When and How did it all change?

Does anyone think that enema use in the USA is on the rise? I believe that most people using them recreationally are those who took them during the 50's and 60's and learned how to enjoy the experience. I have seen a steady decline in their availability over the years. When the baby boomers no longer have partners to share them with there will be a large decline in their popularity/availability.

Seems to me that most of the new members show their age as 20+. Am I wrong?

I know that Fleet and related Enemas sell, in several local Food

Stores are the First Aid and Patent Medicine sections.

When in the stores, I check the "Throw Away Enemas".

In one newer one, some ladies are really busy.

Stocked 6 boxes to a row. 3 rows. 9 or 10 double-boxes

gone. The area is in disarray (messed up).

That means 18 enema bottles. Squeeze away.

Wish I had a camera there, wonder who she is.

A victim of an "enema mom". Can I be next.

In the past several yrs, noticed an attractive lady in her 30's,

Wearing a gray jersey top and shorts. She bent over and picked

up what I thought were cough drops. No, a last double-pack!

I followed her for 5 minutes and twice walked by her cart and

peeked in, I was right. Would have asked her if needed help,

but don't need trouble.

Or could insert a generic email address on slips of paper

into Fleet, etc boxes. If you want something better, contact me.

Then might make the Newspaper. Fleet Enema Bandit!

My bag is dry lately, maybe be on CNN. And have a Fan Club.

It all started to end when Dr. Spock wrote in his book at the beginning of the '50's that he didn't think enemas for children were such a good idea. The pharmaceutical industry started to quote that when pushing stuff like Fleet Enemas, and the never-ending piles of laxatives, stool softeners, etc., etc. Moreover, as our society started moving faster and faster, people worked harder, etc., many just didn't want to take the time and effort for a good enema or two. By the mid-sixties, most of the enema gear that had once been the centerpiece of many a drugstore display almost vanished, and to find anything of any quality beyond a cheapo drugstore 3-way enema, douche, and hot water bottle required going to elaborate lengths to locate. It was a gradual process, but has left us bereft these days of all the glow and variety.

Moreover there are two generations since that have learned less and less about enematic joys and lore, and it is only through the wide variety of the internet information that young people know little about enemas except that the word usually produces an embarrassed laugh or groan.

So welcome to you 20 and 30 year olds who have found your way here. It is you and your children who may yet turn the tide!

Health care is a consumer item like anything else. Trends & people's taste change--for good & ill. Witness the number of pregnancy & birth related fora in which women declare that the possibility of receiving an enema is scarier than any of the real complications that labor & delivery might produce. It's not a terrible thing that hospitals don't routinely give everyone who passes through their doors an enema or take all temperatures rectally anymore, but the pendulum has swung a bit far in the opposite direction. Witness about ten years ago a construction worker who sued a NY hospital for doing a forced rectal exam on him. He had gone into the ER with a suspected head injury. The rectal was to ensure that he still had adequate sphincter tone, the lack of which would indicate occult injury. He refused. He'd rather risk death or incapacitation than to have a finger momentarily in his bum. They did it anyway, & he sued. The suit was ultimately dismissed. But it was certainly an indication of how much things have changed.

For sure the pharma companies have done absolutely everything they can to encourage and convince all society members to ONLY use their products for anything and everything. I vividly recall one time while shopping with my Aunt Betty we were walking in the medication section of a market and she picked up a Fleet enemas package. She examined it and then said to me;

"why would anyone pay good money for this when U can make a one time purchase of a good douche bag and use it over and over?"

"Just a way to get your money son!"

Of course later on in the week, she took me into the bathroom and naturally I noted all was prepared. The armless chair in the middle of the room, the red bag full and hanging, a jar of lubricant readily available and then me across her lap!!! My health and well being was her sincere concern and just look how many of us here remember these moments and yearn for them again.

Any ladys' want to administer to me within a discreet arrangement, please free to contact me.

