The TOC below has as its foundation the FAQ that was for a while found at alt.sex.org, and is provided here only for information purposes. The visitors' tips section is advice, information and links sent to us by people who have visited the site. If you wish to send us something similar please email us.

alt.sex - Table of Contents (TOC)

Visitors' Tips

Article on the history of the coffee enema

Please remember that the information contained on these pages does not qualify as medical advice and should therefore be treated accordingly. You should always consult a doctor if you are uncertain about performing an enema on yourself or your partner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

alt.sex - Table of Contents (TOC)

• Anatomy of the Colon
• Capacity
• Equipment
• Expulsion
• Positions
• Retention
• Temperature
• Enema Solutions Chart
• Isotonic Enemas
• Soapsuds Enemas
• Oil Enemas
• Coffee Enemas
• Exotic Enema Solutions

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Visitors' Tips

• Combining a Higginsons and a hot water bottle style enema
• Collectable enema equipment

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Combining a Higginsons and a hot water bottle style enema

A Higginsons "...can be used as an inline attachment connected to a hot water bottle using a syringe screw plug which I personally find very convenient with no chance of any spillage when used in this way. This used when lying down resting the hot water bottle on ones stomach is a very practical way to take ones enema or hanging the bag on a stand from a hook also attaching an extra length of tubing to the higginsons attachment. I read about this method some years ago and have used it ever since and passed this on to others who were not aware of using a Higginsons Syringe this way."

23/01/2003 - Photo & Text - Robert (UK)

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Collectable enema equipment

For those looking for collectable and rare enema equipment, you could always try Bob and Sue (from the US) on ebay. Their ebay name is Pranny1. Items they are currently selling can be found by clicking here.

Suggested by  Robert (UK) & Bob & Sue (USA)

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Temperature:

Most people find that a warm water enema can be held more easily than a cold one. I use a very warm enema when I want to fill myself with the maximum amount of water possible. I use a cool water enema when I need to force out water and material that is stuck in my bowel. The temperatures given are that of the water as it is poured into the bag. It cools off some before it gets into the colon. Don't try to judge temperature with your fingers, they're too unreliable. If you don't want to use a thermometer, use your tongue! It's a fairly reliable reference for body temperature.

Cool water is 30 - 35 degrees C ( 86 - 95 degrees F ) Warm water is 40 - 42 degrees C ( 104 - 108 degrees F ) Hot water is 43 - 45 degrees C ( 110 - 113 degrees F ) Don't take water any hotter than 45 C or 113 F or you can scald the colon. You can take it as cold as you can stand, some take crushed ice enemas, but I suspect most people couldn't even accept water that cold into their bowel.

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Anatomy of the Colon:

The Anus is the external sphincter that closes off the rectum from the outside of the body. It is a ring of muscles. It can easily stretch to about 1 inch diameter, and can be stretched wider if you go about it slowly.

The rectum is a powerful muscular organ about 5 inches long, with a sphincter at each end.

The sigmoid colon is a looped section of the bowel just above the rectum. It is shaped somewhat like a question mark, hence its name. The loop occurs at about a depth of ten inches, as can be felt if you push a firm object into the rectum, and up through the inner sphincter. The sigmoid comes in two sizes in humans. There is the long sigmoid and the short sigmoid, and few are born with one in between the two distributions of sizes. Those who have the big sigmoid can probably take about a full quart of water more than those with the short one.

The descending colon is in the left side of the lower abdomen, and can be easily felt any time the abdominal muscles are fully relaxed. It hugs the left wall of the pelvis, and reaches up to the splenic flexure, which is just under the left rib cage.

The transverse colon extends from the splenic flexure to the hepatic flexure, right across the abdomen on the right. It follows a sagging course across, and in many people sags about ¾ of the way down in the middle.

The ascending colon is on the right side of the pelvis, and the lowest part of it is called the cecum.

The cecum is the part of the colon where the small intestine expels its contents into the colon in a liquid form. It is the part of the colon with the largest diameter, and is most effective in absorbing water.

After taking a large enema, stand in front of a mirror, with the light from a ceiling lamp falling across the abdomen, and the shadows will make many of these structures readily apparent. The transverse should show up as a shadow about 2-3 inches below the belly button. When lying face down on a bed, the cecum will expand to an enormous size, then lift the body a few inches with the hands and knees and the right side of the belly will clearly show the shape and position of this part of the colon. The colon narrows gradually from the cecum (about 2-1/2 to 3 inches when distended) to the sigmoid, about 1 to 1-1/4 inches diameter.

