WEBVTT - How Enemas Work 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.720 Heart Radio. Hey, I'm welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.360 There's Charles to w Chuck, Brian over there, Jerry's here, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:24.959 so bend over and let's get started. Everyone warning, body horror. Yeah, 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.800 this is about Enema's trigger warning. Obviously if you see 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.880 the title, you're gonna know what's going on. But you 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.680 know there's gonna be some gross stuff. And there's also 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.159 a small section that does uh you may not want 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.519 your kids to hear. Uh. I would just say, if 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.519 this is probably not family road trip material, yeah, just 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.720 skip to the next one. Yeah, unless that next one, no, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.199 it's probably safe lately. Oh yeah yeah yeah. And it's 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.479 really just that one part to tell you the truth. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.520 And even then it's not like we're being like, you know, 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.080 lascivious or body. No, it's nothing to be ashamed of it, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.319 like you just just tread carefully with kids around, everybody's like, 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.679 what are they talking about? I've never been more intrigued 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.400 via Stuff you Should Know episode and you'll know when 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.000 did we get there? So keep your pants on? That 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.120 was terrible but great also at the same time, um, 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.479 so we're talking enemas and yeah, they were probably about 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.959 seven eight times researching this where I was like, I'm 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:29.920 gonna faintly, yeah, and I'm really surprised that I've actually 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.000 gotten high colonics before, like I've done this stuff. I 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:39.160 think I remember that. And you were into this, right, yes, actually, yeah, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:40.440 that's a good way to put it. I was into 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.600 it for a while. Um and because there were times 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.080 where I would get one and be like, I've never 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.320 felt more positive and energetic than I've ever felt my life. 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.440 Then other times I would get them and I would 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.480 feel like gray and couldn't look anybody in the eye afterward. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.520 Like it's really strange how it can affect you. But 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.320 you know, when it does make you feel it, you 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.760 can understand why people do it. The thing is is 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:07.200 we'll see the reason that I was doing high colonics 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.560 and why most people do high colonics, especially outside of 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:16.400 a formal medical setting. It's just basically bunk. That's true. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.440 I remember now you talked about this in our live 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.160 Dr Kellogg episode. Yeah, because I remember you when you 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.680 said you felt gray. That's how I described it on stage. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:29.880 There's no other way to put it. That always gotta laugh. Yeah, yeah, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.840 that's true. Also gotta laugh. That's true. Jokes, No, for sure. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.519 So um, I'll talk a little. I'll pepper this episode 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.760 with with my memories of that. How about that? Great? 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:44.480 But instead, I've never done it. You've never had an 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.600 anima even, no, no, nothing like that. Okay, alright, exit 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.839 only so far and so in that ruling anything out. 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.440 But that's the thing. So like Ed helped us with 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.040 this one, and he specifically spells out, there's no reason 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.440 for you to do this. That's true. And just let 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.560 me correct myself real quick. I did have my colon 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.560 oscar be so I'm officially not exit only. Oh congratulations, man, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.080 that's a good thing to do. No one told me 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.240 two things going into this, one of which is that 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:15.320 the people coming in there to do it walk in 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.560 like wearing rubber smocks basically, and when you see it, 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.799 you're like, oh, sure I would do uh. And the 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.000 other thing no one ever told me, and I think 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.000 people don't tell people this maybe just because it's a 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.640 fun surprise, is that all you do afterward for thirty 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:38.800 minutes is fart. I don't remember that I was sitting there, 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.160 but pre op they brought a guy out next to 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:44.720 me behind the curtain and he was just blowing gas 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.320 every fifteen seconds, big ones, and I was dying and 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.680 the guy I was it was so funny to me. 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:53.840 I mean, I mean still five years old. The guy 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.080 came in to wheel me in the anesthesiologists and I 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:00.400 was like, is that him? And he that's everybody, and 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.200 I went so all day long and he went a 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.320 cacophony of farts and I was like, what a job, 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:07.840 and he just kind of laughed and he said it'll 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.880 be you two. And I came out and I was 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.320 in that beautiful propof all haze and I told the lady, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.200 I said, I gotta go to the bathroom right now, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.719 and she went, you just have to pass, honey. She 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.599 would just go go ahead and start doing it, and 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:24.000 sure enough I just started. I just started blowing heat 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.640 for how long? Because I really did that. I must 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.800 have been like just basically out while I was doing it. 