Colonics - positive feedback?

September 15, 2008 6:57 AM

I am curious about the benefits of colonics. All I seem to find is negative - waste of money, or even health risks. I would like to hear from people that actually tried it and would recommend it?
posted by circe0723 to health & fitness (29 comments total)

The reason you're hearing negative things is because colonics are a scam. Closing your eyes to the evidence doesn't make it go away. Magical thinking cannot and should not be the basis for health practices.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:07 AM on September 15, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

What he said, twice.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:09 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I would like to hear from people that actually tried it and would recommend it?

Unless they're doctors, why should their opinion matter? I'm sure there's someone out there that would recommend huffing aerosol fumes as relief for some affliction, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Peer reviewed, scientific studies are basically in agreement that colonics are not only unnecessary, but can potentially be very harmful. E.g. rectal perforation, amebiasis and more amebiasis. Googling for legitimate medical studies will demonstrate a lot more of the same.
posted by Nelsormensch at 7:19 AM on September 15, 2008

I am asking for positive reviews simply because I have read so many of the opposite. So now I am curious if anybody has to say something in favor of it.
Well, I do not think doctors carry all wisdom - there are lots of alternative ways out there that are effective yet not "approved" by conventional medicine.
posted by circe0723 at 7:39 AM on September 15, 2008

I once dated a girl who was all about colonics. She claimed that they made her feel healthy and energetic. This girl was pretty together and very smart, though she did engage in quite a few "alternative" health practices.

She encouraged me to get one, but I declined, instead favoring the awesome getting methods of a robot made out of meat's grandmother.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 7:59 AM on September 15, 2008

Well, I do not think doctors carry all wisdom - there are lots of alternative ways out there that are effective yet not "approved" by conventional medicine.

Conventional medicine, subject to the scientific method, is not a conspiracy to exclude anything vaguely alternative-sounding. You can either demand that the health care you receive and self-administer is rigorously scrutinized and scientifically valid or you can join the crystal-clutching spirit energy brigade. Most "alternative" therapies have not received acceptance because they are worthless, not because their form offends scientists. If you want to ignore the evidence and make it up as you go along, don't ask other people to be complicit.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:01 AM on September 15, 2008 [7 favorites has favorites]

I think the problem is that the positive reviews are by people who took the colonics and swear by them. But who is to say that because they went to the effort of doing colonics they also didn't begin in general taking better care of themselves, ergo it is not the colonic, but healthier food, more exercise, etc, and *that* is why they feel better? Plus the cognitive dissonance thing.

So because of that, "conventional medicine" tends to rely on things like placebo controlled double-blind studies, and studies where they can isolate the behavior that is thought to be healthy. Otherwise who is to say what is really going on? What if you read that pregnant women who drink bottled water have healthier babies. Well so what? maybe they were wealthier, went to the doctor more often during pregnancy, took better care of themselves in general. Maybe that was it.

The point I am rather wordily trying to make is that any positive reviews are as stated by others, cognitive dissonance, or even if generally healthier confounded by lifestyle practices they made in addition to getting enemas. So positive reviews are opinions. Negative reviews by researchers are closer to fact.

Plus the analogy of your innards being like pipes that must be cleaned is a load of hooey, since your intestines are living and slough off cells quickly. Your bowels are not like pipes at all. No years of impacted crap up there. Impossible.

While conventional medicine doesn't have all the answers. Alternative medicine is not necessarily correct because it is alternative. There still has to be logic behind it.
posted by xetere at 8:04 AM on September 15, 2008

circe, can you explain the method by which you determine whether or not a given treatment is effective for a given condition? I think that's where some of your answerers are getting hung up.

Medical science has some very specific methods by which it determines which treatments are effective for which diseases and conditions, and which treatments are ineffective or harmful to people. Colonics do not work, and may be dangerous, according to those standards of evaluation.

If you could explain the alternative method you are using to determine whether or not a treatment works, someone may be able to help you figure out whether or not this treatment works according to your standards.
posted by decathecting at 8:09 AM on September 15, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

AskMe's a wonderful resource: Generous, informed, eloquent, often surprising and usually diverse… But it does have pockets of prejudice and a few forbidden zones, and you've hit the big one.

I'll add a few categories to nelsormensch's nice summation: "Unless they're doctors [scientists, debunkers, orthodox materialists, etc.], why should their opinion matter?"

