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August 1st, 2011
12:15 AM ET
Colon cleansing: Not so healthy, analysis saysIt has been touted as a natural way to improve your heath and cleanse the soul. But doctors are now finding the procedure known as colon cleansing can cause dangerous side effects. Colon cleansing, technically known as colonic hydrotherapy or colonic irrigation, is a popular treatment, usually performed at spas. It often involves the use of chemicals in the body and in hydrotherapy, the colon is flushed with water through a tube inserted in the rectum. But oral home remedies are also available and have become popular, especially over the Internet. Now researchers from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. say there's no evidence any of these colon cleansing treatments work and, in fact, when used improperly can cause cramping, kidney failure and in some extreme cases, death. "There can be serious consequences for those who engage in colon cleansing whether they have the procedure done at a spa or perform it at home," says the lead author, Dr. Ranit Mishori, a family medicine physician at Georgetown University School of Medicine. "Colon cleansing products in the form of laxatives, teas, powders and capsules... tout benefits that don't exist." Mayo doctor is no fan of cleanses Although colon cleansing has been around for centuries as a way to rid the body of unwanted toxins, the American Medical Association determined in the early 1900s that the procedure was invalid; there was no evidence to show the methods worked. And even though there still remains no solid evidence these products do what they claim, colon cleansing has been making a comeback, mainly because manufacturers claim it also helps people lose weight. "If this method were the key to weight loss, it would be amazing. But there is no evidence that this helps people lose weight,” says Mishori. "Manufacturers don't describe how it works. The statements are a little empty. They say it will enhance your immune system, up your metabolism, give you energy. It’s all pretty vague. Some people swear by it, but it could be a placebo effect. And companies can make these claims, because the federal government doesn't regulate their products." Not expecting miracles, but I love my cleanses According to the report released this week in the Journal of Family Practice, Mishori and her colleagues examined 20 studies published in medical literature over the last 10 years. Investigators noted while these reports showed little evidence of colon cleansing benefits, there were a number of side effects reported following the use of these cleansing methods. Those effects included cramping, bloating, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte imbalance and renal failure. And in some cases, ingredients in these remedies were toxic. "Some herbal preparations have also been associated with aplastic anemia and liver toxicity," Mishori said. Researchers also noted that many of the "spas" that offer colon cleansing have no trained clinicians and even organizations such as the National Board for Colon Hydrotherapy and others who promote colon cleansing require technicians who perform professional colon cleansing to have little more than a high school diploma. "When you flush your colon out with a hose, it's like giving yourself an enema on steroids. You shouldn't put things up there that really don't belong there," stressed Mishori. "Imagine 60 liters of water going through your colon. The stress it puts on the system, and the hose, if not used correctly, could puncture the organ." As for the home remedies, Mishori says there's no need for them. "We poop and pee for a reason. If you are a healthy person, the body does it for you." When asked what was the best way to cleanse the body, Mishori was quick to respond. "Eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly," she stressed, "Get six to eight hours of sleep and see a doctor regularly. But no one wants to do that," she said with exasperation. "But they'll use a hose to flush themselves out! The use of these methods are unhealthy. And what's scary is we only examined the cases that were reported to hospitals and doctors. Imagine all the people who are using these products and methods and have side effects and never go to the hospital. We don't know about them. The numbers could be staggering." soundoff (3,051 Responses)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Next »Leave a Reply to zortilo nrel
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please do not list these weak articles as science, list them instead as unfounded opinions of doctors not talented enough to understand natural medicine. Meta-analysis that is this weak should never be allowed to make conclusions let alone be published.. THIS is what is wrong with the medical establishment. We learned nothing here, except that medical doctors are scared and will espouse non-truths to protect their own unverifiable methods of so-called health. No proof, no study, no open-mindedness: just sheer political posturing! An enema is certainly prescribed!
So then provide your proof, your study, your open-mindedness, you've just provided more opinions in criticism of what you consider also to be mere opinions without providing anything but what amounts to conspiracy theories to defend your position. If you are going to play the cards you are trying to play present your studies, your evidence, your science so that we can reasonably judge the alternatives. Otherwise you are no better than the 'system' you are trying so hard to rage against. I'll stand corrected if you do. Otherwise go back to sticking stuff up your rectum.
I'm with you Michael, all the articles about any alternative methods, like diet, colonics, vitamins, and so on, are not even investigated. Eating real food and taking real vitamins may not be the answer for everyone and everything, but prescription drugs (taken as recommended) kill so many people, it's worth research to find alternatives.
yes all these "DOCTORS" prescribing a healthy diet and exercise instead of shoving a hose in your butt. how dare they! how DARE they
In medicine we adjust our view based on what is observed. If colon cleansing is shown to be effective through sound scientific research, we would adopt its use in medical practice.
They are just saying, as with all medicine.. that it should be performed under a DOCTOR's supervision. As in Dortor, not nail technician.. not DIY home remedy.. ect.. If you need some sort of flush or clense because you are irregular.. then your doctor can properly advise you.. If you are not irregular.. you probably do not need one. ect..
