When and How did it all change?

There's a question that has been in my mind for a long time. In the 1920's through 1950's-60's enemas were a way of life in most households, given regularly as a matter of course. If we were sick or constipated (3 days without a BM being the limit) we were given an enema by Mom, or whoever the caregiver happened to be. Enema bags were hanging in bathrooms in homes all over the country. Talk about giving enemas and having an enema was in our Mom's, Aunt's, Neighbor's, Friend's, conversations all the time. Nobody thought anything about it. Rexall had pride in their special enema bags.

I know that laxatives are being pushed from manufacturers, and they were started in the 1950's, but why did the enema stop as a routine treatment?

I guess my question is, am I the only one, or did you also stop getting enemas in your own homes as a child or teenager? When and how did it all change? ???

Thanks for your input,

sarajane

Sarajane, i'm probably 8-10 years older than you and recall the Golden Age very well. The enema bag was a prominent tool in our house and was utilized on a frequent basis to resolve just about any malady. I noticed that things seemed to change in the early 70's.

Those beautiful ornate enema bags, with their catchy names, started to disappear from the shelves of the drug stores. They were replaced with mass produced vinyl or synthetic equipment and the disposables were pushed in advertising blitzes. Hospitals had made the transition to disposables and phosphate enemas generally took the place of the good old soapsuds or tap water enema.

I had been hospitalized for an appendectomy and knee surgery in 1969 and 1970. I got enemas in relation to both procedures. I was quite disappointed when the Fleet enema replaced the traditional enemas in that setting. Over the years, getting an enema in the hospital has almost ceased. Even bowel preps have evolved to the extent that enemas are seldom prescribed.

I suppose that getting an enema was a fate worse than death for many people. I had friends and relatives that refused necessary medical procedures where an enema might precede a test or operation. It's no wonder that things changed.

My mom and grandma were slow to make the transition. The old red enema bag was still hanging in the shower well into the 80's. I vividly recall conversations amongst family and friends concerning enema procedures in anticipation of pending procedures.

In one instance, we had our usual Sunday gathering for dinner. Desert was quite late getting prepared. My mom was about to eat her desert very late in the evening but was scheduled for tests in the morning that required she not eat after 6pm. My grandma questioned her in front of the whole family about eating so late. My mom said she would take extra cleansing measures if need be. Grandma's reply was to ask her if it was worth a couple of additional enemas to be able to have desert. Mom said it was worth it because she didn't mind having an enema. My aunt and uncle were there and a lengthy discussion occurred about enema use in our family and in the medical setting. I didn't miss a word of that discussion.

By the 80's, getting an enema had all but become impossible in the medical setting. At best, a Fleet's enema might be prescribed. Even the drug chains had stopped advertising fountain syringes or combination syringes. Fleet's were still on sale in the weekly ads. This day and age, even Fleet's are seldom advertised.

I agree with SSE on his observations over the years, although here in the midwest you do still see an occasional ad for Fleets or the generic equivalents. I can also remember well that Rexall and others used to also hold 2 for 1 sales for suppositories, but haven't seen anything like that lately. My impression is that most of the retail better quality enema gear pretty well died in about the mid '70s and I'm sure some places even earlier. I can remember being on a business trip in the NE in the late '80s when I stumbled on to a drugstore going out of business that had shelves of enema gear from many years earlier. I wish I could have purchased more, but did get a few neat nozzles and a couple of vintage bags that I still have. I really would like to revisit those earlier days with what I know now.

Sse4fun posted:

I suppose that getting an enema was a fate worse than death for many people. I had friends and relatives that refused necessary medical procedures where an enema might precede a test or operation. It's no wonder that things changed.

I think this IS the reason enemas fell out of favor. Most people that received them in hospitals complained and eventually they were phased out.

Not being in the medical field I can only guess that enemas were not a high point in a nurses day. People bitched and there was the associated mess to be dealt with by a uncooperative patient. The pharmaceutical companies saw there was a buck to be made and progress brings us to, drink a gallon of this awful tasting shit and I'll see you tomorrow.

This week in Brussels I enter a pharmacy to buy a anal and vaginal douche.