This is not the place for questions like yours unless what you really want is just to listen once again to the champions of conventional, mainstream science rattle their cages and howl with predictable distain. Can be a useful tonic, I admit, but doesn't exactly encourage alternative points of view or reports of "anomalous" experience. A bit unfortunate, I'd have thought, but there it is. Definitely a repeatable result.
posted by dpcoffin at 8:20 AM on September 15, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

"Congratulations! You've just necrosed the mucosal layer of your intestinal lumen!"

I love the classics.
posted by schroedinger at 8:26 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

decathecting: I have a friend that did do colonics, and according to her she felt more energetic, more balanced afterward.
I am familiar with fasting, and I guess all of us here can agree that if properly done, fasting can help to get rid of toxins and re-establish healthier digestion.
Really, what I am most interested in, is actually the idea that colonics supposedly get rid of waste accumulated in your colon - and if this is true, well, I guess you should "see" it coming out (sorry for being so blunt).
posted by circe0723 at 8:31 AM on September 15, 2008

Well, you could say that I've had a form of colonic, if what you mean is a "cleaning out" of one's colon. I have had a colonoscopy that required a "purging" beforehand that including drinking what seemed like gallons of yucky liquid ahead of time and fasting, etc.

I was semi-conscious during the procedure and could see what the doctor was seeing on the video screen as the camera travelled my interior. I have been lifelong meat-eater, gum swallower, fast-food junkie, etc. and still my colon was clean and pink and (thank goodness) polyp-free. No 5lbs of waste hiding up there no sirree.

Afterwards I felt no "healthier" than I did before the procedure. I was woozy from the medicine they gave me, but after it wore off I didn't experience a jump in energy, well-being, etc. But, of course, I didn't go into the procedure expecting that result. And, while my insurance paid out big bucks, I was not out of pocket for any large sum so felt no need to rationalize what occured to justify the expense.

I am not against alternative medicine--I've had acupunture, seen a chiropractor and taken herbal remedies at times, but I think that colonics carry too much risk for too little reward.
posted by agatha_magatha at 8:32 AM on September 15, 2008

I am familiar with fasting, and I guess all of us here can agree that if properly done, fasting can help to get rid of toxins and re-establish healthier digestion.

Which toxins would these be? Toxins no more build up in your digestive tract than they do in your eyeballs.

I have a friend that did do colonics, and according to her she felt more energetic, more balanced afterward.

Was she having trouble with her balance beforehand? I would think that would indicate a problem with her inner ear, not her large intestine. This is totally malleable BS and is exactly the sort of pablum quack doctors want you to swallow.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:36 AM on September 15, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

I am familiar with fasting, and I guess all of us here can agree that if properly done, fasting can help to get rid of toxins and re-establish healthier digestion.

No, we can't agree on that. There's no evidence that fasting has any medical benefit and it certainly does not get rid of any toxins or help your digestion.
posted by Violet Hour at 8:51 AM on September 15, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

I don't think that anyone interested in any alternative medicine is anti-science, and certainly there is effective folk medicine and heath advice that is outside of Official Validated Medical Advice From Your Doctor. My doctor doesn't prescribe chamomile tea for my cramps and insurance doesn't cover my visits to my massage therapist (even when she's addressing a verifiable medical condition (Raynaud's) for which available medications are overkill in my case.)

However, the thing I have consistently heard from the women I've known who got colonics is that your tummy is really flat right afterward. It has been suggested to me that this is a large part of their appeal.

As for accumulated waste, well, waste is supposed to accumulate in your colon until it's expelled. But it doesn't form splinter groups that hide out all sneaky-like, stinkin' up your insides with toxins, resisting the power of soluble and insoluble fiber and a generally healthy diet and enough water. That's the key part to balance and energy, though.

What you seek sounds like it would be better accomplished through fasting; it's really more about mental clarity and meditation than any literal physical benefit to completely emptying your colon.
posted by desuetude at 9:13 AM on September 15, 2008

No, we can't agree on that. There's no evidence that fasting has any medical benefit and it certainly does not get rid of any toxins or help your digestion.

However it (and colonics) may have some benefits as a placebo. This is probably one area where conventional medical studies would lend some support. Ironically it is also the one benefit that the alternative health quacks cannot boast about.
posted by rongorongo at 9:21 AM on September 15, 2008

So what you're saying is that you'd like to hear more anecdotal testimonials about how great colonics are?

These are all over the Internet. Every "colonic therapist" has them posted on their sites.

There is no scientific evidence of any kind that colonics are good for you, though. It's not like we're mean old meanies who are ignoring the pro-colonic scientific evidence: there isn't any.

People in the alternative and integrative medicine fields, like Dr. Andrew Weil, say there is no need for colonics whatsoever.

See here, for instance:

Share Guide: How do you feel about colonics?

