colon cleansing?

I personally think all that crap is bogus.

Just my opinion.  I think there are a ton of money-making schemes out there that are potentially harmful to our health and I think the whole "colon cleansing" thing is hogwash.  Stool doesn't get "impacted," it gets eliminated.  You're not going to go in there and find stool that's been there for years!  Days at most.  Even naturopathic physicians are very careful about the products they use in the intestine.  My advice: DON'T go anywhere near those without consulting a medical or naturopathic doctor first.

I have heard it is dangers. I just read "Why Do Men Have Nipples?" and the doc (who co-wrote the book) addresses this matter saying DON'T DO IT.
Hang in there... keep looking and talking to docs and you will find something to help you.

jKeriamon, I basically agree with you, and think the notion of fecal matter building up for years is a little ludicrous - a lot of these places mention that "fiber abraisivly removes recent build up, but not fat build up and impacted fecal matter".

What about
http://www.colon-cleanse-constipation.com/colon-cleansing-treatments.html
though?

"As Dr James Balch writes, “Retained debris in the colon leads to the absorption of toxins resulting in systemic poisoning. Colon cleansing can rid the colon of debris and help prevent and treat a variety of health problems.”

In order to prevent such problems, it is recommended that one regularly cleanses their colon, small and large intestine. This is known as ‘colon cleansing.’ As the average adult has between 5 and 40 pounds of compacted waste in their bowels, a good colon cleanse would be of great benefit. It is important to know that all colon cleansing treatments are not equal, however."

and what about the (warning, quite graphic) pictures at
http://tuberose.com/Colon_Health.html ?
total bs?

Splenger,
One of the arguments against these cleansings is that it flushes away the good bacteria also. When you take probiotics, you are building up your good bacteria which is supposed to be fighting off the bad. You want that good bacteria to stay in your gut.

If you are impacted, that means poop isn't coming out due to a poop blockage. You can't have a partial impaction, that I'm aware of. As food moves through your digestive tract, it takes anything and everything along with it. Anything that might get left behind will surely get pushed through next bowel movement. Think of a train of poop with a big cow catcher on the front; it may leave a little behind, but the next train through will pick it up and move it on out.

I have to admit, I'm a gum swallower. If anything would get suck and clog you up, that would be it. But it comes out just like anything else (I've seen it). Like I said, I can't see that any of those colon cleansers are anything other than a really expensive laxative. Personally I get diarrhea often enough I'm not concerned about anything being built-up in me; I naturally colon cleanse when I eat something bad for me, like caffeine.

I don't think that your problems have anything to do with stray bits of poop glued to the walls of your intestines. From what you have described on other posts, you do have a constipation problem, but some of your problem may be false signals from your intestines. You may feel like you are full of poop but really aren't. I sometimes get this weird feeling of not being clean after wiping multiple times, even though there's nothing there. Just a false feeling, or there's something inside rectum that is just making me feel like it's on the outside.

If you haven't had one already, you may want to get an ultrasound to make sure that you don't have any blockages or narrowing or even kinking of your instestines. That sort of thing would account for your feeling impacted and for your narrow poops. If that's not the case, your constipation would most likely be because your intestines not moving as much as they need to to move things along, or you are losing too much water somewhere and that's causing you to be too dry. Obviously drinking a lot of water helps with the latter, but if your doctor okays long-term use of it, stick with small doses of laxatives to help make your stools easier to pass.

If the ultrasound comes up clear, and you can pass stools that contain some water with the use of laxatives, then you can probably write off your "gummed up" feeling as a false feeling. You certainly feel it, but there's nothing there. I sometimes refer to my phantom gall bladder; maybe you have phantom poop. There is such a thing as muscle memory and the intestines are a big muscle--sort of--so maybe they are "remembering" when you have stuff in there, even when you don't. Kind of like when you swim or bike too much and when you lay down at night you feel like you're still doing it.

Laughing? At what? A poop train with a cow catcher? Now what's so funny about that metaphor? Or maybe glued-on poop is funny? Or phantom poop?

