I've seen a lot of sites implying that there can be years worth of buildup in the colon, some have profucts to sell
some do not.
The basic idea seems to be lots of water cleanses out mucus/stool that's been impacted for months/years.
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this, and if it helped with IBS at all.
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.
*sigh* okay, i'm just in a lot of discomfort and things like http://www.oxypowder.com/oxypowder/oxypowder-works.php look so promising..... on the one hand, the medical communicaty seems to have nothing to say about it, but on the other, all these sites have lots of "testamonials".
I certainly FEEL like there's a lot of junk in my intestines.
I certainly FEEL like there's a lot of junk in my intestines.
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.
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Hang in there... keep looking and talking to docs and you will find something to help you.
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All that colon cleansing stuff is going to be is a laxative. Take a Correctol or down some aloe vera juice and it will do the same thing for you. If you are constipated, then you should take something to get flowing again, and try and find something that keeps you flowing afterwards that's not a chemical (fiber, aloe). That other stuff isn't going to get out anything extra; poop isn't like cholesterol that builds up in your arteries and has to be scraped out with surgery. If it did that, doctors would have been warning us about poop build-ups years ago. Poop comes out, or it doesn't. Take a laxative, it comes out. Doesn't matter what laxative you take, it all does the same thing in the end.
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?
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?
hmm, I got this from quackwatch, which seems to go around debunking medical hooey:
"Around the turn of the twentieth century many physicians accepted the concept of autointoxication, but it was abandoned after scientific observations proved it wrong. In 1919 and 1922, it was clearly demonstrated that symptoms of headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite that accompanied fecal impaction were caused by mechanical distension of the colon rather than by production or absorption of toxins [3,4]. Moreover, direct observation of the colon during surgical procedures or autopsies found no evidence that hardened feces accumulate on the intestinal walls."
"Cleansing" with products composed of herbs and dietary fiber is unlikely to be physically harmful, but the products involved can be expensive. Some people have reported expelling large amounts of what they claim to be feces that have accumulated on he intestinal wall. However, experts believe these are simply "casts" formed by the fiber contained in the "cleansing" products."
I'd say that explains that little mystery. I noticed that most of the products I saw involved eating a large amount of powder type stuff, so I'd say all these things do is line the GI tract with something, and then "magically" strip it away. PHOOEIE!
"Around the turn of the twentieth century many physicians accepted the concept of autointoxication, but it was abandoned after scientific observations proved it wrong. In 1919 and 1922, it was clearly demonstrated that symptoms of headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite that accompanied fecal impaction were caused by mechanical distension of the colon rather than by production or absorption of toxins [3,4]. Moreover, direct observation of the colon during surgical procedures or autopsies found no evidence that hardened feces accumulate on the intestinal walls."
"Cleansing" with products composed of herbs and dietary fiber is unlikely to be physically harmful, but the products involved can be expensive. Some people have reported expelling large amounts of what they claim to be feces that have accumulated on he intestinal wall. However, experts believe these are simply "casts" formed by the fiber contained in the "cleansing" products."
I'd say that explains that little mystery. I noticed that most of the products I saw involved eating a large amount of powder type stuff, so I'd say all these things do is line the GI tract with something, and then "magically" strip it away. PHOOEIE!
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.
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.
Hugs, Des
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Also, a less dramatic cleansing would be to follow a prep that is used prior to a colonoscopy. If you ever had one and seen the pics, you will know that nothing is left behind in your colon.
Hugs, Des
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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.
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.
Hello All:
Oh...I couldn't stop laughing at all the responses about colon cleansing! Thanks for all the advice. I'm laughing, not at the subject nor reasons (which are valid) but, I'm laughing at the way everyone discribes the way poop works. It is so funny that we have gotten so use to this whole ordeal, that we talk as if it's no big deal. Can you imagine people who don't have IBS reading our postings!!!
Have a great day/evening, 
dlo
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.)
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.)
Hello Keriamon,
I don't know.. At times, I feel scared and miserable. Then sometimes, this IBS problem is embarrassing and hilarous at the same time. I try to laugh at everything when I can.
I'm glad several of you talked about colon cleansing, because I was curious about it and had considered it. The articles were so convincing!
dlo
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.
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WHEN (not if 
) I become a doctor I am going to make it my mission to b*tch out detox mystics and greedy drug company SOBs. I just hate them all. I am empassioned by the prospect of unveiling all the evil, nasty, ludicrous schemes out there for as many people as possible.
Side note: when I took the medical college admissions test a year and a half ago, there was an essay question that asked something about ethical dilemmas posed to drug companies. I wrote about a particular drug company that had come out with a med with dual action properties: it could be used to effectively treat African Sleeping Sickness (which kills or debilitates thousands of Africans every year), or could be used to remove unwanted facial hair in women. Guess how it was marketed and sold? You got it; all of it went to the U.S. and Europe for women who wanted to get rid of their unsightly facial hair, and Africa got none of it. It's all about the freakin' money. Who cares about a bunch of dying Africans when you've got millions of suffering women painfully plucking or bleaching their mustaches?? For crying out loud!
Ahem. I will remove myself from my soapbox now. (I got the highest score possible on the essay section, but it still didn't get me into med school!)
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.
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I have been on the oxy powder for the last 5 days. I was desperate to try it as I was suffering badly with gas, discomfort and bloated. up till now it worked as laxative affect and feel good about emptying my colon however, I still feel bloated at the end of the day , must have something to do with my diet. you are suppose to drink veggie juice only and although I am vegetarian, I have protein shake for breakfast and soup for lunch plus egg white omelette for dinner.
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!
Co-Moderator for the IBS Forum
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!
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Ok what about the horrible procedure the colorectal doc does to you to examine you, after he made you do an enema,( and your not constipated at all!!), then he blows this air in your rectum, with God know what. Now folks i have a high tolerance to pain, but that what the worse, I would have preferred to be sedated for that, giving birth was not as painful as that procedure. I guess my point here is if you want a colon cleansing, this procedure will do it and then some, you will have the cleanest colon around, and maybe other organs may be pretty cleaned out if there are any left after this procedure. Thats my two cents....
***Take Care.....Sheryl***
***Take Care.....Sheryl***
SERENITY PRAYER: "GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE; COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN; AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE........
Post Edited (jk) : 11/22/2005 2:21:05 AM (GMT-7)
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
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