Dr. Andrew Weil: I think if people like them, fine, but I don't think that there is any real need to do them. I think the best way to clean your colon is by doing it naturally--by eating a diet that is high in fiber, drinking plenty of water and getting enough exercise. This keeps your intestines pretty regular.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2008

[a few comments removed - responding to the OP is fine but keep sneering snark talk out of it or go vent in metatalk, thank you]
posted by jessamyn at 9:37 AM on September 15, 2008

Stick with the pills. They work. They will clean you out without overdoing it.

I wouldn't trust fat people like Penn who tell you it's impossible to harbor toxins in your bowel.
posted by Zambrano at 9:42 AM on September 15, 2008

I wouldn't trust fat people like Penn who tell you it's impossible to harbor toxins in your bowel.

Do you have evidence that fat people do in fact harbor toxins in their bowels? Do you have evidence that being fat makes you inherently untrustworthy? That's sheer speculation blended with an uncomfortable sort of ad hominem.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:53 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

There's no evidence that fasting has any medical benefit and it certainly does not get rid of any toxins or help your digestion.

There's actually quite a bit of research on the metabolic effect of fasting, particularly in regards to aging, though it's mostly very basic research at this point. Culturally, of course, fasting is a very commonplace and accepted practice. (Certainly fasting affects your digestion; whether you personally find this experience to be positive would depend much on your diet and digestion in general.)

Regarding colonics, I think the big huge "meh" from folks like Andrew Weil and other major figures in the complimentary/alternative medicine field, against colonics is pretty damming. The other evidence that I think is pretty telling is that many, many people who have to go through cleansing prep for colonoscopies, like agatha_magatha describes above -- they don't describe a sense of improved energy as a result -- and colonoscopy prep cleans you out a lot more thoroughly than a colonic does!
posted by desuetude at 10:06 AM on September 15, 2008

Living on the west coast of the US, I'm surrounded by people who swear by their colonics, crystals, aura-cleansing, and any other kind of "alternative" semi-medical practice you can think of.

They all give glowing testimonials about toxins, living a more balanced life, energized, and so on. So the positive reviews are not hard to find — move to Hippyville and ask around.

Certainly modern medical practice is imperfect and limited — any honest doctor will tell you so. But there is a big difference between doctors saying that having your aura recolored has no clear medical benefit, and doctors saying that getting colonics has both no benefit and a measurable risk. Stick with the low-risk end of the alternative practices (eg massage, crystals, meditation, fasting) and steer clear of the "stuff up your butt" style of pseudo-medicine.

Regarding fasting, although I think that any explanation featuring "toxins" is pretty clearly hogwash, it's worth noting that most major religions that I know of feature (periodic and limited) fasting as part of their practices. It may not purify the body, but fasting certainly helps focus the mind and spirituality. That's by and large outside the realm of modern medicine, but that doesn't mean that there is no benefit to your life from doing so.

So listen to the doctors when they say something is a bad idea, and otherwise enjoy the delights of alternative practice to your heart's content.
posted by Forktine at 10:06 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Circe, you still haven't laid out the method you're using to determine whether or not colonics (or fasting, or any other treatment) work.

Are you using anecdote as your gauge of effectiveness? That is, if enough people you know tell you that something works, you believe that it works?

You say that you want to get rid of "toxins." Can you define a toxin? How do you know that your body contains them? Where to they come from? How do you measure them? In what quantities are they present in your body, and in other people's bodies? How do you determine whether or not they are dangerous?

Once you have determined that toxins exist and are bad, how do you determine whether a given treatment helps to get rid of them? How do you evaluate its effectiveness compared to other treatments? How do you determine whether the treatment has harmful side effects, and whether those harmful side effects outweigh the toxin fighting benefits of the treatment? Can you quantify any of this into numbers so that other people who aren't viewing the treatment for themselves can evaluate its effectiveness and risks?

These are the kinds of questions that science asks when setting up tests to evaluate something new. Scientists, and medical scientists and doctors specifically in this case, have methods for answering those questions. What I'm wondering is whether you have methods you use to answer those questions. Or, do you have reasons you think those questions are unimportant or invalid? If the latter, what questions are you asking instead to evaluate your treatments, and what methods do you use to discover the answers to those questions?
posted by decathecting at 10:24 AM on September 15, 2008

If it helps, I'm a thin, healthy vegetarian who has successfully undergone at least one alternative therapy (and it helped!), and I also say it's impossible to harbor toxins in your bowel.
Your large intestine works by absorbing water and nutrients (but mostly water) through its walls into your body. This is how your poop becomes solid, which couldn't happen if there were toxins coating your colon. Thus, if you poop normally, there aren't toxins coating your intestines.
Fasting, for instance, certainly has mental benefits, and if you feel better mentally/emotionally you often feel better physically. Colonics don't offer anything like that, really, and can be actively harmful, as schroedinger posted above. Really, most people are negative about colonics not because they don't do anything good, but because they do harm.
posted by mismatched at 10:25 AM on September 15, 2008

I wouldn't trust fat people like Penn who tell you it's impossible to harbor toxins in your bowel.

