Overcoming My Fear of Enemas

First Report

"Having never had anything like an enema in my life, I approached the idea with some trepidation. My relationship with my digestive system had been pretty unconscious and largely non-problematic: I put stuff in one end, and it came out the other, in its own time. I never inquired very closely into the timing or quality of what was coming out. (My dad had taught me that it was important to examine your stools, largely in case there were parasites I guess), and so if nothing was moving in what I saw in the toilet, I flushed it and thought no more about it.

My main health issues were with my respiratory tract. I was born into a New York apartment full of cockroach dander, cat hair, gas heat, etc., and developed asthma fairly soon into my life. I am not sure how much my environment engendered this condition and how much was inherited: both my mother and maternal grandmother were "lung-ers" and so I probably got the drift in utero, and wanting to belong to the family, obligingly wheezed too. Who knows? I was also highly allergic to probably much of the particulates of the Planet. I remember as a first-grader having aminophylline pills in my pocket in case I had an asthma attack at school. They sure are bitter.

I lived a fair number of decades without much change in this relationship. As I got older I began to have some chronic pain which I self-diagnosed as fibromyalgia, having noticed that the medical protocol for doing this was pretty dogmatic. Didn't seek medical help for it, as I had been through some nursing school and realized what was available was not geared toward curing anything as much as just masking the symptoms. Just figured it was my 'cross to bear' and was thankful that all my internal organs appeared to be working well, so I was lucky.

Recently I watched a series of documentaries called "The Truth About Cancer: The Quest for the Cures." In the discussions about what allowed cancer to take hold of a body, the info about the liver storing toxins got me wondering. I had had a fairly intimate and extensive relationship with alcohol for several decades (not since 2005, which is another story) and as a young child growing up in Florida, we ran behind the DDT trucks, playing in the fog. I also as a nursing student would play with the mercury after a thermometer broke, rolling it around in my hand and admiring how it gathered itself into a ball from many fragments. I had had a few yeast infections, never anything that lasted long or needed much medicine. Had taken some antibiotics here and there, again, never for a long period. But the combination of things made me feel like it might be a good idea to give my liver some help detoxifying.

One of the things mentioned in the TTAC documentaries as a detoxification assist was coffee enemas. Now I am a devoted fan of coffee enemas. Hearing that coffee is one of the most heavily pesticided crops on the planet gave me pause, as I had bought coffee by price and taste, not by purity. So I started buying organic, shade-grown coffee, re-evaluating my relationship with everything. Dr. Max Gerson had achieved a tremendous amount of success using coffee enemas. Inquiring on Dogpile (Google being on my s**tlist) the website Optimal Health Network came up. And thus began a new chapter in my relationship with my digestive tract."

~ April

Second Report

"I have never had any luck with figuring out how to get a lot of fluids and keep them in me for any length of time; so it began to seem like enemas might be a possible way to get more fluids into myself and not have them go straight through my kidneys (possibly from overactive adrenals due to long-term asthma medications). If the colon is about absorbing water and vitamins then it would seem like an enema with essential oils or coffee or just our good well water would be like getting a big drink of water without dumping it so fast. Not to mention the detoxification angle.

I started out with a standard red rubber bag with the white tubing, maybe a 2-quart bag, and the standard nozzles. It was tedious to have to keep refilling it. So since my husband and I were both doing this, we decided to spring for the good equipment from Optimal Health Network, and got a 5-quart bag, 2 colon tubes, a bulb, and 5 lbs. of enema coffee.

The first time I did an enema series, I had really good luck retaining both the water enema, and then the coffee one. Subsequently I was often trying to do the series on mornings when I had to go to work, and the stress of having time limits was a bummer. I was somewhat frustrated at subsequent episodes, having a sulky colon that wasn't interested in having itself cleansed and rejected multiple small quantities of all liquids. But I kept on trying, and was surprised at how good I felt after the series of three enemas (water, water/salt/essential oil, and diluted coffee). Exceptionally good!

When we got the 5-quart bag and the colon tube(s), (one for each of us; we are close but there are limits to what you want to share...) it considerably simplified the whole procedure, but there were hysterically funny (in retrospect) episodes of *WTF* as my body did its best to adapt to my requests. The colon tube is VERY flexible at the tip, and I had not realized my anus had so much...mmm...TONE (read: you are NOT putting that thing into me!). I was convinced it must be rolling up into a ball inside me, so I kept pushing it in just to make sure it got past the rectum. When I finally pulled it out it was over 12 inches inside me! I am very grateful for the Super Salve, in that it really stays on, in, etc., any surface (which can be problematic if you get it on something you do not want to slide).

I have realized as I keep practicing this art, that my relationship with my body had been very simple, and pretty one-way. Especially my relationship with my colon. I have never had any trouble with my digestion, so it was simple; I got the signal I had to poop, and I pooped. End of story. I didn't ask any questions, and so my insides had no basis for a conversation. Now, there is definitely dialogue. As I put fluids in, my anus lets me know if the temperature is comfortable, and it also lets me know when I have put enough fluid in. It has gotten better about not demanding that I let the fluid out NOW! I MEAN, REALLY RIGHT NOW!!! (I go through a LOT of towels, as having them on the floor between the tub and the toilet has been a must. I'm glad we have a small bathroom.)

I have had to devise ways to take more time letting the fluids in, being chronically impatient. My cell phone timer is good for that. Wearing my iPod and listening to music helps. Breathing and massaging my abdomen in the "I Love You" pattern Kristina recommended in her book really helped. I have pondered putting some cool mandala or kaleidoscope pattern on the ceiling of the bathroom. (I do the enema series on a colema board propped up by two plastic stools, and a couple of pieces of wood under the hip end to elevate my hips. I have lately realized that this may not be helping me get fluids all the way into my ascending colon, so am rethinking it.)

I have begun to wonder how my life would look if I MADE time to do the series every day for, say, 2 weeks. How much better might I feel? I am clear that entering into this new aspect of seeking wellness is showing me how relatively uncaring I have been to myself, and having had lots of physical stamina, I have not had to pay much attention to my body, as it always functioned superbly and didn't complain, hardly at all (read: I wasn't listening). As my chronic pain has gotten worse I have realized I am probably chock full of poisons of various sorts, and am extremely grateful to Kristina for her compassionate and thorough tutelage."

~ April