100 lb. Club - Anyone ever done a colon cleanse?

I know, kind of gross, but I am just wondering.

My naturopathic doctor is recommending a colon cleanse as he says my body is not absorbing the nutrients I eat.

I'm not so sure I want to have the hydro-colonic done (just cause I don't want someone looking down there! UGH! :o )

I am thinking of a home one with herbs. I have read about several different ones (blessed herbs) and I am seriously considering it.

Anybody had one, done one or have any words of wisdom?

I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks so much! :carrot:

I have done extensive reading on them and I think that a hydro-colonic is the best way to go if you want it to be safe and effective. I was planning to have one, but my doctor said that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me since I have Corhn's disease. But for healthy people I think it can be a really effective way of cleansing the bowel. The one thing is that it does wash away a lot of the "good" bacteria in the bowel so they don't suggest doing it often.
If you are on the path with healthy eating and exercize it is supposed to help give you that "light" feeling which might help you stay motivated.
I would say speak to your M.D. but if they are on board then go for it.

P.S. Don't worry about someone looking "down there", I don't know about where you are, but the people who do it around here (Toronto) are these older Russian ladies that have a great sense of humor. Just think of it like a bikini wax, you'll have to get used to the idea for when you reach your goal weight and want to strap one on for the summer and show off.

As much as we would love to think it, what we got ain't nothin' special. ;) colonic is the best route, and I have friends that swear by them. I wouldn't worry about it, and just get it done by a professional. You never know if over the counter or herbal is going to work correctly. If a doctor is involved, at least someone can monitor it.

hth and Goodluck!

colonic is the best route

The best route for what? The colon is generally self-cleansing.

I don't know if this is ANY help - but when I was younger I went on something called the Yeast Connection and I had this DIGUSTING drink every morning and it cleaned my RIGHT out. The medical issues I was having went away, partly because of my diet, but I was also told that there was "stuff" sitting in my colon making me sicker. I say, get it done!! If the colon is self cleaning, this is just a little help! I'd be VERY curious to hear how it all goes - so if you to do.. I'd love an update!

-Aimee

This may be inappropriate, but I saw a bit about this on Hogan Knows Best- it sounded scary. Update when you get done, maybe the silliness of reality TV just made it seem terrible.

I did Colonix for a month, but I really didn't notice a dramatic change. I've always been pretty regular though, so I guess my colon is of the self-cleaning variety. LOL.

The best route for what? The colon is generally self-cleansing.

Of the two choices. (It was a this or that question and I answered it.) Dr. regulated or do it yourself. I choose dr. regulated since that is his suggestion.

Hi everyone,
Thank you for the input. I have booked an appointment for next week (with a woman so I am not so self concious!)

I will let you know how it goes.

My naturo doc explained it like this:
I have been eating so much garbage for the past 10 years, all the toxins from my toxic diet build up in the colon reducing its efficiency. It is so inefficient that I cannot extract the nutrients from the food I am eating. The cleanse will remove all the plaque and gunk so that I will benefit from the good food I have been eating the past month or so.

As a bonus, the plaque it removes is quite heavy so I will lose a few pounds :)
Woot woot!

Hey - don't get too down on this BUT, I was just in the hospital, and had to have a FULL colonoscopy - I mean ALL the way up into the small intestine. I had to drink this stuff that made me run to the bathroom every 5 minutes, and then while they were "in there" they sucked out everything my body didn't get rid of the normal way.

I only lost about 1 lb.

HOWEVER, it did really reset my body for starting new habits - like no caffeine, no fried foods. I have not eaten 1 single fried item in 2 months now, and have no desire to. SO, there are benefits from "resetting the system."

:)

I was just in the hospital, and had to have a FULL colonoscopy... it did really reset my body for starting new habits... SO, there are benefits from "resetting the system."

Sounds like you had a situation where the doctors didn't give you much choice! Glad it went so well; these things can feel very embarassing or even incredibly invasive, when you didn't expressly ask for them. Thank-you for giving us the results; I figure that's the only reason why you'd bother recounting this!

I had an experience with an emergency enema once, that was bad enough. It wasn't exactly a colon cleanse as given by naturopaths, nor anything like a colonoscopy, so there isn't much to learn from it, sorry. Just that I really admire Beth Ann's bravery for bringing her experience out for the rest of us!

Colonics alone won't accomplish much IMO. A parasite cleanse or a colon cleanse paired up wth colinics, however, is a fantastic health tool.