If you prefer Naturalpathy, then go see a Liscenesd Certified NaturalPathic Doctor.. Not your local whoosywhatsit.. ect..
You are either deceitful or a nutcase. Get thee out
Thanks for a great comment. It saved me the trouble of having to spout off myself, but I will a little. This article is complete BS, and for the reasons mentioned by Michael. Its corrupt and tragic that the medical establishment is teaching the wrong things to people and even KILLING them. Yes I said killing them, check the statistics, one of the leading causes of death in the USA is prescription drugs, and another cause is doctors themselves.
Yes, those weak doctors who were near the top of their high school class, then in the top 10% of their undergraduate class and then oftentimes near the top of their graduate school class because they still couldn't get in to medical school. Those weak doctors who give up their 20s to studying, get saddled with debt and have recertification and continuing medical education for their entire career. Those weak doctors who rely on peer reviewed journal articles, double blind studies and other things symbolizing the highest echelon of proof.
Anytime "alternative" medicine is questioned, some schmuck comes out and acts like it is a huge conspiracy against them. First off, docs can't even join forces for legitimate threats since they all have different opinions and personal beliefs. Secondly, "colon cleansing" is NOT the same as an enema. There are indications for an enema, although not every day or as often some of these alternatives health people claim. Finally, we have NO reason to end something if it were useful. If it is in fact beneficial to the patient, we will use it. I know it is a crazy concept, but we want to help our patients.We are obviously trying to make more money since that colon resection and 90 days of post-op care will net me all of 500 dollars.
"Unverifiable methods of so-called health." You don't even know it, but you've pretty much described colonic irrigation itself with that statement. Just like accupuncture, chiropractic methods, naturopathic medicine, and HUNDREDS of other so called "remedies," it is THIS STUFF that has less scientific ground to stand on than anything you're trying to debunk.
Yes, modern medicine has flaws aplenty, but this is not one of them. There is ZERO reliable scientific evidence that colonic irrigation does anything for anyone. You really need to do some real research before getting on a soapbox and trying to call out REAL doctors for the skeletons in their closets...
Liberal news media outlet will always post these things. Colon cleaning, how often, with what, who is doing it. There is nothing wrong with a colon cleanse as long as your not some wacko that does it all the time. You can't cleanse too often because your intestines have bacteria in them that has to be there, but once in a while it doesn't hurt to clear impacted feces and other stuff clinging to the walls of your intestine simple as that end of story.
1)To save money and time I do colon hydrotherapy at home twice a year before a 30 days water fast and it has cured my chronic acidity in my stomach and has cured a chronic irritation of my throath. I no longer use TUMS and I no longer have problems with my voice.
2) No large studies have been done because no one make money selling water but as far large scale observations, during World War 2, in concentration camps, the prisoners will not get sick with bugs or with flu but the well fed guards would get sick.
3) Hydrocolon Therapy, water fast or juice fast or anything that keep you colon empty for a period work like a miracle for any diseases because the immune system that normally keep 70% of the troops in the colon while there is food, when it is empty, it goes to all the other parts of the body, curing it. Your immune system become, over 300% stronger.
Cable TV ads are making a fortune on this voodoo science.
If we lived in a healthy world and not consumed huge portions of meat, highly processed food and chemiclas, then maybe this article would have some valid points and colon cleansing would probably be unnecessary. But since we eat A LOT of food that is hard for our bodies to digests, I believe a colon hydrotheraphy could be useful. I've had it done almost a year ago and I must say it was very beneficial for me because it helped me get rid of painful bloating and problems with going to the bathroom. And my diet is much better than of most people in this country because I have been vegetarian for few years, eat mostly vegetables and other healthy foods and don't drink any carbonated drinks (which may cause creation of gas bubbles in your colon).
Antonio
Your claim about the health of concentration camp victims is so far off the wall I cannot even imagine where you heard some thing so so incredibly wrong. Waves of dysentery, cholera, influenza, and parasitic infection would crash through the ranks of concentration camp internees. Many of them were constantly sick and often died from disease. *ANY* history of the holocaust would tell you these facts – so I don't know what charlatan told you these fairy stories but you are completely off base and your intimation that the camps were some kind of day spa is offensive.
I agree with you Michael only because you're not the one with a major headline saying "this does causes etc." The doctors on the other hand, have no proof of anything, and haven't cured anything since Polio in the early 1900's. The vast majority of doctors seem to me like insurance middle men with extremely over priced educations.
I do not like licenses just because it is the Governments was to get money out of you and TELL you who is good or not. If you don't have a license and still know what you are doing that should be enough, but because the governments find that if they can't make money off fees to suck your lively hood out of you and you practice anyway ANY practice they will throw you in jail. This is JUST A MEANS of control you want to make money and the Government want to ride on your coat tails.
Looks like CNN didn't like my last post. Anyway, xkcd comic #808 says it all.
"According to the report released this week in the Journal of Family Practice, Mishori and her colleagues examined 20 studies published in medical literature over the last 10 years. "
What is unfounded about that? The article even listed the data the team used to arrive at their conclusion.
