I think your idea that colon cleansing is hocus pocus is right on.

My 28 year old son has IBS and so do I. He gave the colon cleanse a year ago and ended up in the hospital for a week. Doctors at Mass General in Boston told him, he was lucky to be alive as it caused severe inflammation to the colon and bleeding from all the irritation, never mind the loss of fluids and all the rest. He was in critical condition for 3 days in ICU. His doc told us that not only is it dangerous to use for anyone that anyone with any kind of intestinal problems can die from using this kind of treatment. In the past year they had 6 patients with IBS die from the treatment.

Please don't use it, we almost lost our son to this crazy stuff.

Thanks socks and littleone,
Sorry to hear about your son's experience with this. I'm glad he's okay now. What program did he use? I'm not talking about lots of enemas........I'm talking about something like a week of taking certain supplements, limiting eating, etc.

There's this group of people that are always on a certain station, promoting their cleanse. Where are they getting all this money to have so many infomercials, if their products do nothing?
I DO realize that there are alot of health scams out there.

catherinet, I just spoke to my son to find out which of the programs he used. he doesn't remember the name now, but it was the oral stuff that is advertised on the infomercial that you are speaking about all the time. He doesn't watch much tv, but if he sees it again, he will let me know what the name is.

They get the money for their infomercials from people who buy the products. Of course THEY say how wonderful it is--they are making money from it. However, from what I have read, doctors and other medical professionals do not feel it is beneficial. With your existing IBS, I think it would be very unwise to try something like this, epecially without a doctor's recommendation, which I doubt you would get.

You should take littleones advice very seriously.

Watch a different channel, OK? (LOL!)

It just seems that if a product is a scam......people would quit buying it and they wouldn't have money for all these commercials......but I guess there's a sucker born every minute! lol!
Actually, I think fasting for a few days, and then eating totally healthily, would be just as healthy for our intestines (actually healthier).
Socks......please don't think I watch that channel much!! hahaha I was just passing by it one day and watched it for a moment.
I have a friend who does cleanses intermittantly, and I was wondering if anybody else had any luck with them.
She does these funky cleanses for weeks and weeks.....and then goes out and buys a bunch of donuts and chocolate. :(

I just wanted to say that I feel your pain! I don't think I have had IBS but I sure have had discomfort and problems that caused me to run to the bathroom a lot. Maybe even for two years... I thought I was headed for IBS... In Feb. we went on a cruise and I got the norovirus...that was awful... But LOL it passed. Then in Sept. I got a nasty cough and cold and went to the dr. and she put me on a Z pac of antibiotics for bronchitis. DH and I went to Oregon to see our older son. We ate sushi. We ate Dairy Queens blizzards. We ate fresh salmon. I am back to normal. Now, what do you blame??? Or give the credit to??? After almost two years of running to the bathroom???? I wonder if the antibiotics didn't make the difference???!!! Who knows? Like I say, I feel your pain, but I'd be tempted to try a round of antibiotics before I'd EVER do the cleansing.

Hi ginnier,
Actually, I've sort of thought that it was antibiotics that caused my IBS! I suppose if you maybe have a parasite, or an intestinal infection of some sort, antibiotics might help. But I've had a fair amount of them over the years, and every time I take them, I lose a little more of my bowel function. Probiotics and yogurt/kefir don't seem to help much.
I'm thinking in your case......the DQ Blizzards brought you back to normal. ;)

Catherinet have you had a colonoscopy to verify you have IBS? Over the past 30 years I have been misdiagnosed with so many different conditions to explain my intestinal problems, bouts of constipation, diarhea, and severe colon pains. Until I had a very bad experience with anti-inflamatories causing severe intestinal bleeding. The colonoscopy showed I had an extra foot of colon and very bad diverticulousis causing the IBS like symptoms. I was told to eat a high fiber diet, drink at least 4-5 8 oz's of liquids a day. After years of experimenting with different stool softeners and diets, I now take a probiotic & 8 oz of organic extra pulp prune juice in the evening, 2 beano with a high fiber cereal (over 10 grams of fiber per serving) in the morning with fruit on top, and drink as much as I can stand and eat at least 3-5 servings of fruits/vegetables a day. This has really regulated my system, except I still experience bloating & flatulance.

Everyone has to find out what works and doesn't work for them. I too have considered colon cleanses but from a local health food store...bought it but haven't tried it. My Dr said fasts, drinking only distilled water, are the best colon cleanse. I haven't tried it yet, but I have tried detox teas (Traditional Medicinals) that I do notice a difference in my stools after drinking a couples of days.