I do believe in colon cleanses if they are done with good-quality products and supervised by a nutritionist/kinesiologist. I don not believe in colon cleanses when done with those cheap, often very aggressive products often sold on TV.

BTW; noone "looks up there" during colonics. I found it very relaxing. My colon hyrotherapist would put on some relaxing music and burn essential oils while massaging my tummy. There is a brief uncomfortable moment when they insert it at first, but if you'v done a colonoscopy the worst is definitely over!!!

Well, I had it done today. I am not impressed at all.

It was uncomfortable, embarrassing and now I feel bloated and tired.

I guess I will wait and see how I feel tomorrow. Hopefully it has cleaned me out and I will be able to properly use the nutrients I am eating.

Sigh......live and learn :(

I hope that you are feeling better soon. You must be feeling very disappointed. But as you say, for better or worse it is over now, and if you don't notice any benefits you don't ever have to get it done again. You never know, you may wake up feeling amazing!

Hey - don't get too down on this BUT, I was just in the hospital, and had to have a FULL colonoscopy - I mean ALL the way up into the small intestine.

I am not sure they always do this -- take out all the junk. My mom had 3 colonoscopys within a year to rectify bleeding in the colon -- then her appendix swelled up and started leaking. Ewww. Well long story sort when they finally went in and took out the appendix and took out some of the large intestine -- the showed us most of the stuff that they did take out and it was mostly -- hair. Eww.

You would think that after all that she would have been very clean but I am not sure that stuff gets out the deep deep gunk.

I am afraid to do a colonic -- isn't there anything less invasive?

Well, I don't feel too bad today so I guess it wasn't that bad after all. I still wouldn't have another one done though.

Next time (in the fall), I will do a herbal cleanse instead.

Thanks for all of your input, I really appreciate it!

I don't mean to be terribly graphic, but I was awake for the WHOLE colonoscopy. Something about them forgetting that I was on a whole lot of morphine for all the pain I was in, and not realizing that versed (sedative) would do nothing for me...

Anywho, I watched the entire thing. And, as they went through, they "Sucked out" - LITERALLY - anything that was left in there. When they snaked back out, all you could see were the nice clean pink walls of my colon. I did not see any hair. Actually, that thought grosses me out more than remembering the colonoscopy!!

Another thing - the prep for something like a colonoscopy can differ. I had to drink a lovely beverage called "Go Lytely" which really turns into one of those "Ha -ha" things when you are RUNNING to the toilet every 10 seconds. They should call the stuff "Go Explosively". I've heard of other people using different types of things. My GI doc says that Go Lytely is the best at breaking down everything in there, and getting rid of most of it.

****PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT advocating a colonoscopy for weight loss!! It really was NOT a pleasant experience, and I was taking a LOT of morphine IV at the time...*****

I am the type of person who likes to know about everything ahead of time - which is probably why I'm not too gun-shy about sharing. Nothing irritates me more than getting ready for some medical procedure or another and not being able to find anyone else's experience on the net - you know, for those of us who WANT all the gory details! ;)

Have you tried an herbal parasite cleanse? I know a lot of people who have lost their bellies after a parasite/colon cleanse.

There is no need to "cleanse" your colon and anyone who tells you differently is just selling you something.

Seriously - guys. Really. Your colon cleanses itself. No one has 10 years of food piled up in their colons that's keeping them from absorbing nutrients. That's the biggest load of (if you'll excuse the pun) crap I've ever heard. If you did have some kind of impaction, you'd KNOW it.

And no cleanse will make you "lose your belly". If you have belly fat, sucking whatever waste is in your colon out isn't going to get rid of the fat. It doesn't work that way.

Your body is self cleansing. Eat healthy foods with good fiber in them, and consume enough liquid (water, broth, tea, whatever). That's all you need.

Anything else is hype and drama and an attempt to get you to pay for a product or a procedure you don't need.

.

The science backs up Photo Chick. Removing and cleansing the body of mysterious "toxins," "bad energy," and "evil spirits" through fasting, enemas, and foods/drugs that cause hallucinations, diarrhea and/or vomiting have been used for thousands of years. These cleansing rituals have been given various medical and religious rationales and have existed long before the era of "processed foods, and yet science has never been unable to identify or find any such substances (and they've examined not only the patients, but the flushed material, trying to find them).

The body most certainly is self-cleaning, and attempts to clean the colon or vagina with douching, and colonics are much better at removing beneficial bacteria than they are at removing anything harmful. True toxins, parasites and heavy metals - are not removed by shooting water or other liquids up an orifice or taking substances that cause diarrhea or vomiting. Instead, beneficial bacteria (the natural cleansers) can be washed away.