I want to buy it just for a specific short nozzle. The pharmacist was very helpfull. Openning all three different types he had . No luck the searched one was not available. He propose me to order all the types availables in Belgium . Result nothing more . The choice in such equipement is incridibilly sized down in four - five years . A pity the pharmacist was not a lady, with his smile and cooperation I think he also is interested in enemas and douches

The golden age of enemas could also be compared to the golden age of opera. They were both in about the same time period. I would place the golden age of enemas and opera from 1900 to 1960. The Fleet enema and the doctors distaste for giving a child an enema was the end of the golden age of enemas. The greatest singers in operatic history performed from 1900 to 1960. Nothing comparable to those great singers has ever taken place since. In the year 2110, no one will know what an enema is and opera will only be performed in three U.S. cities because the public will have lost its interest in classical music. You read it first here. See you in 2110 to confirm the above.

Chris said:

[quote author=Chris of San Francisco link=topic=28829.msg283582#msg283582 date=1269225034]

. . . In the year 2110, no one will know what an enema is and opera will only be performed in three U.S. cities because the public will have lost its interest in classical music. . . .

[/quote]

I think FIVE MAYBE SIX US. cities (from east to west) Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles. 😁 😁 The death knell has already tolled for commercial classical radio in NYC. :'( :'(

Our two daughters are going to have to figure out the enema fetish for themselves if they haven't already, especially after our being caught in the middle of an S&M scene and our admissions of significant kink to them over Thanksgiving.

SS, you didn't include Dallas. We have a brand, spanking new Winspear Opera House, and Wyly Theatre, the Meyerson Symphony Center where the DSO performs, and the Dallas Ballet, plus a host of other professional dance groups and musical shows that travel/perform to/through the metroplex. And, at this complex of theaters and museums, there is the Dallas Performing Arts High School, which brings together multi-discipline talent from across the state, and beyond. The Dallas metroplex hosts the best that the world has to offer in six (6) different (major house) entertainment venues, including the new Cowboy Stadium; and, Jerry Jones is making the best of it staging major concerts there, coupled with bringing in big name entertainers, motocross, different sports that use the facility, and major names in the boxing world.

The Dallas metroplex is not a little backwoods, jerk water town; it tis a dynamic and thriving community with 6,000,000 people, and an abundance of opportunities in most any field, including medicine and the Arts…

To this day I still remember my mother and her friends sitting around the bridge table talking about enemas like most people discuss the weather. These conversations usually evolved around who took one, how often they took them, when they last gave their kids and enema, etc. One thing that I remember coming up very often (as a small child I was a very good eavesdropper, especially when I heard the word "enema" mentioned) was the topic of the pre-childbirth enemas these women received. Apparently getting two quarts of hot soapy water into a belly that is already holding a baby is quite an experience not quickly forgotten.

As for the big red rubber bag hanging in the bathroom, my mother (now deceased) had her big red rubber enema bag hanging behind the bathroom door up until the day she had to move in with me and my wife in 2002. And no, I didn't throw it away. I am still using the big red Faultless bag on an amazingly frequent basis, but it is no longer hanging behind the bathroom door, but now discretely stored in the bathroom cabinet.

And Faultless, who knows how long that big red bag may last? I'm sure it's a very durable one. It's nice that your keeping it. Cheers to your Mom!

In Germany the brand " Rush " have choice

and the shop below have a large choice, but all is in german

http://www.medtech3000.de/index.php

the picture says more than text, have a good visit.

The choice in the US is allways impressive compared to Europe and Belgium.

What a sensual nostalgy when offering an enema to my lover with such nice equipement.

In my younger days I was so over come by all of the equipment that you could buy in the stores and catalogues.

I had a constant boner yes I said boner because I kept thinking of me and mom in the bathroom with my favorite bulging bag filling me up.

I don't know about when but I was in a panic when I could not find the bags in sears or for that matter any other catalogues.

but I would find them in the drug stores as well as others and had to find them when we got there.

I miss them in the catalogues and I kept one in the room under my bed and mom found it and threw it out one day when I was in school, I asked her what had happend to it and she told me the new one is under the coffee table I never told her why but from then on it was very hard to find anything in the mags as well as the catalogues.

around the 70s fleet enemas and disposable douches where the big thing and I would go through sale items to see them when mid 70s they stopped and I just could find them in the stores so now it has been just the internet that I could see them and visit the memories. I want to go back dammit >😢

The whole culture changed completely between the Kennedy Assassination and the Arab oil embargo. That was the REAL 1960s, culturally.

