began to resist and hold back whenever I had the urge to poop. Of course it eventually came out and I soiled my clothes which often lead to punishment. That lasted for a couple years and I got over it. However, I think that made my bowel muscles lazy or something. After that, my bowel movements were no more often than every other day and they were large, hard, and dry and often required lots of straining. Of course, I would become constipated very easily. Not that I cared. It was a good excuse for an enema.

By the age of about 50, I was self employed with much control over my daily schedule and the kids were grown and out of the house. I had more control of my time and more access to privacy, so my indulgence in enemas increased to about once per week. After a few years of that, I noticed that my bowel movements were regular every morning and were not the dry straining kind. I virtually never become constipated. If I do get backed up a couple days when traveling, the problem corrects itself when I get home. (However, since I like enemas, I usually hurry the process with an enemas anyway.) I know this is only anecdotal, but I suspect that the use of enemas strengthened my bowel muscles, changed my body's schedule, and did the opposite of making me dependent on enemas.

Enemas maybe needed, but can't they be of any benefit? I don't need any research references. If it's based on years of experience that's really valid for me, but do you think it has no health benefit? There are many people in this thread reporting such positive health status which is so amazing in my view - being over 60 and feeling good is not trivial in my opinion, and yeah, enemas are definitely not the only factor, but this calls for attention if many healthy adults claim to have used them for so many years.

Hey Folk the med-types tell that the enema doesn't 'help' our bodies, yatta, yatta yatta. Okay, I'll accept that, butt for myself (at 85) have been "doing enemas" essentially all of my life. I did go through all the kid stuff, causing many enemas whenever bed-ridden. So, I guess what I'm driving at is that I've had significantly fewer flu-type stuff that hits the working folk. And I do credit the 'needed' enemas for 80+ years.

With that being said, I have recognized my enjoyment of what it was/is. I think that any 'feel-good' element prolongs life. And I heartily recommend enemas in having done that for me

I wonder if one could get a Government study grant to evaluate that. Whatya think? --I think we'd have to assign numbers.

Prolong,

the boxcar

I'm interested in what people here are saying about enemas and health benefits. There are some people who are saying that they keep you healthy and some that say they do it just because it feels good.

It seems to me that there are just about as many people who give themselves enemas for health reasons as there are those who do it for pleasure. Are daily enemas really needed to be healthy as compared to daily exercise and eating right?

For some people there are health benefits. I have ongoing issues with constipation and IBS, and for these an enema works really well. There are people here with other colon issues, and enemas help them live a comfortable and full life. It gets fuzzier for those who are recommending enemas "just because" to prevent things. At this point it has not been shown that enemas can prevent much, other than an immanent case of constipation.

Might they help? Yes, they might - they really haven't been studied, and Liquidsky pointed out some papers where they show a correlation in their study group with ongoing constipation and colorectal cancer/precancer. There is also an indication that bile salts might be carcinogenic. Is this enough to show benefit even with preponderance of evidence? No. At the same time safely given enemas are unlikely to cause any harm, so if you want to try it go ahead - you're better off doing that than drinking a daily martini.

If they are stress reduction for you then that can be a benefit for long term health.

Personally out of curiosity I did look at my colds/flu after regular enemas vs before and there isn't a significant difference in number of occurences. It also doesn't seem to reduce the time to recover. This is an absurdly small sample size of 1 and there is no blinding either way, however, so you can't generalize.

What I did notice that made a big difference with number of colds/flu instances was working in an office where I could wash my hands routinely vs. working in an office where it was more difficult.

All bodies are different, so if it works for you then go ahead and do it. Many people would tell me that I was being a fool and subscribing to junk science as well as endangering myself by using enemas for my IBS, but they have helped significantly.

Just because people say they give themselves enemas for health reasons does NOT mean there are any health benefits to enemas.

Physically, I do not think there are any health benefits to enemas. Psychologically, I think they provide a wonderful service.

Just because people say they give themselves enemas for health reasons does NOT mean there are any health benefits to enemas.

I have to agree with @SwitchableSusie here; anecdotal evidence is the same as zero evidence. If you are constipated they should help you pass a hard mass, but beyond that, there is no proof of anything. And considering we evolved for millions of years without them, that indicates they aren't a requirement for good health.

"Required" is the operative word here. Are enema's "required" for good health? NO. Are enemas a good solution for the occasional bout of constipation that afflicts most of us, or the periodic barium enema we may get for medical reasons? Sure without a doubt. Do many of us enjoy enemas because they simply feel good, and we find them to be very erotic? Absolutely! The reasons for partaking in enemas are as infinite as the imagination, but required (for good health) just isn't one of them.

Usually I like to break things down to a very simple answer using basic logic .

The colon is the conduit for waste exiting the body . Nowadays this means many different chemicals which may or may not be absorbed into the blood stream are present . Being that different people have varying efficiencies at eliminating waste it makes sense that cleansing occasionally would have some benefit . Myself I have noticed in moderation enemas seem to affect my health very positively . Most nurses i have spoken with agree that enemas certainly do not seem to have any negative affect on people .

Someone said "anecdotal evidence is the same as zero evidence". Heaven help us if that person exerts any kind of responsibility whatsoever - e.g: having a family or any work that isn't "unskilled labour".

For it is "anecdotal evidence" - i.,e: people's own internal experience - that gives the lie to all the politically entrenched non-wisdom [re: such things as state education, eligibility to vote, notions of brain development/"maturity"...and, oh yes, access to medication and a few other trivial things] that is used to oppress and dehumanize people.