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.280 Now maybe well Emily didn't remember either, but she I 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:35.760 was in there with her and she I think was 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.760 pretty farty. So anyway, all that to say, uh, I 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.800 did have the camera, uh you know, going inside of 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.040 my body. So you have been an inny now not 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:49.680 just that, I guess, so I was looking for the 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.760 right word and any sure, so um, well, let's just 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.560 let's get to the nitty gritty here. Okay, Yeah, what's 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.440 an enema. It's when you have fluid injected through your 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.919 anus into the rectum. Sometimes, depending on the amount of 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.200 fluid introduced and how long you can hold it, it 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.520 can make its way up to the large intestine, which 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:12.800 is five ft or one and a half meters long, 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.320 so it can be a lot of fluid, almost two 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.480 leaders from what I saw. Um, and then you try 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.560 to hold it and then after a while you pass 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.440 it and you're basically pooping a bunch of water out. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.680 And hopefully if you're doing this for basically a non 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:34.240 medical reason, you're you're clearing out any remaining poop material 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.440 in there. Yeah, which is when you go in for 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.360 a calonic, they have you instead of doing a calonic 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.560 or or a cinema, they give you the stuff to 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.760 drink where you do nothing but poop for you know, 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.479 twelve to eighteen hours or whatever for a colonoscopy. Yeah, 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.479 because they don't want they don't want anything in there either, No, 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.120 and because they can they can like not make it 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.200 past whatever chunks are in there, or they can um 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.320 they can kind of um block there the data that 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.240 they're getting from it block their view. Who knows, but yeah, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:12.800 the uber right, like when I had to go one 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.760 more time and I actually stopped the guy right as 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:16.880 we were going in and said, I think you have 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:18.159 to go one more time? Is that a problem? And 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.800 he went no, please do say oh right, of course, 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.920 it's like you want all of it out. So let's 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.840 talk about where you're actually holding this water when you 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.000 get in Eama. Yeah, to the five people still listening, 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.880 you think, no, I don't know. I think there are 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.440 some people that are I mean that listen to the 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.160 poop episode. If they're into that, they're into this sure 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.680 for sure. So um in your guts, you've got your 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.360 digestive tract, which basically is your guts, you get your mouth, 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.520 you're faring to your esophagus. That's where the food goes 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.080 into the stomach, and from the stomach it goes into 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.000 the small intestine. And the small intestine is long. It's 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.720 really long. It's like twenty two ft long, all bunched up, 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.200 and it's longer then large intestine. But it's much narrower, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.800 and that is where we suck all the nutrients out 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:06.560 of food, right, and then once we suck all the 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.280 nutrients out of food, it goes produp into the large intestine. 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.040 That's right, all right. So from this point, uh, you're 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:16.760 at the end of the small intestine, right am, I 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.320 in the right part of the body. I feel like 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.440 you shrunk me down and I'm listening to you on 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:26.360 like out of here. Uh. You've got the liquid food 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.600 material at this point, and it's going to pass through 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:34.240 the iliosecal valve into the secum. And we talked about 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.080 all this in the poop in the Digestive episodes, but 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.880 it's a nice refresher and I think appendix too. Yeah. Probably, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.520 it's always fun to talk about it because it's such 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.480 a weird system to that, like the answer is twenty 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.880 two ft of intestines. Yeah, but it's just such a 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:51.520 beautiful idea or such a great systems. It's pretty cool. Uh. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:53.120 So the secum is on the right side of the 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.920 body and the lower abdomen, and then it's going to 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.400 move into this the colon, which is that big, larger 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.680 segmented tube that goes up the right side and takes 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:06.720 a little turn actually not a little turn or very 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.240 sharp turn across the body, uh, in the upper abdomen 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.880 and is kind of curved and tucked underneath the stomach. Yeah, 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.840 And then it goes down the other side and makes 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.400 kind of a j at the bottom, and that's where 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.440 it connects with the rectum. And colon, by the way, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.400 is just another word for the large intestine. Um. There's 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.840 different types of colon depending on what section you're talking about. 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.920 But the point is, as it's going through this wild 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:34.960 ride in your large intestine, although the nutrients have been 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.040 removed now the water is being removed a lot of 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.760 the liquid so that you don't get dehydrated every time 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.880 you poop, and that makes your poop not dry, but 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.480 less moist than it would have been when it entered 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.880 the large intestine. The point is this, when it gets 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:52.160 to erectum and goes out of your anus, what you're 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:56.120 doing is pooping. And the whole point behind enemas as 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.440 it stands, and they've been around for a really long time, 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.400 is the idea that maybe there's something stuck in there. 