Enemas for constipation during sickness.

I can remember being sick in bed back in the middle 50's with a bad respiratory illness. I was being given a codeine cough medication and the result was a really bad case of constipation that wasn't noticed by my Mom until I hadn't moved my bowels for a good 4 days. Her solution to my problem was of course a nice warm enema. I was only around 6 years old but I can still clearly remember being put across her lap while she squeezed several bulb syringes full of her favorite soapy cure up the bottom of her uncooperative child...Lol.. Can anyone else remember that codeine cough syrup making them constipated?

AG

Whenever I was sick enough to be kept home from school my Mom would give me a hot Ivory soapsuds enema every morning until I was better. This was at the doctor's suggestion to keep me from getting constipated while I was sick.

Whenever I got sick as a child mom's cure was homemade chicken soup and an enema. I don't know if it cured anything but it certainly made me feel better. I still follow that tradition and it still works.

It was guaranteed that I'd be given a "good" enema if down with a childhood illness and hadn't had a movement in two days. This was in the 1940s and '50s when the enema was a routine but often unappreciated therapy.

If I was ever home sick from school there was usually an enema for me at some point, usually at mid morning. Depending on the ailment orange childrens aspirin and Vicks vapor rub were old standbys too.

In the 50's, whenever the pediatrician made a house call for ANY illness, he always told my mom to give me an enema.

I only remember getting one enema from Mom as a child. I was running a fever and she thought it might help reduce my temperature. Don't know if it had any effect on temperature as it turned out that was day one of the measles. Feb 20, 1962.

If I was sick an enema was to be expected. I don't think my mom ever missed a chance to give one either.

Yeah, I remember that stuff, called TH&C. Tasted awful, but stopped the hacking cough that wouldn't let me sleep. Between that stuff, Vicks and mustard plasters, enemas, though feared, were the one thing that made me feel better.

There was the enema after the doctor made his house call, which I dreaded. Butt sore from the shot, then the trip to the bathroom for the enema, given over my mother's lap from her folding syringe. Subsequent enemas were administered in the mornings. A rectal temperature check first. Lying still, with my underpants off while mom prepared the enema. Then the thermometer read and being led to the bathroom for the inevitable waiting enema ordeal.

A series of warm Ivory SSE's followed by a rinse with plain warm water was the standard "cure all" for whatever ailed us as children whenever we had been sick for more than about 2 to 3 days. They were always administered gently by Mom while laying on a thick towel on the bathroom floor. I was too young (roughly from about age 3 to 6) too find them erotic, but neither did they hurt , and were never uncomfortable. It was this positive experience I had with enemas that made me want to try them solo as soon as I went into puberty, and I quickly discovered that they were highly erotic for me by that time. Nothing's changed in over 60 years. An enema still feels good any time I can enjoy one, unfotunately solo, because the wife has zero interest.

When I was eight or nine I had the measles, so I was confined to the house with no school or outside play for some time. The first few days I was mostly in bed and around the third day my mom asked if I had been going to the bathroom regularly. Of course with little appetite and no exercise, the answer was "no". I remember getting the bulb that morning, and every-other day until I told mom I went on my own again. I really didn't mind them. By then I had already recognized that I felt better after an enema so after the requisite protest that I didn't need one, I took it without resisting.

Can anyone else remember that codeine cough syrup making them constipated?--------the only medicine I remember was called "turpinhydrate"

Oh, yes! Elixir turpin hydrate. It really worked too. Haven't seen or heard of it in years

I remember turpin hydrate! It would guarantee an enema session from my mother.

Elixir of turpin hydrate with codeine was very popular in the 50's-60's. It was also known as, "G.I. Gin", since soldiers tried to get it from Medics to drink for fun, cause it had lots of alcohol and codeine. It was available O.T.C. in Ohio, until a few years ago. It never made me plugged up; I just played like it did, so mom would give me a bag.

Between the codeine and the alcohol, it might be available in the ABC liquor stores behind the counter, if still sold today

I really dont remember if it constipated me at the time BUT a soapy wash out was already in the cards for me being sick

Whenever I was sick it was inevitable that I would end up getting an enema. My mother believed that it was necessary to, as she put it, keep the bowels open. An enema of Ivory soapsuds administered with the bulb syringe would happen as soon as she knew I was sick, She would subject me to a syringing every other day until I was well. About a week later I would be given another enema just to make sure everything was all right. Not feeling well was bad enough, but getting syringed every other day made it even worse.

