Are Colonics a Good Treatment for Constipation and IBS?

Colon cleansing (also called colonics and colonic irrigation) is a controversial treatment for digestive issues.

Colonics are NOT recommended for people with severe problems like Ulcerative Colitis and Chrohn’s disease but when treating IBS, colonics get mixed reviews.

Personally, colon cleansing has never worked for me. But I’ve also heard people say that colonics help relieve their IBS symptoms.

So the most important thing to know about colonics is that their efficacy is simply related to someone’s personal body type.

Colonics are very popular with the raw food crowd and they are recommended with such passion and confidence that it can make you feel like something is wrong with you if colonics have the complete opposite effect for you.

Rest assured that colonics are not for everyone so don’t believe the hype. This article will present both the pros and the cons of colonics so you can use your judgement and intuition to decide if it is right for you.

The pros and cons of colon cleansing

The idea behind colon cleansing is that eating an unhealthy and processed diet full of toxins can cause impacted feces to get stuck in the crevices of your colon. Pouring a stream of water into the colon helps soften and loosen this hard impacted matter so it can leave your body and lighten the toxic load you’re carrying.

Colonics are most popularly used for detoxification and often paired with a detox diet or juice cleanse.

But if you are someone who has an extremely sensitive colon, this treatment may be too invasive and irritating. The water used to cleanse your colon removes bacteria from your colon, both the bad AND the good kinds. After a colonic, it is very important to replenish good bacteria by eating probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut.

My experiences with colonics

I tried a series of 7 colonics to ease my IBS symptoms when I was still sick. If I had not signed up for the package deal I mostly likely wouldn’t have returned after my first treatment. When I was on the colonic table I experienced feelings of nausea, gas pain and urgency to relieve myself on the table. It was so intense sometimes that it sent chills down my body.

My first colonic experience was of the closed system which was much more uncomfortable for me than the open system I tried later.

Two types of colonics

You can choose from two colonic procedures, open and closed. The closed colonic is when a hose is inserted into the rectum and water rushes into the colon until it is filled. Then the water flow is reversed and impacted waste comes out through the hose along with the water.

The open colonic style lets you fill and release many times during the process. So if you feel pain, nausea and urgency you can simply push out and release the waste and gas that is causing the discomfort.

The worse part of my colonic experience is that it never got anymore comfortable. And after each session my constipation got much, much worse. The result was the exact opposite of what I was expecting.

Pure curiosity and professional research tempted me to try colonics again after healing my bowels completely. I wondered if the experience would be different when my bowels were healed?  My body was different now, so I wondered if I would have a different experience this time. The results surprised me.

This time I tried the open colonic system, which allowed me to push the water out.The tube that’s inserted into the rectum is small and moves aside when you push the water out.

There was still cramping, gas pain and intense nausea but being able to push the water out when I started feeling bad was helpful and produced less anxiety. And it is satisfying to see your waste flush out through a hose.

My colon therapist told me that it is typical to skip one or two bowel movements after a treatment. But my post colonic experience caused constipation symptoms when I had none before. My bowels started acting funny after my treatment. Not only was I going to the bathroom much less often but my bowel movements were urgent and slightly painful.

My colon was definitely sending me a message that it did not like this procedure. It was clear to me that colonics were not for me.

People who argue against colonics say that the procedure interferes with the bowel’s natural ability to self cleanse and that it’s an unnatural treatment. But I believe that taking medications is just as unnatural but lots of people do it anyway.

The nutritionist I worked with to heal my digestive issues told me that colonics distress the liver. I have a particularly sensitive liver.

A few nights after the treatment I had extremely vivid dreams. I am not sure if this was due to the colonic but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. It often surprises me how interconnected everything is in our bodies.

Since we‘re already talking poop let me tell you about my best colon cleansing experience…

I did a 5 day juice fast and on the 5th day after a cup of senna tea I went to the bathroom after not eating anything for 5 days. The waste was small and paisley shaped like the diverticuli (crevices) in my colon. The impacted stuff came out naturally. It was very satisfying. I was so weirdly happy about it. No invasive procedures needed.

It feels good to do a spring cleaning of your body but not everyone can tolerate a juice fast or a colonic. We are all so very different so I disprove of people who try to sell a particular treatment as the cure-all for everything and everyone.

The best way to determine if something is right for you is to try it and notice how your body responds. Go into the experience with neutral expectation and listen deeply to yourself. Don’t get caught up in the “expert recommended” mentality. Just because something works well for some people doesn’t make it the solution for you.

If you have had any experiences to share about colonics I would love to hear your thought in the comments below.

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