Why has society's view of enemas changed

While some adult bookstores sell what is called an anal douche (large bulb and nozzle) It seems that there is not a tremendous market for enema gear. With limited shelf space, they have to go with what sells. Also, some people are quite shy regarding their individual kinks, and opt to purchase discreetly online. I would just love to find a fully stocked enema store around my area. I would be a frequent customer!!

I have read all the negatives regarding the use of enemas. They are time consuming, whereas laxatives are quick and effective. Okay, you can take a laxative and wait for it to work, or run the risk of going out and having it suddenly kick in at a most inopportune moment. Add to the fact that laxatives also may leave you with a case of the trots, making you constantly be near a not so clean public restroom. Fleets disposable enemas work by irritating the colon and could result in several bowel movements over a period of time, as there is not enough solution to reach the fecal material higher up. With a bag (or bulb) you control what is going up inside you, the amount and temperature.

Enemas are invasive. So is douching for females, but there are whole shelves devoted to different douching solutions and fragrances. Tampons are invasive, but there again, shelves devoted to them. Injections are invasive, but doctors are always trying to stick you with something when you go to them.

Enemas are abusive. What is the difference between giving a child an enema, or sticking a suppository up their butt? You see plenty of children's suppositories on the shelves, Including those little glycerin squeeze bulbs. But if you are lucky, you might find a children's disposable enema buried on the bottom shelf, way in the back. I was "abused" as a child with enemas, and as a result, have grown up in very good health. If you look around, what isn't abusive? It is not the item that is abusive, but the person abusing it, so why blame the product? We are constantly bombarded with drug commercials wanting us to take a pill for this and that, yet cannot understand how our kids become hooked on drugs!

Well, that's my rant for whatever its worth. I am an enema user and will continue to do so, no matter what society says.

A couple of years ago, I bought an enema with a large squeeze bulb on it at an adult store. I quickly decided that I did not like using the bulb, but I really liked the nozzle, so I made a way of adapting it to an enema bag hose and use it all of the time. Next time you are in one of those stores, look at the squeeze bulb as a possible source for a nozzle.

hankb

The majority of society has moved away from the home enema bag, although some are still being sold online, but in growing numbers seem to be embracing colon therapy as an alternate form of cleansing. The number of colon therapy practices appears to be growing. When I began going to a therapist nearly four years ago, she was the only one near where I live. Now there are three or four within a 30-minute or so drive. My own therapist is an RN who decided to quit the rigor of hospital nursing administration because she was tired of having only limited contact with patients. I go for a cleanse twice a year, sometimes three times. The clinic where I go offers a variety of what I'd call "holistic" or natural treatments. They are thinking about trying to offer an enema series, including the third enema containing coffee. We'll see how that plays.

Obviously, Fleet has changed the "enema landscape" since around the 1970s. While not as effective in ridding waste from beyond the sigmoid, those little squeeze bottles are quicker and easier, so it's easy to see why nurses and many folks who give and take enemas prefer them to the old-fashioned bag or bucket.

I can't add much to what's already been posted here, except to say that I do see some interest among professional women in the 20s-40s in "natural" colon cleansing using enemas rather than laxatives and other medications. Women especially do read up on alternative medicine and what's best for our bodies, and if they can get over the hang-up that most of society seems to have about putting a tube or nozzle in your bottom, at least one of my girlfriends in her 40s reports liking the results, feelings and sensations.

Vicki.V is right about Fleet. I've been told by people who have to know because of their associations with pharmacies that whenever there is a sale on either Fleet or Store Brand boxed enemas on a Sunday newspaper insert, the boxed enemas go out the door in droves, and often outsell any of the other items in the flyers. So, don't relate to me that enemas are gone. Enema bags and douche syringes might be a lot less sold than previous times; however, many a child, teens and adults get the Fleet style enemas. I have also read that college gals are once again starting the use of real douche bags and real enema bag enemas for need, and for fun. Have no way of knowing if this is true or false. Sure hope that it is true.

I have to concur with Vicki V's comments on Fleet changing the environment. I had a pharmacist neighbor for many years that had a Rexall store in the 60s thru the 80s. He and I were looking through one of the sale flyers one day while having coffee and he told me this. Back in the 60s, the 2 for 1 sales of glycerin suppositories were a real big sales item and he offered that lots of people still bought water bottles. When the mid 70s came along the migration was to Fleets or store brand disposable enemas and when they were on sale they went by the case. At the same time the sale of bags dropped to almost nothing. I left the area in '78, but can only assume that in the later years the story was still the same, although Rexall for store franchises had ended and he was affiliated with some other brand until he retired in the early 90s. Guess we are a society of convenience and chemicals. Quick and easy is the current motto. Whether it works well or not doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference.