Because being fat somehow makes it harder for you to read scientific studies?

And what about Teller? He's not fat.

Here, read something from Dr. Stephen Barrett on the topic. He's thin.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:30 AM on September 15, 2008

Years ago I was helping a friend move into a rental house and when we were stashing some of her boxes in a cubby in the basement we found a stack of Pennysaver-type newspapers called - I'm not making this up - Enema Digest. Therein was listed an entire subculture of folks who found sensual pleasure via enemas. I'm guessing that folks who feel energized after a high colonic are simply experiencing the same sensation as the enema-lovers....whatever it is.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:21 PM on September 15, 2008

Really, what I am most interested in, is actually the idea that colonics supposedly get rid of waste accumulated in your colon - and if this is true

The idea is false. Waste does not accumulate in your colon, except in specific and highly painful circumstances such as an impaction (which, to be clear, isn't so much an 'accumulation' as a 'blockage').
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:57 PM on September 15, 2008

Backing up dnab: Waste does not regularly accumulate in your colon.

If you get a colonic, they can, indeed, show you disturbing looking yucky stuff getting sluiced out of your intestines. They will tell you this is all waste that has been trapped up there. Many people will believe them, and tell other people about all the trapped waste the colonic removed.

But it's not true; that disturbing looking yucky stuff is waste. But it's waste you would just poop out normally in a day or two. It hasn't been sitting there in your colon... it has been moving normally through your digestive tract and is being flushed out a day early by artificial means, just like if you take those super high powered stimulant laxatives they give you before sticking a camera up your butt.
posted by Justinian at 6:07 PM on September 15, 2008

I am a digestive physiologist. I have spent years studying intestines, they are my speciality (and my favourite organ). I want to back up what people here are telling you, the science shows no benefit for colonics and the only positive reviews you're going to get are anecdotal from people who have had them and do not understand the science of what is going on. I know the media likes to make a big deal about being balanced and showing both sides of each story when reporting science but that's not actually how it works, for some things there is no balance and the evidence all falls on one side only. I think this is the trap you're falling into, you're looking for both sides of the story but in this case it just doesn't exist.

I really want to back up the idea that waste or toxins or whatever do not accumulate in your gut. That's simply not how the physiology works. Firstly the lining of your intestines is coated with a thick layer of mucus. This mucus both acts as a protective barrier and as a lubricant and it's effective. While nutrients can diffuse or be transported across this layer most of the contents of your gut can't so never even reach the intestinal lining. The solid food waste is physically separated from the actual intestine. So the idea of solid chunks sticking in corners, it's just wrong. The mucus is also water repellent, so most of that enema? Also doesn't touch the actual intestinal surface. Actually if the enema does breach the mucus barrier that's a bad thing, removes the protective function leaving you open to infection. So either the colonic doesn't touch you and is a waste of time or it does and it hurts you.

Then the cells lining the inside of your intestines are constantly dividing and and growing and dieing, more so than most other cells in your body. When the cells die they naturally come off from the intestinal surface, a process called sloughing, after which they join the food waste and are excreted from your body. A large amount of the stuff you see being removed by a colonic is just those cells (particularly if you fasted first). Also when you fast for a period of time you'll notice stuff continues to come out every day even after all the food is gone. I've seen people label this stuff as accumulated toxins or waste but it's not, just those cells being lost from the intestinal surface as part of the natural processes. Intestinal epithelial cells don't accumulate or get stuck by the way and tying to remove them faster is not a good idea, the turnover is well regulated at a biochemical level and doesn't need your interference.

Your colon is a robust and active organ. If you're otherwise healthy then it really doesn't need your help, it's quite capable of doing it's job correctly even under less than optimal conditions and you should leave it alone. In the rare case that your colon is in trouble and unable to do it's job you'll know. You will very quickly have nasty, unmistakable symptoms and you will need to see a proper doctor for some real medical care (bowel obstructions are a medical emergency). In neither case will a colonic help.
posted by shelleycat at 8:51 PM on September 15, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]