Sorry @squidgicunt, but I hope you are 'praying' a lot because I do have kids and I do have a 'skilled' job.

The thread had turned toward whether enemas were needed or required for good health. That would require proof to determine, and proof can be found in a scientifically controlled study, with testing and observation, control groups and the elimination of other possible environmental factors. It has to distinguish between correlation and causation and then use statistics to determine if the results are actually significant or within the margin of error. This is how we've advanced medically to practically eliminate diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, polio.

Anecdotal 'evidence' is when Joe-Bobs brother said he had a friend who's girlfriends uncle had a sister who took enemas every day of her life and she never got cancer - wow, enemas make you immune to cancer!!

Now it's possible that anecdotal evidence can be the basis of starting a scientific study of a certain drug or action curing or helping some medical malady, but the anecdotal stories never prove anything themselves.

As for your second paragraph, the 'eligibility to vote' is 'politically entrenched non-wisdom' that anecdotal evidence justifies (gives the lie to?) and is used to oppress people? Huh? I'm not sure what that has to do with whether enemas have been proven to be healthy or not.

First, it is "too many," not "to many."

As many people here can attest, they have taken thousands of enemas with no health problems.

Anecdotal, so not based on research with double blind studies, etc.

But many of us have done them because to us they feel good, for whatever reason we may feel the need to justify our feelings because there is a stigma to this and other forms for gratification that does not fall into what we believe are "norms."

Even with the "norms" it still surprises the number of women I have talked into trying an enema from the sexual side, the reactions varied, with more positive outcomes than I would have expected, the great majority.

Another surprise, when recruiting models for enema videos, I expected about 1 in 25 or more would be willing, it was more like 1 in 5, and many of them having had previous enema experience. Quite a few reported getting into enemas because they used them prior to anal sex and found them to their liking.

And then their is the other side that say all anal penetration is evil, women doing something they hate because of male domination! But I have lesbian friends into anal and enemas.

It is what it is, glad we have forums like this so people can feel better about themselves.

I've been taking enemas for 63 years and my plumbing back there is still working fine between sessions. I have used many additives and my favorite is wine in moderation. Been doing this for 20 years.

IBS was making my life a misery before I started taking regular enemas. I've been doing them for many years now, and the "cure" it offered me since was almost miraculous. My IBS is, for all intents and purposes, a distant bad memory. Can I consider enemas to have been a health benefit for me? Hell, yes!

Ah, but the question remains - are the myriad of supposed health benefits bandied about true or not? Methinks some of them may be. But no one can really claim to be sure without properly conducted research applying the Scientific Method and large sample sizes - which nobody in mainstream healthcare is really interested in doing. So we have no other option but to look at all the anecdotal information (such as on this forum) to make choices which will only turn out to be as good as the validity of the information we choose to follow.

IBS was making my life a misery before I started taking regular enemas. I've been doing them for many years now, and the "cure" it offered me since was almost miraculous. My IBS is, for all intents and purposes, a distant bad memory. Can I consider enemas to have been a health benefit for me? Hell, yes!

Same here, though in my case it stopped short of being true misery. I see you have "cure" in quotes - likewise I don't consider it a cure, but using enemas as a part of my strategy manages my IBS very well.

Ah, but the question remains - are the myriad of supposed health benefits bandied about true or not? Methinks some of them may be. But no one can really claim to be sure without properly conducted research applying the Scientific Method and large sample sizes - which nobody in mainstream healthcare is really interested in doing. So we have no other option but to look at all the anecdotal information (such as on this forum) to make choices which will only turn out to be as good as the validity of the information we choose to follow.

Zero controls and no formal look at everything makes the anecdotal stuff very sketchy at best. I accept that enemas are great for managing constipation and some IBS, because clearing out the bowel is what they do. There might even be something to the whole vagus nerve stimulation bit, but in that case there are probably better ways to do it. I'm not ready to accept the "enemas prevent cancer" type of stuff because that's not as clear-cut, and the "autointoxication" bit is very sketchy.

Controlling confounding variables in any enema-related study would be a nightmare, and given the history of enema quackery it would be hard to be taken seriously or formulate a acceptably proven basis for a study, so no, I don't foresee any movement there. Can you imagine trying to get a decent sample for it?

I don't know if they keep you healthy but I'm sure they won't do you any harm. I guess whatever floats your boat!

I am not qualified to make that determination. However, if you do certain things like using water that is too hot, solutions that are not made for the anus, inserting a nozzle too deep, then yes they may be unhealthy. As to feeling better, I think they are "healthy" in that they provide fantastic stimulus and it seems to make me feel better in every way.

Wow, a 12 year old thread still going strong. Coolio!

Another way to read the evidence is that by taking enemas on a daily basis has made your body incapable of dumping those toxins without them. Not arguing with you, just pointing out that, without verifiable clinical evidence, one person's remedy or prophylactic could, in fact, be the disease.

There simply is insufficient scientific evidence to support the premise(s), much less prove, that enemas are good OR bad for the general population. And, even if such evidence existed, it would not, necessarily, apply to every individual.

But, what do I know? I'm just a grumpy, whiny, old man who enjoys enemas for several reasons.

I am a sixty five. I have been taking a daily enema for decades and have regularly colonics. Everyone says I look brilliant and I feel so well. I wonder why? Perhaps being slim helps, blame that wonderful Rago shapewear!

My colon hydrotherapist told me about a lady in her eighties who started to come for treatments. Within a couple of months her hair gleamed, her skin looked brilliant and her eyes were sparkling. Surprisingly she is now a "regular".