Ray Johannsen

Not sure when the change came, but it is here. Several years ago I had a severe "tail" problem and finding no real medical advice locally, I took to the net and found a world class hospital and a colo-rectal surgeon with unbelievable degrees and accomplishments in Florida. Several days after somewhat 'emergency' surgery as we discussed recovery plans, my wife mentioned I had not had a BM for over a week (Needless to say I was petrified from a pain aspect when I did 'go'.) and wouldn't an enema be a proper course to establish a smooth bowel function. He responded that he believed in working 'from the top down'. Thus it was Miralax and Metamucil to get things going again. However, I did use warm irrigations to the rectal area several times a day and I must confess on occasion an irrigation became an enema which immeasurably helped speed my recovery. To this day, I believe when one gets 'clogged', there is nothing like a good enema to set things right.

In 1965 I left Texas to teach at a high school in Frankfurt, Germany. On strolls through downtown I kept a sharp eye out for bags or cans. There was one shop that had a display of bulb syringes with big black vulcanite nozzles. Another shop had plastic/nylon irrigators with red rubber hoses and the typical black European nozzles with the flow control at the base of the nozzle. That wasn't so hot because there was no loud click to signal the surge of the soapy enema solution. One could choose between a one liter or two liter plastic bucket. You know I bought the two liter one. In nearby Darmstadt I spotted a medical supply with the white cans displayed in the window. I circled the block and got one.

Amsterdam had a shop with nothing but enema/douche equipment, There was an unbelievable array of three quart bags draped over the arms of a mannequin. The large bulb syringes had stainless steel fluted nozzles that would make a guy's butthole cringe.

On a weekend in Paris I was strolling down the Champs Elysées. Suddenly there was a window display with the elegant porcelain irrigators one can still find on eBay. The shop also displayed a serious looking bag with the collapsible metal scaffold at the top. I think they were known as Compacto here. My aunt had one.

When I left the States there were enema displays in all the Walgreen & Rexall stores. Walgreen had displays of the Jones Irrigators right in the middle of the aisle near the pharmacy. The avocado Monarch syringes were the rage. When I got back in 1974 the enema displays were absent except in older drugstores. At the time I had a sales job that covered the area within 100 miles of Houston. It became a daily game to see if I could spot an old drugstore and check out the bags or cans. That was a fun job. I found lots. Some of the old stores had boxes full of replacement nozzles. That was always a bonanza.

I blame Dr. Spock. The medical world as a whole. Big money.

1900's women's enema popularity was also result of poor restroom facilities, and the use of chamber pots. It was better to empty your bowel in the morning at home, not into a neighbors chamber pot or on a filthy train after removing layers of clothes. Then the 40's came along with the view that not having a BM each day caused health issues, so BM checks by moms became a daily issue. Then the big enema killer was the birth delivery prep enema....so many woman had such a terrible experience, the last thing they were attracted too wa an enema.....my wife is one of the latter reasons an enema was never given i our house...to her knowledge anyway

I think a lot of it started in the mid 1970s when they started teaching young girls that they didn't need to douche. The girls started questioning the routine use of enemas at that point. Since women were still the primary care givers, it all essentially followed logically.

Some pretty accurate views of the demise of the home enema... But by the 1970's colonic clinics were dissapearing, now many cities world wide seem to have several clinics. In Pennsylvania you couldn't list in the yellow pages, and for several years there were none listed in New York City, and just a couple in Los Angeles.

Also look on line at the number of places equipment is available on line, consider The Optimal Health Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin. There seemed to be a researgnce in the interest in enemas, and it's not just the people posting here.

Perhaps we will never get back to the days of frequent childhood enema like many of us got, but the clientele of many of the colonic clinics now is women in their 20's and 30's.

There was a comment here about Belgium, which reminded me of my visits to Germany. In th mid 90's there were still a couple of stores near Roseheimer Platz in Munich with enema equipment on display in the window, post 2000 I have not seen any.