You're an idiot. Our only hope for you is that you never spawn and your inevitable sickness and death won't cost everyone else a bunch of money to treat.
I work in a vitamin/supplement store.
Do you know how many old people I get coming in here, on 10 different medications, not knowing where they are?
As a counterpoint to that, the people who have taken care of themselves, supplemented properly and followed a healthy diet look 40 when they're 60. And they're sharp as a tack. No prescriptions, none of that crap.
Yeah, go ahead blindly following your doctor's advice. These are the same people recommending canola oil and prozac, but claiming coconut oil causes heart disease. Get real.
A guy who works in a supplement store acting like he knows more than doctors... That's got about as much credibility as a guy who thinks he can outsmart a Supreme Court judge because he watches Law and Order...
If we can't trust doctors, or other professionals who affect our daily lives for that matter, our society might as well just collapse. Faith (and I don't mean the religous kind) in others is what keeps us sane on a day to day basis. According to your logic, while we're at it, let's put down all the teachers because a handful of them don't really like kids, or all police officers because a few of them abuse their powers...
Besides who am I more likely to trust? Someone who has trained for at LEAST seven years in a high level education program... or some dude in a store who gets paid to sell me useless supplements...
Scientific fact: Most supplements either a) have no reliable double-blind trial evidence to support their effectiveness, and/or b) are not absorbed into the body NEARLY as efficiently as their natural counterparts in food. In fact, the only supplement proven to have greater bioavailabiliy than its natural counterpart is folic acid, which is why we give so much of it to pregnant women...
So, to summarize, Mister "Do Some Resarch Please," you have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what you're talking about...
Doctors promote many things that are healthy: healthful diets, not smoking, getting more exercise, staying fit and trim, avoiding fatty foods, avoiding unhealthy chemicals, and so on. So much of what anti-medicine hippies like to proclaim as some sort of Mighty Blow Against The Man is really the same stuff that doctors have always promoted.
Why should doctors be scared of colon cleansing? Colon cleansing does not present any sort of threat to the practice of medicine.
It's really perplexing that when doctors warn people against snake oil treatments they are accused of being motivated by money. Doctors do not offer an alternative treatment to colonic cleansing. Colonoscopy is not an alternative to colonic cleansing. A colonoscopy is a procedure to find colon polyps early before they turn into full blown colon cancers. Colonic cleansing does nothing to find and remove colon polyps or detect cancer.
The only true thing that can be said about colonic cleansing is that its proponents seem to full of s–t, which is perhaps explains why they think they need a regular cleansing.
Well if you called it "an enema" instead of some foofy designer euphemysm there might be a little more revulsion – it's all about spin . . . and enemas . . . 60 freaking litres? For you dimwit Americans who refuse to learn SI, that's about 15 gallons – you really want that much water up your ass? Yikes!
Ian, I was with you until you went sanctimonious with the SI bigotry...
Agreed, you were cool until the SI crap.
It's really rather sad that medical quackery only gains a foothold because, in general, most people really have no idea about how the human body works or basic physiological concepts. For example, there is no nutrient absorption in the colon (the cells that make up the mucosa (lining) in this organ do not possess the necessary transport processes) and, since its primary function is to absorb water, if the colonic lining were to be covered in toxic fecal material you would develop chronic diarrhea, not constipation. A really good article debunking bogus colon cleansing practices, including the historical misinformation on which they are based, can be found at: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/gastro.html – well worth a read, particularly if you know anyone who's been taken in by this pseudoscience and is actually spending money on it.....
Reading Quackwatch.org is like watching FOX news; the data presented may exist, but you know from the name it's biased out of the block and specifically excludes any evidence to the contrary - not scientific at all. When colon cancer starts to go down instead of up in our society, I will assume doctors are giving good advice. In the mean time, it is politics for medicine to stand in a glass house and throw stones.
How about making the much more logical assumption that the rising rates of colon cancer are due to the horrible diet Americans are eating?
A lot of people who go to the extremes of using colon cleanses are also people who are eating all-organic, high fiber, raw vegetables, and so on. That healthier DIET is associated with lower rates of colon cancer. The cleanse has nothing to do with it.
Started twice a year 7 day juice/water fasts with colenemas in 2004. A miracle cure for me personally ! I do the colonics at home with a special board and 5 gallons of water. No electricity or added pressure used. Discovered this cure after tests and doctor visits that did not identify the cause of my discomfort. Taking on responsibility for your own health is not always easy. There are clinics and people who will charge a price for treatments that are best done in a non invasive way at home. People are lazy, want a quick fix, pop a pill, cut it out mentality. So of course this doctor is seeing the results of this mentality. But to bash colon cleansing as a whole is sad. I can attest to it's effectiveness and MY doctor actually recommends it to his patients !
Dr. Stephen Barrett the owner of quackwatch is about as arrogant and idiotic as they come. He has been found numerous times by the courts to be biased and unworthy of credibility. Why did the courts find this? The guy keeps suing chiropractors and doctors in the name of sound science. He thinks he's some kind of Ralph Nader for the medical community. Quackwatch is a joke.
