Colon Bursting

I have a couple of friends who have relatives whose colon has burst. I don't know why but one died and the other is still in the hospital after two surgeries and is not doing well. It got me to thinking.

Has any one ever heard of a person's colon bursting from an enema?

Thanks

Can happen, rarely, on a large enema.

That is one reason why I am reluctant to try a balloon nozzle.

To me, leakage occurs for a reason!

Most colon perforations are caused by a ruptured diverticulum or perforation during colonoscopy for polyp excision. Perforation due to overpressure from an enema is a very rare thing. If you do have diverticular disease of the colon, you are at increased risk of perforation. How much the risk is increased and what the max pressure that will cause perforation are unknown.

The G.I. doc who does my colonoscopies tells me that a perforation, when it occurs, is generally not a puncture, but instead is a tear, where the device catches on the bowel and pulls on it as it is moved in further. She has told me the percentage of times it occurs, but I can't remember what it is (very low). I have seen warnings about ruptures occurring from enemas, but have never read or heard of one happening.

On the 4th of July, 2005 I was taken into the ER with severe gut pain. After a few X-Rays, the PA told me that I had a 'ruptured' diverticula and would have to have immediate surgery. And that was the beginning of 6 major gut surgeries, the last in 2010.

Don't fool around with diverticulosis!

the boxcar

Yes, I agree with vito that a ruptured colon is usually from diverticulosis or during instrumentation of the colon. I have never heard of one happening from an enema when there was no preexisting colon disease.

Not from an enema per se, but you definitely want to go slow when taking an enema. I always take a 4 quart enema but don't let it run in quickly, for many reasons. You wouldn't want to shove a garden hose up your butt and force a large amount of water in all at once.

The use of a colon tube for a "high enema" increases the risk of a colon perforation. The risk is increased more with an inexperienced user or giver of a high enema with the colon tube. Be careful out there. One needs to stop immmediately if there is resistance to the insertion of the tube as it goes up the colon as it may be hitting the colon wall.

This is one reason why common sense should reign supreme when engaging in enema play. I know we have read all the stories of large volumes of solution injected, massive tubes and nozzles inserted and some of us (me included) have lived vicariously through these posts. But the real truth is adhering to certain precautions about volume, what you stick "up there" and listening to your body. I'm not advocating a purely "vanilla" experience every time... just taking care of the little details that can spell the difference between a wonderfully fun experience or the proverbial nightmare.

That's why I always sign my posts with....

Have fun and play safe!

Deb

I have a friend, a women who has had multiple colon surgeries. It seems that one surgery causes scar tissue which leads to even more problems. The first surgery resulted from damage from a colonoscopy. She refuses to use enemas and chooses to live like this: no salads, seeds, nuts, grains etc. No alcohol. But, anyone who uses high volume enemas, that is more then 3 qts of water or uses colon tubes or unusual substances is asking for it.

Wow that would have to be one very big enema to do that.

I would think you would be very uncomfortable to say the least for an enema to burst your guts.

You would have to be plugged water tight , allmost impossible, and only with pressure from the mains water .

Neither of which you are going to do are you ???

So a preexisting condition is almost certainly required . I would also think that if you regularly do enemas your guts will be in better

shape and thus the risk lower if not infinitesimal.

Xx

There was a post, on Zity.biz, from several years ago, about a poster who perforated his colon with a colon tube. I am wary of those. I've tried them but can't get them deeper than about 18 inches. So I just use lots of water instead. But I've wondered if a fully inflated colon could burst like a balloon.

I never use anything to block the flow back out of my asshole, I feel that is my pressure relief valve of sorts.

I have my regular colonoscopies and seem OK except for some very slight diverticulitis which the dr. said is pretty normal. I never push anything, not into huge enemas, etc. I like a good fullness, but not into capacity.

I've heard it is possible to rupture an intestine via improper insertions and also enemas if one has a problem with their intestines and/or is way too much into capacity. In my youth I use to do about 3 or 4 qts. Now, I only do about 2 qts., estimated/guessed, because I just use a shower hose.

I saw x-rays of colon cancer on internet. Seems colon cancer causes the colon to sort of collapse. or contract. I've wondered what would happen if a person with colon cancer took an enema.

This post deals only with the healthy bowel.

So long as you keep the bag no higher than 1 1/2 to 2 feet above the hips and avoid sharp-edged nozzles or long colon tubes, you should not be able to generate any more pressure than normal peristalsis. Hung that low, the bag is going to empty very slowly, so if it's pressure and cramps that float your boat, this will provide ample opportunity for them.

