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Colon cleansing?

EagleEye

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Joined
Jul 29, 2005
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My mom is paying $50 per "treatment" for this "therapy". She claims that the "practitioner" (I hesitate to call him a "doctor") told her that getting these "warm water enemas" will help to reset the enzymes in her bowel and stomach to help her digest things properly, etc...

Evidently this is some form of weight loss treatment?

I know it's quackery, but I need stuff to print off and give to her to PROVE that it is.

I already printed off a page from quackwatch.com about it, but it's not very convincing.

Can anyone help me find appropriate material?
 
I tried googling it, but I only got Zappa's Illinios Enema Bandit.
Sorry.
 
EagleEye said:
My mom is paying $50 per "treatment" for this "therapy". She claims that the "practitioner" (I hesitate to call him a "doctor") told her that getting these "warm water enemas" will help to reset the enzymes in her bowel and stomach to help her digest things properly, etc...
Click to expand...
You could also try pointing out that to do anything to the parts of the gut that are involved in digestion (the stomach, for Ed's sake!) the water would have to go one hell of a long way up!
 
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Common Procedure but NOT good

This "treatment" is a common procedure in places like California. Many actresses do this to help them lose temporary weight. Only a few pounds. Patricia Heaton was known to have done 4 "treatments" prior to her "Emmy award" appearance. :jaw-dropp
However, just because people do it does NOT make it healthy for them. This procedure is proclaimed to "cleanse" out poisons in the system. The colon is where they supposedly gather and once "cleaned out" will make you healthier and less chance of getting cancer.:boggled:
The truth is that it is extremely dangerous to one's health. A one time treatment may be okay or even once a month but repeated treatments can cause serious health problems. Your mother may want to do this one time and hate it too much to return. The procedure they place something up the rectum and squirt and suck out "stuff". Not a pleasant experience.
What makes this procedure dangerous is the damage it does to the colon's system. It could damage the "cilia" that lines the colon. Cilia pushes the material along helping the "good" stuff get digested. This could cause a loss of vitamins from being absorbed causing the patient to become malnourished. There is also the risk of infections. The "material" is pushed back upward through the system. There may be a risk of "leakage" into other internal organs. This could cause the patient to go "septic". Which puts someone in the hospital for infections throughout the abodomen.
Have your mother read the risk form. There should be more details on the exact risks on it. Make sure she understands the risk and how it may NOT be a good way to lose weight or protect her health. Take an Ex-lax instead and enjoy!:covereyes :cool:
 
Thanks for your help, goodgirl. Just wanted to clear up/expand a couple points you made.

The primary propulsion mechanism in the intestines is smooth muscle contraction, not beating cilia (which are found mainly in the upper airway and a few other structures in the body, like the fallopian tubes). There actually aren't any cilia in the large intestine. There are villi in the small intestine, but their role is primarily to increase the surface area and facilitate absorption.

Secondly, you really shouldn't take ExLax (or any other stimulant based laxative) unless you really, really, REALLY need to. And, then, you should only use them on rare occasions when you can go no matter what else you tried. Getting "hooked" on laxatives can be a bad thing for your body. These should not generally be considered for an otherwise normal, healthy body a good alternative to getting a colonic. The whole colonic thing is really a bit silly, when you think about it.

-Dr. Imago
 
I was being "sarcastic" about the Ex-lax comment!:cool: Taking Ex-lax or having a Colonic is just all around a bad idea.:rolleyes: They both lead to malnutrition disorders. It's like bulimia but coming out the OTHER end:eye-poppi !!!
 
EagleEye said:
My mom is paying $50 per "treatment" for this "therapy". She claims that the "practitioner" (I hesitate to call him a "doctor") told her that getting these "warm water enemas" will help to reset the enzymes in her bowel and stomach to help her digest things properly, etc...
Click to expand...

Does the practitioner give any reason why these special treatments are more beneficial than buying a Fleet brand disposable enema at the drug store for less than $2?
 
People are weird about these things. Seems there is a type that's attracted to the notion of "cleansing the toxins" out of one's body, and the colonic is a suitable ritual producing viewable results.
 
It usually involves about 4 to 5 litres (OK, quarts) of saline solution going BACKWARDS up your gut. That is certain to carry anything "bad" from the back end up to the front end, where the body (and plain logic) suggests that it definitely should be going the other way. And that quantity of liquid will simply distend the large intestine only, some 20 feet or more away from the stomach as the intestine peristalts.

The usual "excuse" for this treatment is to "flush out the stagnant material in the bowel". Sorry, unless you have chronic constipation or diverticulitis, material does not stagnate in the bowel. As George Harrison said, all things MUST pass. As for the "flushing toxins from the body" idea, I'm sure the medical people here can explain about how the body really flushes toxins, and I rather doubt the large intestine is where it happens.
 
thanks for all the comments guys.

I printed the quackwatch article, gave it to her, told her in a rather scathing tone that what she was doing was stupid. I also told her that she REALLY needs to check with any of her 4 genius-level children with internet access (she has none) and superb research capabilities at our fingertips, the next time she WANTS to believe anything extraordinary that she hears from a doctor or sees on the news.
 
EagleEye said:
thanks for all the comments guys.

I printed the quackwatch article, gave it to her, told her in a rather scathing tone that what she was doing was stupid. I also told her that she REALLY needs to check with any of her 4 genius-level children with internet access (she has none) and superb research capabilities at our fingertips, the next time she WANTS to believe anything extraordinary that she hears from a doctor or sees on the news.
Click to expand...
But did it do the slightest bit of good?
 
Barbrae said:
DO youhave any evidence to back up this statement?
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Why do you care, Barb? You've admitted several times that you cannot support your homoeopathic practices with evidence. You've excused this by saying that you don't have the same regard for science and logic and rigorous proof that we have. Bit of a double standard showing here, I think?

(And if you'd ever seen a patient suffering from a perforated large intestine, you wouldn't need to ask the question.)

Rolfe.
 
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