I agree with the time frame. The Vietnam War , Civil Rights movement and woman rights movement all occurred during this period. The Woman Rights movement may have had the biggest impact on home enemas use as ladies entered the workforce in mass. I recall that in 1972 , my wife's income could not be included in our income for home loan purposes. The law changed in the mid 70s and wife's income must be included. BTW, the prices of house went through the roof at that time.

Enema givers were mostly mothers. By the mid 70s mom was liberated. She was now working her ass off on a job outside the home for 40 to 60 hours a week. She was too tired and busy to keep track of the kids bowl habits. By this time even when an enema was needed by the kids, it was going to be a Fleet Disposable type. There just was not time for the real thing.

I believe several trends were in motion at the same time here, and to some degree, they were operating at crossed purposes; hence, there were both benefits and losses.

The period between 1900 and 1950 was a time of rapid industrialization, urbanization and material progress in the developed world. That, in turn, led to a demand for government-provided security, under uniform standards.So large, impersonal organizations arose in many sectors of daily life, and institutional living, in everything from hospitals to schools, to jails, became more common.

Standards of personal hygiene rose, to the benefit of all of us, but privacy diminished as bathing facilities were often shared by everything from athletic teams to workers in dirty jobs to school students. In all-male facilites without windows, complete nudity in swimming pools was often the rule. These changes also allowed males to indulge latent/closeted homosexual leanings without divulging their inclinations as openly.

With regard to use of the enema, this probably had little direct efffect other than within the most regimented instituions, but it probably conditioned us to talk about them more openly --- a variation on "locker room cameraderie" probably more prevalent among women.

But the pattern appears to have changed agian with the emergence of womens' liberation in the early 1970's, probably because of the tendency of the fairer, "pursued" sex to view their physical selves as diminishing assets, to be secured and protected. The growing number of female-headed, single-parent households almost surely influenced the behavior of the young men raised in them, so that "open showers" at school disappeared at the same time that grooming standards allowed longer hair styles for boys.

Again, the societal view of the enema within this trend wouldn't be too prominent, but it is worth noting that the junior-year "health" class in the high school I attended used to include training in both First Aid and Home Nursing (from a Red Cross textbook which included how to administer an enema -- with illustrations), but those who came after me informed us that the course was quickly modified after the appearence of the famous "Penthouse letters" a few years later.

"Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same

and the hand just rearranges the players in the game."

(Al Stewart - "The Eyes of Nostradamus")

The suspected role of drug industry may explain that why enemas is not used today, but does not explain why this topic became to a ""decent people are not speaking about such things" question. When I was child, parents commonly discussed if somebody in the family needed enemas.

I think the fact that they are rarely given in medical settings like hospitals or medical offices has significantly reduced the number of people who have experienced an enema. This reduces the odds that any large number will find it a positive experience. Used to be commonly given pre-surgery and especially for women in labor. I suspect that labor costs in the medical field have had an impact both as to administration and after the enema cleaning of equipment. I suspect that things go out of "fashion" as well.

They were extremely common in the late 40s and early 50s when I was growing up, and every once in a while you would hear someone mention that they had got an enema. Nobody ever picked up on it because it was too embarrassing but you could usually ask a simple question or two without being though of as "weird"

There is a lot more money in selling fleets and laxatives than hot water bottles. I believe we were a lot better off when enemas were a routine practice.

Enemas were a household item in the past. Now with the advent of laxatives and other meds, enemas are not in favor. However, they should return to use in this modern age. Fleet is advertising cleanliness and pushing enemas for this purpose. One wonders about the feeling of cleanliness, relief, and general well being after enemas. It will come back as education teaches to recognize the special nature of receiving enemas.

Perhaps with the introduction of oral medications that would promise results in 12 hours or so, the need for the whole enema procedure was eliminated. With all the attending ritual of administering in a hospital setting, it is probably avoided for the sake of time , unless it is needed for x-rays.

As far as the home setting, doctors no longer prescribe this procedure, so there is less motivation to get the necessary equipment that might lead to further exploration if it were on hand at a time when one may be interested in something "new".

In any case, it is a shame that more cannot have the experience for the sake of deciding for themselves that they like or dislike enema play.