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.120 And if there's something stuck in there and it's gross, 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.360 we should probably try to get rid of it and 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.160 we'll probably be healthier as a result. Yeah, and I 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.000 think even beyond stuck, I think some people like the 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.120 idea of just cleaning the pipes out really really well, 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.319 you know what I'm saying. Sure, I know what you're saying. 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.040 Like if they could get a one of those like 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:30.040 test tube brushes, you can't, yeah, like a pipe cleaner, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.760 but you can't. And so the enema has come along, 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.320 and and I think a lot of people still do 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.520 it for that reason. They just like, maybe that's why 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.800 you were doing it, like let me clean myself out. Yeah, um, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.000 I was doing it for the idea of like toxins 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.199 being removed that kind of stuff. Um, which is it? 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.920 It dates back to John Harvey Kellogg but even further 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.400 as we'll see. But yeah, I think some people do 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:54.120 just want to be cleaner. And I saw that there's 0:09:54.160 --> 0:10:00.800 a shower extension or attachment that is home and you 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.040 can basically just give yourself an enema every day in 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.120 the shower. Whether you should do that or not is 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.560 highly debatable, and if you asked the doctor, they'll say, no, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:12.800 I don't even do it once, But some people do anyway. Interesting, uh, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.640 all right. So if you want to go back through history, um, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.080 you it's one of the earliest sort of medical procedures 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.280 that you could get. Uh. It is in ancient ancient 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.480 medical texts. Uh. We always talk about Pliny and Herodotus, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.320 they both wrote about enemas. The Egyptians were using enemas. Uh. 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.839 That was apparently a bird called the ibis that they 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.199 thought gave itself enemas with its beak, when in fact 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.280 it was just expressing oil glands near the anus with 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.200 its beak. But they looked at this bird and said, 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:45.920 I guess, well, hey, if it's doing it, then maybe 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.679 we should do um. But a lot of times with 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:54.480 the Egyptians it was sort of a post um. She's 0:10:54.480 --> 0:11:01.520 almost said, postpartum, post die, post posthumous. Yeah, oh cheeze, 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:06.080 its posthumous post. I was gonna cut all that out, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.280 but I should just own it, right, It's up to you. Now, 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.719 you're gonna own it. I was. I could not think 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.880 of the word posthumous. It was something they did after 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.520 you died. Yeah, they would put a bunch of cedar 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.719 oil up your poop shoot and let you, um, let 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.560 your inners just basically dissolve that way. But they were 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.360 also using it while they were alive, not using cedar 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.240 oil obviously because that would have been horrible, but um, 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:32.640 using other stuff like typically water sometimes oils um to 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:37.120 basically clean themselves out. Again, that's long been and still 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.760 is the basic idea of an enema for thousands of years. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.679 That's right. So as far as equipment goes, uh, you know, 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.599 over the years, it's definitely uh, things have come and 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.680 gone and what was available to them. Uh. Syringes have 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.360 been around a lot longer than I thought actually before 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.880 I researched this stuff. But depending on where you were 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.440 and how much money you had, you might not have 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.199 access to something like a medical syringe. Um. But one 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:05.760 thing they would use is in certain parts of the 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.040 world where bamboo tubes uh, and you would, you know, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.920 stick this up someone's butt and you would be very 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.400 careful not to inhale with your mouth on the tube, 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:20.840 and you would blow, uh blow in and you would 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.080 force liquid in through there. And this was something that 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.680 they used. I think bellows came along because people actually 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:32.160 would occasionally inhale and that would lead to very poor results. Right, Yeah, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.319 because a lot of times you were getting animals for 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.080 things like colera, and if you accidentally like coughed and 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.920 inhaled while you're what you're supposed to be blowing, you 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.880 could inhale color infested stool and you were in big, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:47.000 big trouble. Or even if it wasn't colera infested, it's 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.079 just a very poor day, it really is. And they 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.240 were like yeah, and like this is a it's a 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.440 really basic idea, but over you know, the centuries, people 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.520 added things to it, like you said, the syringe. When 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.680 it started to become more widespread. Um there was a 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.439 Dutch physician named Rignier de Groff who in the six 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.600 hundreds realized that a lot of people could probably benefit from, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.240 you know, an enema, but they were too modest or 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.000 embarrassed or something like that. So he really started to 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.760 try to figure out how to make um enemas self administered, 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.199 also to free the poor person who had to blow 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.920 the water through the bamboo tube as well. It was 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.160 way better if you could just do it yourself without 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.680 that kind of thing. Sure, uh, you know things like 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.199 water bottles that used these days in certain applications. Back 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.640 then they would use like animal bladders and things like that. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.520 Because they again like you said they tried to make 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.640 it early on. I think even way back then they 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.000 were they said, this is probably something we should try 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.720 and get people to do themselves, no matter what tools 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.079 they're using, Like, we gotta think of something to get 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.080 everyone else out of the room. So, just like everything else, Um, 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.400 there was an age of the enema and this actually 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:04.720 happened during the the court of Louis fourteenth, who I 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:10.200 believe rain during the eighteenth century. Correct, Yeah, I mean 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.680 I think it was yeah, like early sixteen thirties to 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.280 early seventeen hundreds. Okay, alright, correct, so I was half right. 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.840 So during this time, like it was, it was just 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.400 just as fashionable as as it could be to get 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.000 enemas self administered or otherwise. And being the king Louis 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.520 the fourteenth was like, um, I don't have to administer 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.400 these myself. I'll have somebody administer them to me. And 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.720 also being the king, I will just I'll take visitors 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.920 during these sessions as well. Yes, and he loved these things. 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:47.520 Reports say that he had over two thousand enemas during 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.280 his reign. And uh, why this hasn't been like at 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.840 least a movie scene at some point I have no 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.400 idea where he's just kind of holding cord or taking 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.360 a meeting while he's getting an enema. But um, you know, 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.920 high society, the Parisians, they would show off there. They 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.440 were called clister uh syringes, and they had several different ones, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.920 somewhere like mother of Pearl and very fancy, and they 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.000 would they would, you know, say, oh, look at mine, 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:17.200 I have several different you know, enema syrenches. And it 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:21.560 was just a thing people did a lot, yes, until 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.080 the around the nineteenth century, and they started figuring out 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.200 that that they could make laxatives and pillform and it 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:33.000 was way easier, and they started prescribing those instead UM, 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.440 and it fell out of favor until John Harvey Kellogg 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:40.120 came along and for much much greater detail in his 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.720 um experience with enemas. You could go listen to our 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:47.160 live Kellogg Brothers episode. But he he brought it back 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.240 with a bang, and since then, his ideas that you're 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.760 cleaning out toxins that otherwise will cause disease in you 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.480 is still just the premise of enemas outside of the 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.920 medical setting. That's right. Uh. A another couple of things 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:02.600 that I know, I know one of them you mentioned 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:04.400 and I couldn't remember, but I guess it was the 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:10.080 drowning episode. Was they used to in England perform tobacco 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.920 smoke enemas to revive people after drowning or if you 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.680 lose consciousness, And I knew that sounded familiar. And then 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:19.280 when it hit on the drowning part that had to 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.720 have been the episode. But they would blow tobacco smoke 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:27.040 up your butt with a rubber hose and will wake 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.280 you right up. I guess yeah. Well, actually I think 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.520 they found that it didn't actually work very much. Okay, 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:34.520 so you want to take a break and come back 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:48.920 and talk more about animals. Hey, let's stuck. I don't 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.320 know that you know it stuck and stuck. It's a 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.440 great name. That's the name of that. It's a great name. Alright, 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.400 stuck within with an X. Right, So let's talk like 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:08.639 the actual medical anima, right and how it actually works. Okay. Uh. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.280 The first thing you want to figure out is how 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.440 much liquid to put in um and it varies. There 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.879 can be situations where they're basically kind of flushing you 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.480 in and out where there are gallons of liquid that 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.840 are used. Uh, sometimes you might get a CT scan 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:28.080 to actually determine a real volume to use, like how 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:33.320 much space do you have to hold this liquid? And uh, 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.800 usually though it's about a leader or so roughly, Yeah, um, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.639 I saw that the volume of the average coal in 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.280 the large intestine is about one and a half leaders 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.960 to maybe three. I think you're on the side of down. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.320 But if you think about it, if you're using a leader, 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.919 say two leaders, you're filling up your entire large intestine 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.760 with water. Lucky for you, there's that um ilo seql 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.680 ealv um that prevents backflow from going from the large 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.280 intestine back into the small intestine. Um. But that's actually 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.000 like a big, big risk with UM self administered or 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.119 non medical enemas or colonics is there's a concern that 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.600 that could actually breach that and you would be in 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.320 big trouble because you'd be infecting yourself with stuff that 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.880 you shouldn't be infecting yourself with. Yeah, I mean, that's 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.840 one good reason not to do it yourself exactly, So 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.879 you're gonna probably be on your side. There's a doctor 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.359 nurse who's going to be you know, administering it, and um, 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.399 it's exactly what you think. They put a tube up 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.120 your butt. They put the water whatever it is, into 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.159 your anus, which goes up to your rectum and then 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:46.400 possibly into your um large intestine and while you're while 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:51.040 you're sitting there, you were overcome by the urge to poop. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.480 And it's not just that you're full or distended um. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:19:00.560 It's that the liquid actually can trigger the mucosa lining 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:05.080 the rectum to to poop. It's basically like, there's two 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.600 ways it's making you want to poop, and brother, do 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.959 you want to poop? Right? So one is your full 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.960 and the other is that mucosa is just start spasming 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.400 because it's triggered. Uh. And that's why I use apparently 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:21.000 why they use soapy water um or not always, but 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.320 there is such a thing as the soapy water enema, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.840 and that soap is a lubricant which helps obviously for 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.760 obvious reasons, but it also can be extra irritating to 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.760 the colon and guess make you want to poop even more. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.159 But I'm sure there's people out there who presume that 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.080 soapy soap water enemas are used to clean you out 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.439 extra yeah, which is not the case, right, No, it's not. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:48.919 It's just for making you your colon spasm right, so UM, 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.880 while you're holding this, like sometimes you have to hold 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.600 it because there might be a bunch of um like 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:56.639 impacted poop in there or something like that that they 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:58.280 want to kind of soften up over time, so they 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.480 may make you hold it for a while. You're going 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.439 to cramp because you're not used to being this full. 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:07.320 And also don't forget that you're your colon is spasming 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:09.040 wanting to poop, and you just have to hold it 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.520 for as long as you can and then finally you 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.119 get to poop it out and you go home and 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.040 cry for a couple of days. So I guess we 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.439 should talk about some of the valid reasons before we 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.720 get to like the reasons why you probably shouldn't just 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.120 do one at home yourself to clean yourself out. Uh. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.440 There are plenty of valid medical reasons why you want 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:32.120 to good with doctor or if you're in a hospital 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.400 or something to get an enema. UM One is if 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.520 you have UH, and we're not talking about just your 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.200 garden variety constipation that happens to people. We're talking about 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.200 constipation that has not responded to any other treatments UM 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.000 or possibly if it gets so bad, something called fecal 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:55.159 impactation can happen, which is just really long term I mean, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.800 it's what you think, it's really long term constipation where 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:02.240 you're feces are just so hard and compact and dehydrated 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.880 that it's probably not even possible to get him out 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:09.040 other than with an enema, right, Um. And that's where 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:10.720 you just sit there and hold it in for a 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.080 while and just kind of let it loosen up, probably 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.159 with like some warm water that's just breaking it up, 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:22.080 maybe celine water too. Um you all right, Um, you 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.640 also want might want to do it, like you said, 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.040 for you, if you're going to go get a colonoscopy, 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:31.000 they might have given you an enema back in the day. Um, 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.040 although I wonder how long they've been doing colonoscopes. At 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:38.280 some point, enemas and colonoscopes cross paths. But now since 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:40.680 they figured out they can give you like that that 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.280 magic drink that just makes you poop, poop, poop, they 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:45.720 don't really need to do enemas any longer. But I 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.200 think that was a that was a point at some time. 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.560 They met in a bar one night. Yeah, we seem 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.480 to have a lot in common. Yeah, I couldn't think 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:58.960 I really wanted to. That was great, Chuck, there it is, 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.840 thank you. Um here's another reason before having a baby. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.480 A lot of times when when someone has a baby, 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.280 they can they can poop, And for a long time 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.200 they said, well that's not a good idea because there 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.720 could be bacteria in the feces. This is called cause infections, 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.399 so you get an enema before you have a baby. 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:24.240 But since the early nineteen eighties that has UH kind 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:25.800 of gone the way of the dodo because there was 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:29.840 a paper meta study in n that found that it 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.840