Your all right about the fall of the good old enema days about the end of the 60's. I was lucky an got in on the enema thing before they stopped . Yes It all started when doctors felt it not needed to give kids enemas any more . Then the dam drug companies started pushing those FLEET enemas and laxatives . GOD they made so wonderful ENEMS SYRINGES back then .

I believe that today most family's are afraid to give their children enemas. In my day, you did what you were told and no lip about it. Today almost anything you do to your child could be considered some form of abuse. If the little nose picker gets mad at you for giving them an enema, they are savvy enough(thanks to the tube) to know they can get even with you. Call the cops and charge you with sexual assault or molestation. I have watched kids in the grocery store run around and do what ever they want. I have also heard them smart mouth their mothers and store workers who do get on to them. It's not like it was in the good old days. It seems like there is always someone watching, and waiting to get into someone else's business. I'll get off my soap box now.

I agree with Gape. Because of the political "flavor" of today, anything done can and will be viewed as sexual abuse. In addition to this, this is a "disposable society" and even if you choose an enema, it is of the Fleet type. Use it once (with it's harsh chemicals" then just throw it away so the plastic bottle can wind up either in the ocean to kill ocean life or last in a landfill for 1000 years. Also, big Pharma makes so much more money on pills, yeah just take the pill and wait, then get the worst cramps about an hour or so then go. Enemas are gentle, natural and fun. Even when the bag gets old, it decomposes naturally. That was the downfall of the enema. Around the early to mid 1970s.

Enemas were still in during the early 70's. My wife got one with all three of my kids but sometime right after that they fell out of favor. While they will still be prescribed as a last resort I think the medical community regards them as an invasive, usually unnecessary step that can usually be corrected with diet or laxatives. I think they tend towards suppositories now before an enema.

During the late 1960s nd 1970s they developed treatments for a lot of illnesses that could not really be treated before that, especially in children.

Also, women went to work in numbers not seen even during WWII, they were not home to give their children enemas.

The courts got more aggressive on liability generally, and medical malpractice especially, so doctors started managing their personal liability risks in new ways.

All of those things converged at nearly the same time.

I agree with Greg and LindaB, but have to wonder if Dr, Spock's advice to parents added to the decline.

http://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-trends/article/dr-benjamin-spock-child-care-and-controversy

I don't think it was any one thing.

Part of it was the fact that women tend to have lifetime careers outside the home. A career is no longer something we are expected to give up when we get pregnant.

There are more single parent households than ever Hard to make time to interact with our children. when we do have several hours to spend with one, we certainly don't want to spend it giving them enemas

There are effective treatments, and often cures for illnesses that nothing could be done for 50 years ago.

There used to be a thinking that 'It won't do any harm, so even if it won't do any good, we are doing something, or at least the mother feels like SHE is doing something. That's gone now, and is not coming back.

Medical practices have standardized, and malpractice has broadened in definition, and insurance companies have gotten a lot more balking as to what they will pay for and to what level. Laws have changed as well. As have child abuse laws for parents. Also, teachers, and nurses have become better informed as to what to look for in child abuse cases.

I read over some of the letters my Mom left supposedly to me at specific ages like 7, 13, 16, 20 sound more like she is writing to a younger self. The world has changed THAT much!

I believe it all started in the late 60's when the medical industry ( pharmacy drug companies ) and the American .Medical.Association realized the large potential income of the laxative industry. It was about that time that my Mom's doctor informed her that the enemas that she had been prescribed by him to give me all my life were bad for me. She was told that she should cease the procedures immediately. And if that was enough, the good Doc quickly gave her some helpful information on several potential laxatives that she could switch to. I believe, Mom, like so many other mothers across this country, took the bait, hook, line and sinker and have not yet realized that they were scammed by their trusted providers. Have you seen all the laxative commercials in magazines? On tv? And if you just happen to go to the local Wal Mart and watch one check out isle for 30 minutes you would not believe the number of laxative products that go through the check out. We are a money hungry society! Anybody that has ever taken an enema knows that they do a great job giving relief to a constipated person every time. No expense except maybe a couple of quarts of water, a few soap suds, a couple of teaspoons of table salt. And the time it takes to prepare the enema, inject the fluid, and gain relief is minor to the time it takes for some of those laxatives to work, if they work at all. Meanwhile, the drug companies and many doctors are grinning all the way to the bank. Why are we so easily used? Stupidity and trust in a profession that has sold itself to the dogs. To me "It's give me an ENEMA or give me nothing else." They will never get my MONEY!