The way I see it the three major reasons why enema use has declined dramatically in the past 40 years is a combination of drug companies, for profit hospitals and insurance companies. • Drug companies turned constipation into a billion dollar business. Sell the concept to the public that they pop a pill instead of having to endure an invasive routine and your life will be better and 'modern'. Upside for the industry is that the pills where habit forming and the more you took the more you needed. A secondary business was now developed for bowel cleansing before medical procedures as opposed to the 'enemas until clear'. • Hospitals got bought up by large health national health companies. In order to increase profits you reduce labor costs by giving a pill instead of a time consuming procedure that many patients didn't like (or pretended to not like ;-) • Insurance companies encouraged all the above. Laxatives were generally over the counter (no cost to them) and they are billed in hospital setting for a cheap pill and also benefit from lower costs for high paid employees.

The Fleet company played a big hand in this also. Little money to be made in selling enema equipment that lasts for years. If a person is going to take an enema let us be the one to sell it to them and then throw it away. After all it was in your ass for a moment. Early Fleet ads in Parenting magazines literally had an enema bag (with a mean face on the bag) chasing a frightened kid down. Even if you were an 'Enema Mom' that ad had to give you pause.

So you had essentially a big con run on people and they bought in to it hook, hose and bag. Interestingly enough with label checking consumers they just may start to rethink some of this. As many are becoming more aware of what they put in their bodies laxatives might not have the same appeal. Fleet enemas are troublesome with some issues of renal failure and stroke and they surely are not 'Green' considering you throw out the whole thing afterwards. Hospitals will not change unless Doctors start ordering SSEs and the drug companies have got to them years ago although even Drs. are becoming aware of the problems with the bowl preps they have been ordering. So time will tell . . . .

One thing I think that no one has mentioned is the fact that taken an enema at your own pace, in your own environment, and knowing that you

can stop at any time, if needed make the experience a lot easier.

Doctors and nurses should have taken this in account when they choice

what is best for you. Unfortunately they think they know it all

and today we get chemicals to clean us out.

In the 1970s, they could do things they could not imagine 20 years before.

The decline of enemas is mostly due to doctors not recommending them for children because that experience at an early age can cause sexual problems later in life or have an otherwise traumatic result. An they are right. I am an example. I have a serious fetish. I don't simply like enemas, I need them, I crave them. Sometimes I prefer a spouse given enema over intercourse. A sign of enema decline; have you tried to buy an enema bag at a retail chain pharmacy? Good luck. I had to go online for a cheap plastic feeling/rubber bag.

The standard 1 3/4 qt retail drugstore enema bags are OK (I have two of them), but I much prefer my 4-qt homemade transluscent pitcher. More time ejoying the receiving and less refilling time, plus it's easy to deal with without having to worry about where or how I'm going to hang it. Yes, if I'm going to do a stand-up enema, then the old faithful Red bag works better.

I am answering this after only reading sarajane's first post and question. I think the real answer is that A) better diets and understanding of fiber mean that even though we're an overweight nation, we're a regular nation, B) people came to realize a bit of constipation isn't going to kill anyone, C) it became easier to keep a Fleet in the vanity drawer than a bag sitting on the linen cupboard shelf.

I imagine when Iread the above I'll find folk who think it the drug companies, or the doctors. Fiddlesticks! Us moms got lazy. We got jobs, we came home tired. We didn't have time to fret if little George had done his thing that day or not. We were exhausted when we got home from work and the last thing we were going to do was an enema for someone else in the family, or even ourselves. We got the kids to bed, cleaned up the kitchen, got a laundry on and fell asleep in front of the TV.

If you want a reason enemas, real enemas, are a thing of the past, you need look no further than us moms who turned from being homemakers to liberated career women.

Then, in hospitals, nurses became university grads and wanted to do treatment plans, not bed side nursing. That suited the hospital accountants who knew a soap suds enema cost $50 to deliver, and a Fleet, perhaps $8. Both including nursing time.

No conspiracy, just life in the fast lane.

Now I'll read the other replies.

Linda

I remember as a child that enemas were a routine treatment for fevers. I'm not sure what the theory behind it was, but every time I had a fever, my mother would give me an enema. Perhaps the widespread use of aspirin and other more modern drugs for fever reduction replaced the use of enemas.