# too many enemas make sigmoid lazy?



## Joan Gregg (Jun 6, 2000)

For the past two weeks, not only can't I empty rectum, I can't empty sigmoid. Too many water bag enemas? Pls respond. Can I retrain? I still have that transit disorder that affects my WHOLE gastrointestinal system, accroding tp PA Hospital Doc.


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## NancyCat (Jul 16, 1999)

JG-You need to set a time each day to sit on the potty and "try" to go, even if you can't. Hopefully you can train your body to get the proper urge and to go after a while. It cant hurt and may help. Hope this helps


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## ghitta (Jul 6, 2002)

joan, sorry to have to tell you this but enemas are addictive just like stimulatory laxatives. - and just like stimulatory laxatives, once in a while is fine but on a regular, continuing basis they will mess you up permanently (mae west was a known enema addict and ended up incontinent in her old age) - if you can find other solutions, that would be better (same old same old: diet, exercise, mental health, relaxation techniques, supplements, shrinkage, things that are fast to digest if you have slow transit: fruit, green veg, etc) -but try to stay away from enemas on a reg basis......


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

I doubt the enemas can do anything like this. Have you tried a colonic prep?


> quote:are fast to digest if you have slow transit: fruit, green veg, etc


You'd want to stay away from anything thing with fiber if you have slow transit.


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## Joan Gregg (Jun 6, 2000)

I don't have slow transit. Some days I empty the entire salad from the night before. I have a "transit disorder" that effects my ENTIRE digestive system (not gastroparesis, not gerd, not any one pinpointable disorder.)The last time I took a colonic prep after a day of liquids (May 2004), it hurt my descending colon excruciatingly. Yet, all the fluid came out, according to the doctor.Even with pelvic floor dysfunction, three docs say I should only have lots of gas, not all this horrible colonic pain.Rather than incontinent, like May West, I can't always push things out. Rectal manometry idetifies pelvic floor dysfunction; botox injection didn't work nor did the probe up my rectum telling me to squeeze and release. Just read my signature, thanks.


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

Joan,Maybe you need a good surgeon to go in and actually take a look, and maybe remove 6 inches or so.I don't know, but wonder how much excess colon we could get rid of, and how much of a difference it would make in bowel movements.A friend had to have some removed, and has no problems since. Made me wonder.I think you may need something like xanax, also. I wonder if some of us could actually get to relax we'd feel better.Wish I knew, but many doctors don't always think of things if we don't mention the possibilitiesI think you need to be on drugs that relax, and stop spasms, but more heavy-duty type. Levbid isn't really very strong to my way of thinking. Needs to be used along with an anti-nerve pill.Good luck, but call and ask the doctor before making a trip to the office what you suspect might help.


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

PSI'd call the doctor's office, and ask what you can do for this problem.I'm more screwed up when I don't use something then when I do, but I'm screwed either way. I've eaten plenty of bran and it's gassy, and does help, but I still need assistance going. I've gone 4 to 5 days without going, and I just will not do that anymore. When I have incomplete evacutation I use an enema. I mean you have to use something, or sit with that discomfort all day. It's one thing or another to me.I have read various opinions, but there are some gastroenterologists who don't believe you can get addicted to laxatives. I think you can retrain quite easily if you want to go through not going for a while. Eventually you'll go if you are eating fiber, and fruit. I took some cascara segrada an herb just to see if it would help me go last week and it did nothing. I've taken laxatives and nothing or very little. Suppositories I go good, and an enema to top it off if necessary. Works like a charm. I feel moving the bowels is important, and really we should go a couple times a day. I never did, but it would be better if you did. Doctors say it's however your body goes, but they don't have to live with that sluggish feeling till they go.I think diet has a lot to do with it also. Too much dry food is no good. Bread, chips, nachos,have no water in them. Eating foods with water, and drinking water, or liquids. Eating more soup. Soup should be a staple.My grandpa used to drink Fernet every morning, and he went like a charm. This is a liquor, and you might have to order over the internet cause liquor stores don't readily have it. I got some Angostura bitters but they didn't work. Not going runs in my family way back to my great grandmother, but I have no clue what they did except for my grandpa.The fernet is hard to take cause my grandpa made a big scrunched up face when he took a shot, and the bitters are bitter.I wish I could help, but I have no clue. I just do what I do, and I'm quite gassy, but at least I can go. I'm gassy either way cause I've tried everything.


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## Joan Gregg (Jun 6, 2000)

I DO go but sometimes not all the stool from my very very upper rectum will come down, even though it is soft. It is as if my upper rectum has been stretched; a suppository gets sucked right up into what I think is the colon! Plus, all solid food "hurts" me now. I've been taken off Miralax and Zelnorm as I was going 6 times a day with no pain relief.I called the doc, and of course he did not call me back.


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

What about doing jumping jacks? All the jumping, and gravity might make it move down.


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## pinupgirl1948 (Aug 6, 2003)

I do warm water enemas everyday.Is that bad for the colon?


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

Don't know, but I have a lot of gas, and I do them pretty regularly. I've heard this stuff messes up the flora.


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## bein2004 (Jun 2, 2004)

I use the little Fleet oil enemas. They usually help overnight. Have problems with upper ab, too, I also get relief with Milk of Magnesia and/or chelated magnesium tabs from Cashwise Food Stores in their Health Food section. Trouble is I suspect that the magnesium messes up my upper ab, where I have very strong burning under my right center rib cage. Have had gallbladder surgery so it's not that. Also had endoscopic exam in Feb. Dr. said there was only slight irritation in my esophagus, etc. Gall bladder removal did not change my symptoms. Had this same thing before and ever since. Back to the other end, stool softener also helps, but again bothers the upper problem. I feel I am better off with mineral oil. Iffgd article summer issue claims that M.O does not rob your body of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients. I know it has always been regarded as something that doesn't belong in the human body. I was given large soapsuds enemas throughout my childhood, not every day, but fairly frequently. I am now 76. Definitely do not have incontinence! bein2004


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## Paula J. (Nov 23, 2001)

WL,I've done a lot of enemas as well, and I'm not ok, but they didn't cause my problems. My problems started long before the enemas.


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## Lisab (Nov 11, 2004)

Hi all,I read about the pelvic floor dysfunction. I have a majorly bad rectal prolapse due to 8 years' worth of IBS-C. I"m having surgery to remove about a foot of my colon and reattachment to solve the prolapse problem on Dec. 14 through the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I think a lot of my pain/fluid retention/constipation is being exacerbated by this prolapse, which has been getting worse over the past year. I'm on Zelnorm for the IBS-C. I've never had major surgery and am nervous about it, but at the same time anxious because I am hoping this will help me out once I am healed, of course. What better way to spend the holidays??


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## SpAsMaN* (May 11, 2002)

Bump after 1.5 years.Where is Joan Gregg?


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

thanks, Spasman, for bumping this thread. it was interesting. I miss Joan's posts. I remember reading about a year or so ago that she said was leaving the board--can't remember exactly why. hopefully she is lurking and might start posting again...


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## SpAsMaN* (May 11, 2002)

Re-bump


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## dysterious (Dec 3, 2008)

I use Fleet enemas a few times a week, it is the only way I can go. My doctor is aware of this and says to keep doing it since it is better than not going at all. I am sick of it though... I want this to end already.


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