Anything with codeine will stop up your system. Anti nausea drugs like Phenergan and Zofran are your ticket to constipation. I was on Phenergan when I was pregnant with my older daughter. Not fun unless you learn how to counter the side effects. I remember once calling my ob's nurse, who was nursing during the so-called Golden Age, when I was so bound up, and she joked, "this drug causes more women to buy enema bags."

Wow kinky nurse lol

Very similar. Wnemas were the cure all

Ah yass, childhood illness. Sick enuff to stay home from school always resulted in an enema or two. My childhood memories of sickness...and I think I had everything there was to have...resulted in eggs all chopped up (later learned that was "soft boiled"), Welche's grape juice and an enema. Never failed. --the good 'ol days!

the boxcar

It was always a safe bet that an enema would be amongst the various remedies when sick. Depending on the severity of the constipation, the old SSE was likely at the top of the order.

It didn't take long to figure out that faking an illness to stay home from school, work, or situation where attendance was expected, would result in an enema. Heaven forbid that we'd complain of a tummy ache as an excuse.

If the pediatrician was called out to the house, there was absolutely no question that an enema(s) would be forthcoming.

I wish it were that easy these days!

As a child of about 7 or 8 years old I got the measles. This is a serious infection and puts a kid down for over a week. I remember hearing that other kids in my class also had the measles.

After several days in bed I could not have a BM so a visiting health nurse was called. She told my mother that she had seen several other kids from my school with the same problem.

The nurse got down to business and warmed a pot of water on the stove. She came into my bedroom with my mother to show her how it was done. She connected a funnel to the top of a rectal tube and lubed the tube with vaseline, then inserted the tube into my bottom. I was laying on my left side. I do not remember her "priming" the tube but she could have, this was a long time ago. Anyway, the pot of warm water was poured into the funnel and I immediately felt the warmth spreading inside me. I think the to total volume was between a pint and a quart.

The nurse removed the tube when all the water was in. She let me lay on my back and told me to hold it as long as I could. I don't think that I retained the enema for more than ten minutes then got up and ran to the bathroom. My mother had to check on my progress and flush twice while I was expelling.

. . . .The nurse got down to business and warmed a pot of water on the stove. . . .

What? no warm water from the faucet?

Oh Stephen I didn't know you grew up in a log cabin. You poor deprived thing.

I really don't remember all the details of this experience but I do remember the nurse heating the water on the stove. No log cabin but no central heating until the late 50's. This was fairly common among us working class families in the immediate post WWII era. As the family became more prosperous central heating was of course a major home improvement but it came after TV.

I received many enemas when sick. It seemed that before the doctor was called a trip over mom's lap was tried. I can still feel the hot ivory soap water entering me and being told to realx and take deep breaths.

Back when I was growing up in the 50's, mom's first line of defense for any illness was a "good" soapy enema. Constipation from medications was never an issue because enemas were given every other day until mom decided you were well. It was all very matter-of-fact that no matter what the illness was, you could expect several enemas over the course of a week and the enema equipment would remain on display in the bathroom for all to see (and made it easy to sneak an enema when someone else was sick). Making sure you were "cleaned out" was mom's job and she took it seriously. And if you stayed home from school because you weren't feeling well, you could count on a thorough mid-morning enema session. Those were the days.

My childhood enema experience was very similar to that of redbulb, but in our case, multiple enemas were given for whatever ailed us over the course of an evening, and didn't go on for several days. Occasionally we got a dose of Castor Oil if Mom thought we were just constipated, but it was the good old warm Ivory SSE from the red bag that was the cure-all for everything else. The memories of those enemas are still pleasurable......which I suppose is the reason I still enjoy enemas today, over 60 years later.

As redbulb put it, mom's first line of defense was an enema. I think that was true in a lot of homes in the 1950s and into the 60s. Since most kids hated enemas, there was probably some mom psychology there too. The dreaded enema was a way to ward off faux illness, like on days when you just didn't want to go to school.