@Leo The answer to that is to stop eating so much meat that has been grilled or preserved with nitrates, and start eating more fiber. Go ahead and get that cleaning, though. I will laugh at you and your colostomy bag after you get that unbeatable C. difficile infection.
Thank goodness someone is shedding daylight on this nutty practice. Snake oil all over again. It's not wrong because it's "naturopathic." After all, plenty of natural products are powerful chemicals (digoxin, rattlesnake venom)... No, it's wrong because it's crazy and there's no scientific evidence to back it up! If this technique is helpful, then prove it. I'm begging you. But if not then STOP IT and bring the axe down on those charlatans who claim all these health benefits that just are not there.
Well, I see my aversion to these colonics & cleanses are spot on! They seem un-natural to me. Also, reading about the "hose enema"sounds like it would be pushing impurities back into the system instead of cleaning it out, not to mention flushing away natural enzymes, necessary for normal colon function.It reminds me of the douch controversy, in the early 80's. Doctors were saying that a womans system is self cleansing & doesn't need help, & here we are again! I'm sticking to my fruit/veggie rich diet, with lots of hydration!!
Colon cleansing is bogus but Dr.Ranit Mishori is giving bad advice : "see your doctor regularly" she said. Absolute nonsense ! What will that do except waste your money and exposing oneself to infectious diseases from one of his patients in his office. And as for the other advice of eating balanced diets and exercising my grandmother knew that decades ago. I suspect the good doctor is not so scientific and needs attention.
Funny how you never read about all the people that are killed and get sick every year from adverse and toxic reactions to medicine. The pharmacological industry kills more people than any other. I would do just about anything one can find to avoid being a pharmaceutical test rat. I have great results from fasting and cleansing with very serious health conditions while the drugs the MD's prescribed did little for my health and destroyed my quality of life. They are just graveling for your health care dollars.
Actually you hear about how medicines are harmful every time you read the side effects of a drug. They're there becasue they have been tested and the side effects have been proven. Can't say that much for "Here shove this up your a%% and call me in the morning" type of "health care".
I don't think its an either or in this case ... prescription medicine AND colonics are both unnatural.
Our bodies are half-filled with filtering organs ... drink clean water, eat healthy foods, get some exercise and you won't need intervention.
I think colonics are as much psychological as anything. They belong to the mind-set that we need to be rid of impurities ... and are connected to the idea of spiritual impurities. But really, no matter what you do we will all die – so just accept yourself and live happy.
I'm not so convinced that "natural" is better than "unnatural". a couple hundred years ago, we "naturally" lived to be, what...40? 45? I know rats and sanitation had a lot to do with the low life expectancy, but hey, if I can take a pill and stay alive another day, I'm doing it. A colonic is unnatural as well, but whatever makes your boat float, or whatever...
enricosanm Unfortunately the people who might disagree with you are no longer alive. Too many people in my family died from treatable diseases, because they refused to see their doctors for regular checkups.
Is colon cleansing via laxatives as mentioned in the article, the same as the prep for a colonoscopy?
I did try colon therapy and it did nothing for me. But, the gal that did the therapy had a beautiful glow about her and it appeared to me that she was quite a bit healthier than any drug pushing MD's I have ever met. I know hydrotherapy can be very dangerous but as far as improving health eating a healthy diet, getting exercise, and trying to figure out what is causing your issue is a better path to health than taking some toxic chemical so doctor prescribes with out even having a conversations with you. Our medical system is run by drug companies and our health care is designed by insurance companies neither of which have medical degrees and they don't care half as much about your health as they do about their profits. It's sad but true. Just look at all the medications that are FDA approved that at times end up killing people and when the paper and research trail is followed back through the system it is always discover that they new the consequences that were eminent.
Let Mr. Silver be your doc-tor. He'll give you a major glow.
Rule #1: Don't mess with the a$s.
I like your rule Brad!
If I may improve on it just a little: DON'T STICK THINGS UP YOUR ASS.
Jaeger...
Fast one, two two days a week. Dry fast (no water or food) one day and wet fast (water) the other day.
You will be cleansed beyond belief:) Your weight will be balanced, you may never have to see your doctor or shaman again. Energy level through the roof, positive outlook on life guaranteed:)
Fasting although strongly recommended by the Bible has nothing to do with religion and everything with health.
No water??
That is the most idiotic piece of advice i've heard in this forum thus far.
"Your weight will be balanced". What is THAT tom-fool nonsense supposed to mean?
That's a bunch of bovine exhaust. There's a lot of things in the Bible and a great many of them are not a good idea. Child slavery is good? What about having your neighbor executed because you think he's been irreverent? Mind, my neighbors play music too loudly on weekends, but I don't call for their execution...
Fasting for a religious reason is very different from fasting for health reasons. And a 'dry' fast is DANGEROUS. Restricting fluids does not help cleanse your body- quite the opposite. It can damage your kidneys. And for someone on medication, it can do worse than that. Just because you can think of a thing, does not make it a good thing.