As others have said, there were several reasons why enema use changed. We became a throw-away society of with emphasis on quick over good. Two examples: TV dinners and Fleet enemas, neither of which I liked.

My first remembrance of a Fleet enema described in a local drugstore add was about 1969 or 1970. Being a confirmed enema user at the time I had to try it to see if it was true that it was more comfortable because the volume was small. Yes, the volume was small, and it sure did make me shit, but I would not call it comfortable. It irritated my ass (is that how it works?) and the worst part was I had a second loose reaction some time later. I was not ready to give up my bulb or bag for this. It was effective but surely not fun. And for someone who gave himself enemas because I wanted to, rather than I needed to, it was not going to replace the bulb and bag. But apparently, others liked them better than I did. Or, as we see today, the options have been taken away as the Fleet and its generic cousins are all that you find on the shelf in the drugstore.

My enema use began around the later 60's, and was what had been recommended by my older Philippino Dr at the time. My first enema was at his office and from a bag.

I recall oral laxatives had been tried, including the palatable Exlax candy but I was usually able to hold back on those up to the point of an accident. Suppositories too, but often I was too backed up to get one in and/or keep it there until it melted. I can remember him telling my mom that if I can't or won't go to the bathroom, "give him an enema."

Mom seemed to had opted for the disposable enemas right off the bat. I may have been given a children's sized at first, because I recall that I had held the first one at home back too, to a point. I think I was given an adult sized one the next time that I needed one, because it was harder to hold back. The next time I was given a bag enema which totally freaked me out I remember crying and pleading. After that it was mostly the adult disposable enemas and I had given up trying to hold back on them, but still protested getting one usually at least to some degree.

I think that the disposables were somehow made to be "less frightening," possibly even "less embarrassing" for some, that they don't have to have that "thing" hanging around that isn't probably used that often by most folks anyway.

The Fleet enemas were I believe, probably marketed toward people who had little to say about not wanting to use them - the very young and the infirm. I have seen the old ads about them being less traumatic than the bag for young children, and I have seen the ads touting their use by health care persons to more easily administer enemas and to perhaps add slightly more dignity for the patient.

I assume that mom had no problem finding the bag that we had at home, back at that time. I certainly wasn't shopping for enema bags back in the 60's or even the 70's, but I did in the 80's. There were still open top bags around but mostly combo bags at most places. Gone were the red hoses, metal clamps, and black attachments though, except at a few NOS places. I don't think that a lot of people were aware of how rare that stuff would become.

Having been conditioned I suppose, about the "big, bad, scary enema bag," and how embarrassing it is to even have one, I began my self administered use of enemas with disposables because "I did not want that bag." Later though "I got that bag" and discovered that not only was it not that bad I actually preferred it. Perhaps if my need for an enema had been less often I might not have figured that out.

I don't know when it all changed but I sure regret not going to the hospital back when an enema was a matter of fact . Because of all the enemas and colonic irrigation I have had at a spa. The hospital enema is one thing I have to experience. Now I just have to think of a way for my doctor to order an enema or go to the ER and somehow have an enema ordered. I know it won't be different than any other enema I have had , its just the experience of it all but I can't complain seeing how I get an annual colonoscopy in April That's my Christmas !

I remember when I had my first child in the 70's, my mother and others warned me about the big soapy enema I would get in the labor room. I got a Fleet. Some time later in discussion with my good friend, a mother of two also, and an LPN, the subject of the labor room enema came up. She said she also got a Fleet because it is all about saving time (which is money) in the hospital. A bag enema takes about a half-hour to administer considering obtaining the equipment, mixing the solution and ten to fifteen minutes to get it into the patient who are often uncooperative. A Fleet takes maybe five minutes total. Open the box, remove the cap, insert and squeeze. Done.