This site continues to amaze me. I thought there were few if any interested in enemas but after reading here its amazing.

I continue to learn about enemas. And the reality is enemas are good in so many ways as well as being extremely enjoyable. All praise to this site

I have to agree with previous comments that the Fleet enema drove many of the changes. In the 70's my best friend was a nurse. One of her first jobs as a nurse was at a small rural nursing home. When she took the job we kidded her that all she was going to do was give enemas to old people. Some time later over coffee (or beer?) I asked her how many enemas she has given? She asked, "to other people, or myself?", and laughed. She went on to say that she worked the night shift and enemas were usually given in the morning if the resident needed one. And they were almost always a Fleet for cost reasons. She explained that on average it took twenty to thirty minutes per bag enema for prep, administer, and clean up but a Fleet took five minutes. And to the business managers time was money.

She said they had a stock of plastic enema bags but they were mostly used on themselves. Everybody had one in their locker. Sometimes the boredom at three AM was relieved by giving themselves an enema in the lounge. The nurses lounge had a couch and a private bathroom. There were only three or four of them around at that time and they sort of took turns while the others prepared for the next day. She said she never had to give an enema to a resident on the job, but had several herself.

So today, even in the general public, few are going to spend the time it takes for a real enema. If it is just constipation the Fleet works pretty good. "Real" enemas are still used by those of us old enough to remember them, and I suspect by younger people as kinky sex play. Just my opinion.

I've read a lot of good points in this thread as to the demise of the "Golden Age" of enemas. I do believe enemas making a resurgence in the mainstream market. With the rising popularity of holistic wellness, I don't think it will be long before we see more mainstream marketing of home enema solutions and equipment. You can bet that the pharmaceutical companies and colonic clinics will exert great money and effort to foster fear and distaste about the practice, leaving millions of people deceitfully misinformed and confused.

Fleets are effective in relieving a blockage in your lower rectum, but unless you are planning on standing on your head for awhile, does nothing to remove a blockage higher up. I have had this problem many times, where a small enema still comes out clear, but I am still constipated and bloated. Only a high volume (2 quarts) enema solves the problem. I doubt if they will ever make a 2 quart squeeze bulb to compete with the bag.

I am not a chemistry major, so I like to be able to recognize ingredients that I am about to put up my bottom, and as people's tolerances are different, being able to regulate the amount of soap or whatever I choose to prepare my enema with.

These laxative companies will stop at nothing to protect their multi-billion dollar industry, even if it means outright lying!

Fleets are effective in relieving a blockage in your lower rectum, but unless you are planning on standing on your head for awhile, does nothing to remove a blockage higher up. I have had this problem many times, where a small enema still comes out clear

I agree 100%. After surgery, to relieve constipation due to anesthesia and post-op pain killers, a Fleet will do zilch, zip, nada and nothing at all to relieve the problem. After the Fleet(s) in my case the nurse resorted to giving me a yucky dosage of rincinius oil (castor oil I suppose?) and that did the trick. But the Fleets? A waste of time and money.

I suspect the explanation is simple: a bag/can enema has to be prepared (and cleaned afterwards if non disposable) and takes a while to administer; unless the patient has experience in self administration a nurse must attend. A Fleet or a suppository? Ask the patient to put it 'up there'. It takes less time and is less embarrassing (for most patients).

The same applies to temperature taking. When I was a kid there were mercury thermometers then gallium thermometers they took two minutes to work. At the hospital the nurses had to bring thermometers to the patients, watch until the young patients inserted them in the rectum (under the sheets), then had to come back some minutes later to retrieve the instrument and read it, then they would have to clean and sterilize them. In recent years as far as I know they just point an ear probe, it takes seconds only.

Cheryl77177: For constipation I'm not a big fan of the Fleet. These things contain "stimulating" chemicals so give you a terrible urge to clear your rectum, a bit like glycerin. I prefer some warm water given gently with some tushy massage. Granted, this takes more time and I need my wife to perform the action...

My wife got enemas as a child growing up in the 1970s. Was her mom one of the last to do so?

Check #53 for my reply..... it makes sense...

Miker: I think it's another problem - American hospitals grossly overcharging for staff actions unless one has medical insurance. It seems that in France a nurse in private practice is paid about €5 for an enema (and I think it's not a Fleet - a full one).

Nutjob no nurse would ever trust a patient to place a rectal thermometer, a suppository or an enema tip in correctly. Nurses put the appropriate items in the appropriate orifices themselves.