Actually, millions of people around the world keep dry fasts. (Muslims during the month of Ramadan.) I would check with a doctor before doing it, though.
Prescription drugs are getting a bad rep for no reason. Sometimes, you can't mess with the body without getting some side effects. But don't blame the drugs, blame the people. People are fat and addicted to fast food; most people hardly eat any vegetables– how can they expect to have nice, healthy colons? Things like enemas are people's attempts to put bandaids on the problem– their vices– their unhealthy lifestyles– without actually fixing the problem.
Sarah Leaf – the Muslim "fast" during Ramadahn is not really "fasting". They do not drink water or eat food during the daylight hours. From sun down to sun up it's a full on feast fest. That's not fasting.
First NO water is stupid enough second you base it on the bible a make believe book, second stupid idea.
IT's BS and it's bad for you! George Carlin May you rest in peace for you are free of this stupidity.
fasting in the bible is totally about faith. surrendering your will, even your will to eat, to God...correct me if I'm wrong, and please site the scripture verse as well.
The problem isn't with alternative medicine or treatment. The problem is with people with different levels of expertise using it. For example, an acupuncture expert and master can help with a lot of problems. A novice in acupuncture can do more harm than good. Alternative medicine or treatment usually require a lot of judgement from the one practicing it. Its not right for this article and many other CNN articles to make such general statements when everyone they mentioned in the article knows little about the topic.
There are DIY colonic kits that use gravity to deliver the goods:)
So no pressure is applied:)
No pressure? You need to take a class on fluid mechanics.
"No pressure is applied". So the law of gravity is suspended as well during a colonic? It is a miraculous treatment indeed! I will have to look into this...
I wonder how a colonic would work in zero gravity...might take a bit longer, and I wouldn't want to be in the same spacecraft when it all came out.
"... the American Medical Association determined in the early 1900s that the procedure was invalid; there was no evidence to show the methods worked" .. well, the year is currently 2011. Colonics can be obsessive with some people, I agree. But my hunch is the AMA is against colon cleansing because it keeps people healthier and they don't need doctors as much. So, what's new?
Yeah, Im sure that's it. Exactly. It's a freaking conspiracy. Everything is. Wah wah wah...moooooooooooommmmmyyyy.
More like a racket than a conspiracy, but I guess both words could apply. It's OK, keep taking your prescriptions that only treat the symptom and put you in an endless cycle of disease. I'm sure the pharmaceutical corporations value your health over their profits. It's not like we live in a capitalist system or anything where the sole goal is to make more money at the expense of everything else.
Bull. If it were shown that colonics were effective do you really think that medical doctors wouldn't start offering them as treatments? Do you really think hospitals wouldn't set up colon heath outpatient centers? Use your own line of thinking that it is all about the money – if the medical profession thought that they could make money off of it don't you think they would be? They problem is that they provide *NO* benefit. The colon is supposed to have poop in it. The poop will come out.
Doctors make more money when we are sick. When a colon is not doing it's job it will contribute to lots of ailments, like gall stones, and diabetes and thyroid problems. We are worth more to them when we are sick than when we are well.
Sally Just owned you Chris, and she's absolutely right. The colon and digestive system is the primary means of removing toxins from the system, and when it gets backed up the blood becomes poisoned and illness soon follows. Toxic buildup in the body is a huge contributor to disease, and removing these things would negate the need for many many many pharmaceutical snake-oils, which is where the big profits are.
Sally, dear, gall stones aren't caused by the colon (in fact, the gall bladder isn't attached to the colon), diabetes isn't caused by the colon (look up the pancreas) and the thyroid is located on your neck–and in no way connected to the colon. Sheesh!
Emvaz, the colon removes water and salts from your waste. The liver is more of a toxin filter.
I use colonics and find them extremely healthy and beneficial, and NOT dangerous. Of course you should see someone who is qualified and trained. I also do colon cleansing and it works great, but again you need to know how to do it, and this takes some educaton. Most people do not know much about medicine of any kind, and we have been conditoned by the powers that be to think of doctors as all-knowing, which they certainly are not.
Doctors are under the control of the drug companies. Natural substances do not make big money. There is never going to be any money made by putting baking soda on a bee sting or whatever. It works, but a doctor will write a prescription for a drug that will also harm you. Go figure.
Sally, not everything is a conspiracy theory. My doctor prescribed nasal irrigation as opposed to allergy medications. Where was the money in that?
Boys & Girls its official – "You shouldn't put things up there that really don't belong there," stressed Dr. Mishori.
Did you know that doctors study pharmacology far longer than they study human physiology. Yes its true – medical schools briefly touch on physiology and then spend a much longer period of time on pharmacology. Why do you think that might be? Could it be that big pharma's tentacles extend into a young doctors learning years, as well as being firmly wrapped around the FDA?
Actually you don't know what you are talking about the side effects that the doctors have stated would be caused by a colon cleansing. You have to know medicine to understand and you don't so therefore your wrong. Everything you do to your body causes a reaction or side effect period, why? because its not natural.