Back when the quirky Dr. Kellogg had his famous (or infamous) San, he used 4 or more quarts of water and much more pressure on patients. If he ever succeeded in killing anyone with this procedure, he managed to keep the fact hidden. So I would imagine that the ordinary, low-pressure enema is extremely safe and that if the bowel ruptures during an enema with no more than 2 feet of static head, it would have soon ruptured from ordinary bowel motility anyway. The bottom line is if it hurts too much, stop and expel.

One last note. For those who like playing with the shower shot nozzle, note that where a bag is going to deliver pressure head of a few feet at most, the typical water pressure of 80 to 95 PSI in home plumbing translates to somewhere between about 184 to 207 feet of head. You would NOT hang an enema bag anywhere near that high. So be extremely careful when using the shower for play.

A healthy colon bursting? Not likely! What is likely is that the burst, or leak, will occur at the injection point and cause a mess! At the other end of the colon the illeo-cecal valve will likely open and cause the recipient to regurgitate. The regurgitation will likely continue until the injection of fluid stops.

As to the Shower Shot, I now have one and before I used it for the first time, I installed a gate valve to drop the pressure to about one pound psi. If you begin to cramp, it is a simple matter to drop or pull the nozzle out at the first sign of intolerable pressure. Not much danger there.

A gate valve, ball valve or whatever does not reduce pressure. It only reduces the flow rate.

You need a pressure reducing apparatus to reduce pressure.

Healthy colon? How do you know? There are relatively common conditions, such as diverticuli, that you might never know you have. Those pouch like outgrowths can be weak points.

I think I swore off addressing this subject again. But I never could stay on track.

I have watched the height of water during a colon contraction. It's about 1 foot for me.

Obviously I don't have to worry about pressures less than 1 foot because, were they harmful I would long ago have had a rupture just from contraction forces w/o an enema.

I conclude from that that about 1.5 ft is quite safe for bag above hips. Probably 2 is also. Higher is a worry.

BUT as colon and gut fill, distention causes at least some increase in cavity pressure which reduces the net enema pressure on gut and colon AND before you r completely filled the gut has at least some ability to relieve pressure as water flows from hi pressure area to lower pressure one closer to tummy.

Still, safest way to play is low bag ht and get higher flow by drilling out nozzle holes.

I continue to maintain that volumes great enough to cause nausea or to cause heart beat changes r way out of the safe zone even if they r for some people still in the fun zone.

This is precisely why I am extremely skeptical of the benefits of a 3 or 4 quart enema. 2 is my max and that is soooooooo OK with me lol.

This is a real possibility with large volumes. always be careful with capacity.

I am on the same page as owen. 2 qts is my max and often the first fill is smaller. I eventually can take 2 qts easily after 2 or 3 fills and I am fine with that. I am not trying to break a record and cause damage (and pain) doing so. I can always have another fill if that is not enough.

No problems here with large voulme enemas 3 4 5 qts. held very high pressure feels good. my motto stay clean stay healthy . an enema a day will keep the doctor away.

Perforation/tear during colonoscopy - rare yes, but my saying: "When there is a 10% chance of rain and it does rain you get 100% wet!"

no problems here with large voulme enemas 3 4 5 qts. held very high pressure feels good. my motto stay clean stay healthy . an enema a day will keep the doctor away.

. . . unless you rupture your colon. Then you get to rush to the ER or die.

I would avoid using more than two quarts because of the possibility of complications

That's the REASON I have never used and never plan to use a retention nozzle.

Don't know how my mother was able to use one.

I found out when I was in college that my mother actually DID have a twin sister. Apparently that twin died of a burst colon at age 13. The mother was never charged, but that would have been the Early 1970s in Canada. Things were different. Today she would likely have done time for the whole incident.

Somehow my mom was able to numb herself enough to still use retention nozzles after that. I don't know how!! If she's alive and I ever find her, that's one thing I want to ask her. How she went on like nothing had happened.

In the case that you will swallow a good dose Castor Oil instead of taking a high enema your colon will never burst.

On July 4th 2005 I was taken to the ER with terrible gut pains. A PA did the examination, that included X-rays and he determined that I had a ruptured diverticula and would need immediate surgery. I then spent 4-5 days in the ICU and finally moved into a single room. During the surgery portion of my Sig was removed and left with a colostomy. Come Labor Day weekend I went back to surgery for repair that couldn't be done in July, and the colostomy moved up into the small intestine (Called as illiostomy). Then Veteran's Day they folk removed the illiostomy, hooked back up (making me a complete asshole again; my friends always knew that).

I will say that if I ever had to have a colostomy I think I'd eat my gun if I could remember where I put it. It was the most VILE medical experience I've ever had. NEVER again! (Everything works well now butt I need to have enemas every other day....golly gee dooncha know.)

the boxcar