Good luck

In my experience as a master yoga therapist, I can pretty much assure you that the so-called health benefits of colon cleanses are based on the antiquated notion that the colon was simply a sewer that carried post-digestive sludge to the rectum. Barring some physical anomaly such as a tumor or that noted by karen_b above, there is no buildup in the colon; its walls are porous and continually extract nutrient-bearing moisture from the digested food, the remaining solids then being moved along via peristalsis. Were such a buildup to occur, the result would be far more perilous than the symptoms usually listed to support the need for such a cleansing.

Often, IBS and chronic dyspepsia can be effectively treated by fasting -- giving the digestive system a rest by ingesting only liquids. If the symptoms
are still recurring after three days, the first possibility which must be ruled out is disease -- everything from malignancy to microbial colitis. One of my clients had suffered from chronic attacks of severe cramps and diarrhea for ten years and had subjected himself to every sort of "naturalistic cure" without result. After a few days of inpatient tests, a culture finally revealed Klebsiella colitis caused by an overabundance of a microbe common to the colon, and a simple antibiotic treatment effected a complete cure. Had a cleansing treatment such as a high colonic caused even a minute breach of his colon and enabled Klebsiella bacteria to escape into the abdomen, serious infection would have almost certainly ensued.

Hope this helps.

Just for kicks, I just completed the week long course for the GNC colon cleanser kit. I can honestly say it did nothing but leave me $35 poorer! Oh, it did give me some nasty smelling gas! Those websites would have you believe that the intestines have this horrible build-up of toxic materials, but the truth is the intestines sloughs off every several weeks and nothing stays in there. Gosh, if it did we'd all be totally plugged up after 20 years and having surgery to clean the system out! Waste of money--spend it on a nice outfit!

Hi - I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about, but there is a product called Colon Cleanse (I think) and it is just pure psyllium husks. Psyllium is a great natural source of fiber. It is the same thing that is in Metamucil. I had IBS (stress related) and regular use of psyllium fiber has been a lifesaver for me.

As for cleansing herbs and such - a lot of those are very powerful laxatives, and I would certainly be extremely careful with those.
Best wishes.

The lining of the colon replaces itself every 7 days. How could anything stay there?

catherinet, I am really glad you asked this question. I have been wondering about the colon cleanse, especially the one advertised in that infomercial. It does pull you in doesn't it!

Colon cleanse is the process of cleansing the harmful toxins, unwanted materials, feces from the large intestine by natural or artificial therapies. Human body itself sufficient for cleansing the colon in most normal way. The efficiency of the colon depends on dietary habits and exercises. If we follow proper diet that includes fiber in diet, vegetables, juices, low fat foods, more water and workouts we don't need alternative therapies for colon cleanse. If we avoid this we may get colon problems like irritable bowel moments, constipation, colon cancer, diarrhea, inflammatory diseases and even some times death. In early stage we can control colon problems by diet, water and physical workouts. If the problem is getting serious you should consult your doctor for alternative process to cleanse the colon.

If anything stayed there you would soon have had peritonitis. If you have the enemas there is a danger of perforation. My sis did this and at other times she was taking 72 pills a day to detox herself. Nuts

About parasites. I came back from Peru with giardia which is an undetectable parasite except for the diarrhea. It is rampant in this country due to day care providers that don't wash their hands after they change a baby's diapers and from hikers drinking from streams. When a doctor can't find a reason for the diarrhea it is diagnosed as IBS. I took meds for the problem even though they did not find a cast in the test. The diarrhea was gone in two weeks.

Giardia is not just in the fecal matter but can be in your urine. Used to have urinary infections until a doctor caught the mention of a type of cell that Giardia has during it's life. Since this is a living organism regular antibiotic's will not destroy it.

Interestingly doctors now tell their patients that they are being prescribed an antibiotic instead of what it actually is.

I wasn't told it was an antibiotic. I emailed Dr Linnea Smith an American doctor I met at The Explorama Lodge on the Amazon River. She lives there and treats the locals. She told me it wouldn't hurt me to take meds even if I did not have Giardia. She said to give my medical doctor a copy of her email, so he would know what to prescribe, what strength and how long to take it. Giardia is hard to diagnose because you can't see it in the fecal matter. The "casts" are very hard to find, it is not like testing for other parasites. I read there is a test that will tell you for sure, but it was very expensive at that time.

Dr. Linnea is a remarkable woman, anyone who wants to can Google her. She is an author, artist and doctor. Her book and her newsletters are really interesting. I asked her if I could bring her anything, she said "cat food". LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Smith

This post was edited by EmmaR on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 18:22