Saltamonte,
As a medical student, I'd like to rectify your statement. The first year of medical school is weighted most heavily toward organ system and cellular physiology, anatomy, neuroscience, histology, and clinical skills, in that order. The second consists of pathology, pathophysiology, microbiology/immunology, pharmacology, with all these given about equal weight. Your statement couldn't be further from the truth and doesn't even make sense, since you absolutely must know the physiology in order to pharmacologically treat the disease.
A Medical Student,
Your statement is a little off. You said that you are trained to treat a disease; that isn't completely true. The vast bulk of pharmaceuticals only treat the symptoms and usually cause further problems, mostly due to the fact that it's impossible to know the full impact of any given synthetic chemical on the body, as well as the fact that the pharmaceutical industry has no interest in curing the diseases which keep them paid and justify their research grants.
You are right in that many pharmaceuticals can only treat the symptoms of a disease but how would this be different than an herbal remedy or colon cleansing, the topic of the article? St. Johns Wort, for example, is taken to alleviate the symptoms of depression, doing so possibly by its active chemicals interacting with the same membrane receptors as SSRIs. Also, the topic of this article, colon cleansing, I’d imagine, is not used as a cure, but rather as a treatment for their symptoms. Repeated colon therapy is required, its proponents will say. A cure is the outcome of a treatment where the underlying pathology is rectified and treatment is discontinued (e.g. treating a bacterial infection with an antibiotic).
Also, keep in mind that your statement regarding not knowing the full impact of any “synthetic chemical” on the body need not include the qualifier “synthetic” at all. The full impact of any chemical (yes, natural products are chemicals too) is incomplete.
As for the pharmaceutical industry having no interest in curing disease, and this often morphs into conspiracies of covering up real cures. It is the most nonsensical idea. If someone were to find an efficacious cure for any major disease, there would not be contract nor mountains of money large enough to stifle him or her because they would certainly be awarded a Nobel Prize, which is an honor that all scientists secretly hope to receive.
The FDA and the drug companies are not interested in your health only in their wealth. So they train the Doctors who are also interested in who is paying for their vacations, not if their patient can afford one. I've taken 2 vacations my whole life and I am now retired.
Why do I hear the voice of Homer Simpson going "psshht, doctors are idiots!"
Yeah, the trained professional & the big conspiracy that they don't want you to know the truth. The same spiel from pushers of faith healing/religion/herbal remedies and whatever else.
This ain't the place. Spam somewhere else, ok?
what makes this place special? If anything this place is ripe for jokes
چوتیا سالا. ساٹھ لٹر پانی گانڈ میں ڈالنے کی کیا ضرورت ھے؟؟؟؟
Scary, isn't it, diaz? Put 60 liters up there, and you'd think they's be tasting ..it!
A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Medical students spend the first two years in intensive study of anatomy. Also, in medical school, people are told to prescribe the most appropriate treatments, and frequently get grief from patients, when they don't prescribe a medicine. People are generally lazy, and don't want to make the lifestyle changes needed for better health. There is no big conspiracy between MDs, the FDA, and large drug companies. Take off your tinfoil hats, pull the hose out of your ass, and don't overreact when the medical establishment cannot determine a benefit for your pet therapy.
-People are generally lazy, and don't want to make the lifestyle changes needed for better health- That is the best thing I've read on this page!!!!
Here in America, doctors think it normal to poop only once a day or even once a week. Is it any wonder why our country is iver run with colon cancer?
I'll stick with Eastern teachings thank you. Their incidence of colon cancer is very low in comparison.
So is their literacy.
Why go to a spa? Chipotle does the same thing...and it is a ton cheaper.
It's really sad what passes for "informed opinion" these days. Oh, and by the way, the Earth is flat ... because I want to believe that it is. And I read it on the Internet!
I have never bought the colon cleansing, enema BS, and would never do it something about it doesn't seem safe or right. Your body does things naturally. Exercise eat lots of fiber and drink a lot of water and you fine.
It is ok to do if you never did it before. I did my first cleansing using the seed casings that is flavored with orange.
then I wait and do not eat anythign until it passes and WOW it is like a cats paws grabbing everything in the colon!
After the bathroom I felt so much more naturally energized and fresh. I gave the same to my landlords son who would instantly go to the bathroom after eating and drinkign so I knew somethign was wrong with his colon.
After just one session of pouring it in water andmixing it and drinking it instanly then next day and years after he nolonger runs to thebathroom after every meal.
What seed casings?
Don't babies usually poop shortly after a feeding
? Maybe your neighbor's son has normal bathroom urges and hasn't trained his digestive system to hold onto the crap.
"Oral home remedy" for colon cleansing? 2 words that should never be found together in the same sentence: oral & colon.
One rule works for me... my a@$ is exit only.
Why do people always post the most extreme pictures of everything doctors don't like? I will tell you to demonize it, to make YOU believe other wise that only doctors can help on the poison they prescribe is what is GOOD for you. Ok well then tell me what pill has ever cured anything, name one.
