Milk and Molasses Enema

The baking soda alters the colonic pH to make it more favorable for the microcritters to digest the sugar, producing the strongly laxative compounds. Milk may have the same function in an M&M enema.

Replying belatedly: Sodium bicarbonate solution has a pH between 8 and 9 and would certainly provide an alkaline environment for colonic bacteria. But the pH of milk is slightly on the acid side, around 6.5–6.9, which is well within the natural colonic pH range. So I don’t see that milk would be likely to promote bacterial activity, at least by pH adjustment.

The reason for addition of the bicarbonate is from something I read years ago about the Mayo enema, I've no memory where. The milk comment was speculation. Another possible reason for the milk is it contains the sugar Lactose, which may well have a laxative effect by itself.

Essentially, I believe that any sugar, natural or synthetic, that gets into a person's colon gets eaten by some of the microcritters there and strongly stimulates the bowel wall, and the gas and digestion products and irritation produce a laxative effect in about a half hour. All all the sugar containing enemas I can think of require retention times of at least a hour to develop real poo power. The urge certainly starts more quickly, but the instructions uniformly say they should be retained at least a half hour. I was explicitly told this by the nurse who administer a Lactulose enema to me, and compliance was very difficult after about 20 minutes.

As a note, the sugar containing enemas are not ordered in a medical setting for just routine constipation. Don't expect one, even if you haven't pood in three or four days. They are reserved for special circumstances, like serious med-induced constipation or getting someone started post-op or being constipated for a week or longer. Given and retained properly, they are pretty damn uncomfortable.

JUST MOLASSES and warm water works the SAME as MILK AND MOLASSES ! (with less fuss and cost!) I just took one with the SAME amazing cathartic RESULTS.

A rationale occurs to me for adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to concentrated solutions of sugars. The concentrated solution draws water into the bowel. The sugars are also fermented by the gut bacteria, with fermentation products including gases (hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide) and short-chain fatty acids such as acetic acid. The gases, to the extent they are not absorbed, also increase the volume of the colon contents, while the acids are irritating, resulting in a very effective enema. Of the gases, carbon dioxide itself forms an acid solution.

The possible contribution of the sodium bicarbonate would be to react with the acetic and other acids generated by fermentation, resulting in additional carbon dioxide, which would further add to the effectiveness of the enema. However, I can’t say I have noticed any difference between sugar solutions with and without NaHCO₃.

Possibly, but I've read that the bicarbonate is added to make the colonic pH more favorable to the gut bacteria that digest the sugars.

I have tried this, and there is no definitive answer so far as to an exact amount to use besides others experiences.

I can say ( experience ) that you need to 1) make it a quick administration, and 2) Be close to a toilet, as it hit's fairly quickly, to cause an almost need to evacuate. Cramping can be tough.

An M&M enema WILL cause someone to go for sure, and why hospitals used these in the past / present.

@Cleanout_lover

From what I've read in old (pre-1960) nursing books, an M&M enema is usually 8 Oz of whole milk and 8 Oz blackstrap molasses, mixed well and heated to feel warm. It was given with an irrigating can and a Fr 32 colon tube inserted 10 to 15 inches. Administration was quite rapid, taking not more than a couple of minutes for the whole dose. Administration is not difficult because the full dose is only 1 pint. This is more than enough to completely clean anyone out within minutes.

I don't think M&M enemas were used routinely, but were reserved for especially constipated patients when their extra poo power was needed. These days, I think the M&M has been replaced by a Lactulose enema, composed of 300ml Lactulose syrup and 700ml normal saline.

Possibly, but I've read that the bicarbonate is added to make the colonic pH more favorable to the gut bacteria that digest the sugars.

What made me think of this was an experience a couple of weeks ago, when I added 50g of NaHCO₃ to a jug containing a 50-50 mixture of molasses and water. I haven’t done this before, but the result (which I might have foreseen!) was a lot of effervescence, and I ended up with more froth than liquid in the jug. I postponed my enema by a couple of hours, by which time the froth had subsided.

This happened with molasses because it is acidic (pH ~5.5). It doesn’t happen with solutions of glucose, sucrose etc. because they are neutral. But conditions in the colon once fermentation gets under way must be quite acidic, and I would expect the result to be comparable.

Edit: Actually it wasn’t a 50-50 mixture, it was 400g refinery molasses + 600g water.