I have been fortunate to not require a hospital stay other than for the birth of my kids, so I don't know for sure, but I have been told that it used to be you had to have a BM the morning you would be discharged from the hospital or you got an enema. Is that still true?

And it seems that doctors these days discourage enemas for home remedies, where as in times past, the enema was the first thing to try when someone did not feel well. I know that as a little girl, if I had a tummy ache and had not gone poop that day yet, a small enema was the first thing I got before anything else.

I'd venture to guess that no enemas are given preceding a discharge, these days. That used to be the case up until the early 70's around my location. Those pre-delivery enemas sure seemed to turn many against that simple procedure.

I have posted elsewhere that I had received enemas in the hospital many years ago. I have desired an enema after surgery on a few occasions since then. At best, many different stool softeners, and maybe a laxative, but an enema is unlikely to happen.

I like to read about enemas etc. in Google Books and on Wayback. They have many of the old texts and advertisements. It's possible to review the history and evolution. There are many newspaper columns and articles as well. When Fleet first came out, it appears that "time" and "ease" were really pushed. Newspaper headlines told people that the "days of the old fashioned enema bag" were over. It indicated that people would be happy about that due to their dread about potential enemas.

If one desires to experience those procedures of the past, it may be necessary to find a play doctor or nurse who has a recall and understanding of that "Golden Age". Besides, can't us old farts enjoy some of those simple procedures and pleasures?

Modern medicine uses more disposable items now. Hepatitis is rampant. There are more hospital based infections now.

It's hard enough for hospitals to keep MRSAs and other infections down even with disposable items.

You wouldn't want them to use anything up your ass that was in someone else's, no matter how much they disinfected it. Would you use a disinfected toothbrush, that had been in a stranger's mouth???

But why has the number of enema-related items at amazon's increased so tremendously during the last decade? Without an adequate market demand no profit orientated company would do that. So: who buys more and more of that enema stuff?

So: who buys more and more of that enema stuff?

Well, there's the "alt-health" types whose claims haven't been proven, and, hmmm.... I wonder who else might be buying enema stuff...

Anyone?

Buehler?

Ah well, might forever remain a mystery. Like what all of that personal lube is used for. I note that some of the more edgy containers might say it can possibly, occasonally be used for "vaginal dryness"

As to why things changed, well I had a front-row seat in the '80s as things moved from "intervene" to "constipation really doesn't matter, let your body do what it wants and it will be OK." While I'm not sure about dire things coming from being chronically constipated (and it appears that there isn't solid support for that) I DO know that it gets rather uncomfortable most of the time. Still, I put up with it because I thought that was just the way it was, and at the time it seemed better than any of the ways to treat it. Of course I also was 4-9 at the time, which might lead to some suspicion that my world view wasn't too wide and my assessment of what was "better" might be a bit biased.

Cheryl77177 posted the following above, "... so I don't know for sure, but I have been told that it used to be you had to have a BM the morning you would be discharged from the hospital or you got an enema. Is that still true?"

I wish it was, but I would have to say No and you don't get one upon entering the hospital for major surgery any longer, or at least I didn't get an enema when I underwent major kidney surgery 20 years ago, either upon entering the hospital or being discharged from it. I expected one before the surgery and really needed one as it had been about three or four days since my last BM. I asked the nurse and she looked on the chart and said no enema was prescribed, not even a Fleet Enema.

I know someone who underwent brain surgery in 2010 and was in the hospital for more than a week and go no enema before the surgery or afterward before she was discharged. She was really constipated when she got home, but was not raised getting enemas so that remedy was not even mentioned or considered at all. To me that was dereliction of duty by the medical profession letting her suffer like that, with no thought given to the patient concerning that possible problem.