Here I am trying to intellectually discuss poop in terms everyone can understand, and people are laughing. I bet you're the sort of people who would laugh at that toilet with the dancing poop in it. Maybe I should find less humerous words, like "dung", "scat", "droppings", "manure", or just "guano?"

Just remember, it's only funny until someone loses an eye. Then where will you be?

(I'm joking about not joking, by the way.)

Don't believe everything you read. We get a lot of advertising on this site of people claiming they have the "cure." If that were true our docs would be telling us about them because they are sick of hearing us b**ch and moan.

Keep at it, Sarita. We all KNOW you will be a terrific doctor. It's just a shame we can't all be your patients.

Hi fday00, welcome to the site!
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Have you thought about taking any anti-gas OTC like Beano or Gas-X? They seem to work pretty well. Beano especially if you take it before eating (or drinking) veggie or fruit juice.
Thanks again, keep posting!

LOL.......Sherry you are too funny .......I know I have nothing in there after the colonoscopy and my last one was so painful as well ........did biopsy's and a few days later was told I had H- Pylori which there are so many peeps that have this and do not know it until they get a blood test /or scope .......it is a common thing that can be fixed with an H -Pak .......ask your doc about this as it will mimic other things in our bowels........the bloating after eating (if no C) the upset tummy,gas ect the list goes on ..........Just my 2.5 cents lol.........take care all and have a great day ....God Bless .......Lyn

splenger,

I have thought about doing the colon cleansing but haven't brought myself to do it yet.  Never seem to have the time because I am so busy on the weekends.

 

I don't think the colon cleansing is crap at all.  It makes perfect sense.  Toxins do build in the body from IBS and you do need a way to get rid of them.  Its natural and good to cleanse you're body. 

 

Most of the products offered on the market thru health stores etc are safe and most are "all natural".  I have read in the nutritional book which is an excellent book of information that a good way to cleanse yourself is thru a liquid diet combined with something else.  I cannot remember what that was.  I didn't fair well when I had to go on pure liquids for a day so I haven't do it.  But I know they make colon cleanse formula's in health food stores that you can buy.  I wouldn't be afraid of them.  They may make you a little sick because all of the bad toxins are being erradicted but in the end you should feel better.

 

I have been taking chlorophyl which is a blood cleaner and helps against toxins.  It works well

Nightshade is all natural too, but I wouldn't want to ingest it. Please be ever so careful with herbs because they are not regulated in any way--i.e. don't have to have warning lables--and you could actually be taking something that is dangerous. Mind you, herbs for sale in reputable shops are not dangerous to most people, but there have been some links with certain herbs interacting with people's prescription meds or exacerbating some other condition or disease they already had (like heart problems). Doctors usually keep up with what's out there in terms of herbal remedies and can tell you what you absolutely should not take (although they may not can recommend anything to help since there aren't a lot of studies on the effectiveness of a lot of herbs).

My suggestion is if you want to get rid of toxins in your body, don't put anything toxic in there. I've been weaning myself off sugars and processed foods and I think I can tell a difference in my energy levels. This weekend I ate a bunch of sugary stuff and junk I had stashed in the pantry (because I WAS NOT going out to grocery shop on this crazy weekend) and I slept the whole weekend and couldn't motivate to do anything when I was awake. 12.5 hours of sleep Saturday night. And that's not counting the 2-2.5 hour nap I had a few hours before bed. I racked up 11 hours of sleep most nights. Now I've always been prone to sleeping a lot, but that was ridiculous, even for me. I went to bed one night at 7:30! I can't help but think that had something to do with what I was eating. I'm going to the grocery store this evening and am going back to my unprocessed foods again. I haven't gone organic (yet), but you may want to try it if you are concerned about what you are putting in. If you don't eat toxins, then none will accumulate in your system (if anything can accumulate in the digestive tract--there are a lot of bacteria in there whose sole purpose is to clean up--probiotics will make sure you have even more good bactreria in there to clean up with).