I forgot the guy's name on T.V. that pushes this procedure about colon cleansing but he swears that John Wayne had
about 40 lb's of waste in him when he died. He say's if John had used this procedure regularly he would have lived
another 10 or 15 years. I say if it would have saved The Duke,.go for it. True story
OK.... John Wayne was dying of cancer – he was prescribed and taking a lot of medicine of which pain killers were among.... opiate pain killers cause constipation – I would question the #40 but no doubt there was matter left.... some of these people claim the same about Elvis, which the same applies with his well-known drug use and lots of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.... everyone needs to take a chill pill and balance all this .... our bodies are constructed to sustain our existence – heal itself, etc... we are our own worst enemies.... we've polluted and degraded everything around us, chemicals in the air, water, land, food, clothing – most of the disease and sickness is from our own doing – stop trying to find cures for the symptoms and get down to fixing the causes- but nooooo, we want instant remedies for when we eat too much, drink excessively, smoke 3 packs a day, get 3 hours sleep a day, and consume like madmen adding to the destruction of our life sustaining systems!
As long as people eat, drink and smoke as they do. There really isn't any reason to argue over stuff like this. If folks want to smoke, let them it's their choice. If folks want to shoot orange juice up their butts that is thier choice as well. Humans can justify anything they want to and if you will excuse me, I need to exit this blog and marry a tree.
Can't they find the side effects in the evil practices of consuming the shark fin soup? Any Mercury?
I sold colon cleansing products over the phone for a time. After reading this I am glad I quit that job. I feel guilty I've hurt people by convincing them to buy it and use these products.
This article is shameful in its simplicity and not representing the holistic community of highly qualified professionals. Colonics have been around for over 1000 years and have attributed to many healthy positive resolutions. I personally have participated with coffee enemas that have removed fecal matter that have adhered to the colon wall over a long period of time. We live in an age where the foods we get and the drugs we take really impact our colon health and this procedure can be of great benefit in aiding with the detoxifying of the unwanted collected waste matter attached to the colon wall
There's no waste matter attached to your dang colon wall! Gah, people need to stop propagating that stupid myth. If there was fecal matter built up on your colon wall, you'd have chronic diarrhea and dehydration. And I don't mean slight dehydration. I mean that it would kill you without immediate medical intervention.
All those quacks who convinced you that "years of fecal matter have built up on your colon walls" are feeding you a pack of lies in order to sell a product. Not only does the colon effectively eliminate waste, but it also sloughs off plenty of endothelial cells from the lining of the colon, constantly refreshing and renewing itself. Think of it as the body's natural exfoliation, getting read of the dead layer. It's how the body is supposed to work. And trust me, there's no "caked-on gunk" in your colon. If you're so concerned, eat less junk food, drink more water, and you'll be fine.
Natural remedies are the snake-oil salesmen of this age. All of their supporters have no factual scientific basis to support their claims, as, well, they are NOT scientists! Nor are they usually medical professionals.
Hmm, I gotz some herbs to clean your bowelz, just pass me some greenbacks LMAO
It looks like this article did no actual research, and did not actually measure what happens during and after colonic treatments. To actually contradict the millions of patients out there who say they have benefited from colon cleansing, the authors would have to first demonstrate that they can clearly and reproducibly measure the changes that happen during and after a treatment of colon cleansing. Only then could they argue that those changes were or were not beneficial.
People are not so dumb as these pharma funded researchers and reporters think. They will continue to do colon cleasning and other alternative therapies because they feel the results. Doesn't require Rocket Science or Molecular Genetics to figure it out. We are still only beginning to understand the ocean of molecular events that drive the onset of chronic diseases, and much less the corresponding events of successful treatments. The truth is that these researchers have embarrasingly little knowledge about what actually occurs during and after a treatment of colon cleansing. They speak in arrogance as if they know something, but only their hubris drips off the page......
And I've found that anyone who uses the word "hubris" is typically being unintentionally self-descriptive.
i totally agree that this article is totally false...esp. if someone has irritable bowel sydrome...the medical community esp. gastroenterologist..don't have any time or patience to assist those with this sydrome..so just tell you to go home...colon cleansings were my only help.....the persons performing the cleansing are knowdlegeable...one was an lpn..with loads of knowledge that led me to several wonderful products that have helped with digestion....and helped me realize that gluten free was the best way to go... esp..since i had an ileus caused by this stupid medical community...lots of time you'll get false testing and still have this gluten allergy...and wheat allergy...they tell you how to eat..to keep from having these constipation..issues...so ..don't listen to all this hype
At what point in time does somebody become so twisted and stupid to think that pumping water through your dingus is natural and normal?
So according to all you conspiricy nutters Doctors are in it for the money but a "health spa" is in it simply to help people?
I'm not defending any over the counter colon cleanse - and yes, they cost money - maybe fifty bucks. But go to Mayo clinic and spend $500 just to see a doctor for 3 minutes, only to have him presribe a drug that may, or may not kill you. These pill pushing/ drug pushing jerks who call themselves "healers" are nothing more than salesmen for drug companies.