Maybe nurses don't trust patients to do it correctly, but how about patients trusting nurses to do it correctly? After all, a patient has a better feel - literally - of what's being inserted and should be better able to gauge the appropriate pressure and angle and speed and so on ... nurses can't feel any of that. The patient can.

Liquidsky--When I was in the hospital for two weeks in '86, I was constipated and the nurse offered to give me a suppository to put in myself, but I asked her to do it, which she did, because I felt that she could do it better. I have no idea of what current practice is.

hankb

It's difficult to place a suppository deep enough in the rectum by yourself. Having a nurse do it seems more sensible. Besides isn't it more fun?

Liquidskky--you are right--someone else can push her finger in further than I can do mine. It is nice if someone does it in a playful or erotic way, but a middle-aged nurse in a hospital just put it in me and that was all there was to it, and it did what it was supposed to do.

hankb

Liquidsky: When I was a child in hospital the nurse did give me the thermometer to insert myself rectally. It was understood at the time that rectal temperatures were common in families and that a child my age probably did know how to do it from home experience.

Now for some interesting question. When she gave me the thermometer, I did as I had seen film and cartoon characters do in hospital: put it in my mouth. She shook her head and said "at the hospital we don't put it here" and looked at me intently.

I immediately understood and did as at home (rectally).

Again, I do not know what would have happened if I had not understood or had expressed difficulty in doing so. I somehow had the impression that she was pondering showing it to me. At the time, I would have found it highly humiliating.

no nurse would ever trust a patient to place a rectal thermometer, a suppository or an enema tip in correctly. Nurses put the appropriate items in the appropriate orifices themselves.

Now if they only had that philosophy on collecting semen samples😃

Isn't that the truth Doug. Years ago I had to supply a semen sample and the urologist told me to get the nurses to help me if I needed to. Lol

Liquidsky, was it like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVtxviEkDQ

😁 😁 😁

Yep it was just like that. It was "awesome" too!

Yes I also love this part of that movie . But what does that have to do with enemas . I also was lucky to have a colon therapist do that to me every time I got a colonic from her . Not every therapist well do a prostate massage on you . But if you ask you never know !

Well today it everything money & time , Well back in the 1960 late 0 My wife was a nurse add 11pm to 7AM the enema shift and the time you check the afternoon before you were to have tests . That was as soon as you got to your room you were greated by a nurse with an oral laxative the nme then was XPrep but it did clean out your small& large &intestions most people would just drink the XPrep down then find out it was an oral laxative . well you spend lot of that afernoon & night moving there bowels . Then my wife job was at 5AM to start to wake people up with the 3H enema bag ready for them she say that men did not want the enema but would just let her give it to them because most men got a hard on with the enemas ( well most men get a hard on just because on the enema Pipe & then the water on the prostate . Then the females she said would just bitch about having to have to take an enema sometie to 6 enemas before then ran clear wter with the enema . My wife also said that many men would come with the getting the enema or enemas . Then they would become very inbarish but my wife always whould tell them that it happen a lot . The women some would come with the enemas and i they did not come about 60% would get very wett down on the sex crake well the story she come home with was unreally but the enemas have gown away but it is to bad because having you bowels being wash out can be a little pain but hurts less then being over full with bowels . Yes I never delike getting the enema outer that mother giving the enema to fast & too much then as I was older having to remove everything off my bottom any her see me hanging out in fromt of her because like most males my male member would get hard ! well it too bad that all children are not given enemas today because when I was young the doctor would say give him an enema or two enemas then see how he feel after that . One time we at the doctor office he said take him home give hin an enema then after he done with that mix him up a warm glass of water with Milk of Mag. in the water have him drink the water & milk of Mag. then tomarlow give him an enema in the morning then in the afternoon give he one more enema he be find after that , well I did not like what he toled my mother because I knew she give me the enema then the mulk of mag. then mire enemas. well After my I got maried I feger that tht would be over untill I got sick my new wife came into the bedroom with an full enema bag for me then when I was letting the enema out on the toilet she said I be back what I said yes I do not have any Milk of Mag. to give you ater your done with the enema , I said I do not not need a oral laxative she she said uou mother said that if you need an enema to give you milk of mag. too . that wat she did she went out got a bottle ofmilk of mag. mix up the oral laxtive made me drink it down wel i knew that I spent lots of time on the toilet but the milk of mag did it job as always . well it too bad that the children as not getting enemas today.

Dear One of 1050:

Your article was very interesting but I had difficulties reading it, I'm curious, did you create the post in a language other than English and have a program translate to English for you? I know that when I spell a word wrong, my spell check catches it.

the hoseman1