It may help you feel "lighter," or "better," but the effect is mostly psychological - like throwing up when you're sick can make you temporarily feel better. It's not because toxins are released, it's because of the endorphins your body releases from the physical trauma. Now it's a relatively mild trauma (twirling around until you're dizzy will do much the same thing), and generally not dangerous (though there've been exceptions), but generally the only thing that's getting cleaned out, is your wallet.

I echo photochick and kaplods. I had a colonoscopy this past year (and apparently I have a beautiful and healthy colon, hurrah). Go lytely cleaned me out beforehand. The "weight" I lost was very temporary, mostly due to low level dehydration and to being empty...really empty. It returned pretty immediately. (I wasn't upset since I figured it was artificial.)

Wow.....I don't even know where this thread came from. It's from a year and a half ago! lol
Anyways, I never did the cleanse....not for any specific reason. I just never got around to it.
Thank you all for your opinions and advice though!

try eating mexican food - works for me ha ha.

Seriously tho -- i did an herbal one a few years ago, just made me 'go' like crazy and didn't feel one way or the other about it. Good friends of ours are both doctors and gave me what for! they said your internal organs are there for a reason, and we should just let them work their magic. As long as only good things are going IN, the getting OUT shouldn't be a problem LOL. And he really discourages the invasive ones, as someone pointed out - a lot of the good bacteria gets flushed away too and he's seen more than a handful of patients not recover the fluroushing good bacteria for 6 months or more. so like everything, beware and do what's the best for you :)

Hi and welcome,I started the parasite cleanse last week (the day I first posted about this) and it’s helped a lot in past several days. My stomach is definitely, noticeably flatter.

Are they claiming that most people have parasites???

If you wanna get technical about it ... we all have parasites. ;)

The definition of a parasite is an organism that lives in a symbiotic relationship with another organism and obtains nourishment from that organism. Some parasites are harmful and some are not.

We all have bacteria and organisms that live in our digestive systems (when they're healthy) that help us to digest food properly. If you remove those organisms, you screw up the balance of your digestive system and you can actually cause harm.

If you have harmful parasites - flukes, worms, etc.- then you should have those treated by a doctor and not mess around with home remedies and snake-oil sales tactics.

.

The term parasite is generally used when the host is harmed. I was asking if the producers of these "parasitic cleanses" are claiming the general public needs to be cleansed of parasites, as the term is generally used.

I did Colonix for a month, but I really didn't notice a dramatic change. I've always been pretty regular though, so I guess my colon is of the self-cleaning variety. LOL.I did Colonix for 3 months, as a pre-cursor to starting a real diet, thinking it would help totally flush out the system -- and lost maybe 5 lbs? It was a huge hassle, really gross and not worth the $300+ it costs.... They claim people lose up to 40 lbs, but I imagine that's only the case for older people who have had a diet with LOTS of meat and little veggies... No idea... If anyone wants to do colon cleanse, I'd recommend one of the 1 week products. Those are much cheaper and do flush the system out a bit.

Canadian Aimee, love the new pic!!! You are too cute!

As for this thread. I have been battling...sickness...for almost 24 hours now. Immodium is my friend. So it's funny this was here.

I had a Colonoscopy & Upper GI Endoscopy on the same day. One camera here & one camera there & then when they meet in the middle, the doctors wave to each other. :rofl:

If that bucket of "prep" stuff they give you doesn't clean out your colon, nothing will. I don't recommend being at home for this. Go to a hotel, where someone else will have to...do the laundry... :(

Everyone's going to need a baseline when they're 50 for colon cancer, so why not "get a cleanse" & get some test results & your ins company to pay for it? The worst part was the prep...and the sedative, which took away my filter & I said to the dr as they were wheeling me out, "Don't you have to buy me dinner now?" :no:

I got mine so they could see why I was anemic. My esophagus was bleeding. I got some pills. Then the next year I got further diagnosed with sleep apnea. I got some more pills & a machine to sleep with every night. Now I'm not tired & anemic & doing everything the dr's say & STILL not getting better. Now I am better. :cheers:

If you wanna get technical about it ... we all have parasites. ;)

The definition of a parasite is an organism that lives in a symbiotic relationship with another organism and obtains nourishment from that organism. Some parasites are harmful and some are not.

.

Slightly off topic but as I understood it all mammals evolved with parasites and immune systems adapted to them. The lack of parasites has been cited as the cause for some illnesses (where the immune system attacks the body). I saw one programme where a woman was given worms to treat her colon problem. Anyhoo...