Doctors and Big Pharma are heavily invested in your dis-ease. We are talking hundreds of billions of dollars. They don't want you healthy! They gotta pay for the high technology in their clinics and hospitals. In fact, there is real evidence in my family alone that, if you have health insurance, doctors beg you to perform this and that procedure. But if you don't have health insurance, go home, you'll be okay.
Preventive medicine is invested in your health, because you use it as long as you are staying healthy.
And I am supposed to believe doctors espousing about healthful colonics being dangerous? Doctors, who in the past derided those who washed their hands before performing OBGYN procedures, which led to the deaths of countless women. Doctors who promoted smoking in National advertisements as an aid for weight loss and even as a calmative for anxious women.
I stopped listening to alopathic doctors many years ago after a career in pharmaceutical litigation. Prescription medicines prescribed by licensed physicians kill more people every year than the number of colonics performed. If there are people trying to heal themselves in health food stores and GNCs, its because the trust in alopathic medicine has erroded to nothing. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies are hand in hand in needlessly killing tens of thousands of people every year. Its not a conspiracy - its gross negligence and greed. Doctors will testimony on behalf of pharma jsut to get their research funded by BIG PHARMA.
You say it's needless and probably chalk it up to greed. I say it's planned population control of the people who are too dumb to realize that pharmaceuticals are poison i.e. Darwinism.
emvaz, the pharmaceuticals are a big business, no argument there. But someone who believes in shooting water up their but1 and will not believe that many medications do help when needed is a complete m0r0n.
Wow what a stupid article. I've got an experiment for you CNN writer: next time you have to take a crap, don't. Hold it for a week or so, and see how well you feel. Idiot.
Yes, removing toxins from the body is healthy. That's not an opinion, that's common sense. Can some treatments go overboard? No doubt, but the premise of the article suggesting that cleaning your colon is unhealthy is ridiculous. Take this pineapple and give your buddies in the pharmaceutical industry an enema, CNN.
I wish we could sterilize you.
I don't take any pharmaceuticals and I avoid processed food, so me becoming sterile is not likely to happen. I plan on living a long, healthy, fruitful life; thanks though.
Those are healthy, good things to do. I do the same. But you will not have a fruitful life, as you are too s!upid. Seriously, you shoot 60 litres of water up your butt. How can I not make fun of how pathetic you are for doing so and then actually defending it.
Actually I've never had an enema nor had to take a laxative, and don't presume to understand all the physiological implications of doing so. Enemas are for people with an unbalanced diet and who aren't digesting their food properly; that's not me. The object of my remark was to point out the fallacy of suggesting that having a clean colon will somehow result in your death. Then my plan was to point out that CNN has a long history of blindly publishing pseudoscientific, pharma-supporting garbage that specifically targets homeopathic medicine probably because of all the advertising dollars CNN receives from the industry.
Here's the secret to health, and it doesn't take a doctorate to comprehend:
Eat as close to life as you can. Eat living or gently cooked vegetables and fruits. Eat cultured foods like yogurt, or kombucha that work with your body. Eat live sprouted grains and nuts. It takes life to sustain life. As much as man has tried, we cannot create sustenance artificially, and to presume that we can support a healthy life with all these chemically synthesized, man-made toxins is the ultimate hubris. Anyone who presumes to tell you that they know a better way of living than what nature already provides for us and what we evolved on is a loon.
Or, you know, next time you have to take a crap... take a crap. That's some all-natural colon cleansing right there, and it's also free.
I can't read the study because it's hidden behind a paywall. So it's a commercial study for who's benefit? not mine because I can't read it. Bogus!!! Love these articles about studies no one can read. Trust me it's there. Sound scientific method at work.
A friend of mine who had chronic yeast infections turned to natural medicine as a last resort. She had seen numerous doctors who could not provide her with anything that could help. She went to a naturopath, who, among other things, recommended she get regular colonic for a period, and stop the birth control pill. Well folks, turns out that after years of suffering through the yeast infections, this was the one thing that actually cured them. Medical doctors don't know everything, and are quick to dismiss what they don't care to properly research and understand. Part of it also has to do with it being natural...drug companies wouldn't make a dime off this.
Of course it's unhealthy, it's unhealthy for for the fat pockets of medical companies. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I know when b.s. is b.s.
This is why democracy doesn't work, too many stupid people. There are still many people on here vehemently supporting shooting 60 litres of water up their a$s.
Ever heard of moderation? My god when did water up a**hole become every bodies business I don't care if you want to be healthier just keep my eyes off of it.
Fine all you pill popers go take all you pills and die in misery from the side effects I for one stay away from doctors on misdiagnosis and near death experience is plenty. Doctors are only intrested in two things 1. cutting you open and 2 giving you pills.
Just stick some brocolli up your but.
Just stick some brocolli up your butt.
I have colitis and get flushed out regularly whether I like it or not. I can tell you it is not worth it.