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Positions:

There are many positions in which an enema can be taken. Two of the most widely known are the "Sims" position and the "Knee-Chest" position. The Sims position has the recipient lying on the left side, with the right knee brought up near the chest. The Knee-chest position has the enemee supported by the knees and the shoulders, with the chest sagging down, so that the chest almost touches the floor. This places the abdomen nearly upside down, so that the water can flow down from the rectum to the transverse colon by gravity. In cases of deep-seated constipation, this position will help the water reach way up into the colon for a good cleaning out. It is also useful in a technique for floating air or gas in the colon above the water so that the air can be expelled.

Standing upright requires you to hold the tube in the anus unless you use a nozzle that can be held in, but it allows me to accept more water than any other position.

Lying on the back is a favorite position, especially for the first enema of a session. You can watch the bag slowly deflate, and you can also watch the abdomen expand as the water enters the colon. You should lie down so that you can prop your head against a wall, like a pillow. You will probably be most comfortable if the knees are raised. You will first see the belly swell very low, just above the crotch, as the sigmoid expands. Then you will see the left side start to bulge as the water enters the descending colon. You will be in a position to massage the bowel as well as feel the shape and position of your colon.

Lying face down can be used, but pressing the belly on the floor restricts the abdomen's need to expand.

Lying face down and arching the back by raising the upper body on the elbows is a very stimulating position, and lifts the belly up from the floor. This presses the genital area against the floor, and leaves the hands free to massage the breasts, etc.

Lying on the right side is the opposite of the Sims position, and causes the water to flow down into the cecum. When you do this, feel the ballooning out of the cecum, the part of the colon with the largest diameter.

Sitting on the floor allows you to tense certain skeletal muscles, and can lead to a powerful orgasm. The floor helps hold the nozzle in. This may not be the greatest position for filling and cleaning the bowel, however.

Reclining is similar to sitting, but you lean back against something.

Standing on the head uses gravity to force the water down into the transverse colon, which usually needs a good cleaning out anyway, but especially if you are quite constipated.

Reclining in the bathtub is quite comfortable, except that the tub may be cold. You don't have to worry about leakage here.

Leaning over the edge of the bathtub is similar to getting on your hands and knees, but it leaves your hands and arms free, and is a little easier to stay in that position for a while.

Sitting on the edge of the bathtub is comfortable, and is the way to do a faucet enema, described in equipment.

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Capacity:

Every individual has his or her own capacity, and it will change from each enema to the next. The cleanliness of the colon and the amount of gas present will have a great effect on the volume of water that can be taken. Medical researchers have determined that the average adult human colon has a capacity of 7 quarts. I believe that this measurement may have been made using colons removed from cadavers, who wouldn't complain about the pressure. It may be that the average colon has this capacity, but that no one except a woman who has just delivered a baby has that much room in the abdomen to allow the colon to expand to its fullest. You may want to experiment with this by taking the largest enema that is comfortable, and then rolling from side to side very slowly and seeing if the water runs downhill to distend the lower side more. You probably will find that the lower part of the colon will be noticeably more swollen, indicating that it is your abdomen that is unable to expand to allow the colon to accept any more fluid.

Fifty or so years ago, most adult patients receiving barium enemas were given 4 quarts of the barium solution and made to hold it during the X-ray procedure. At the same time, the enema bags sold in drugstores held 3 or 4 quarts, and many people felt that they could not be properly cleaned out unless they took the full bag. I took my first 4 quart enema at 12 years of age. I had to refill the bag in the middle - what a pain. Today's drugstore fountain syringes do not hold over 2 quarts, which many feel is a real shame.

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Retention:

Most people will find it difficult to retain an enema for more than 5 minutes. If the bowel is not clean, then the peristaltic action of the colon will push against the fecal masses and produce intense pressure. This will frequently happen with your first enema in a series. Not much to do but expel and try again. If you get a strong cramp and an urge to expel, getting up is the worst thing you can do. Making the descending colon vertical adds gravity to the force pushing out. This is how to have an accident. If you can, wait while lying down. The pressure will pass in 10-15 seconds as the wave of peristalsis passes the sigmoid colon and reaches the end. Then you can get up and expel without straining to hold it in. If you must go to the toilet, and the pressure is intense, you can hold the buttocks together with both hands. This helps the anal muscles keep it in.

A trick I use is to lie face down on the bed, and wait for three waves of cramps to pass down. After the third cramp, I can walk leisurely to the toilet to expel, and I get a real good expulsion of all that stuff. If the cramps are extreme, however, I just don't wait. Another aid in retaining the water is to get into the knee-chest position when the pressure builds. This causes gravity to help hold the water in.

Another method is to lie on your back, and massage the colon with both hands. Whenever you feel pressure building, or can feel a big bulge with your hands, massage around that area until the pressure relaxes.

Some people recommend rolling from one side to the other every minute or so. The idea is that the water will flow repeatedly downhill, alternately filling the descending and sigmoid colon and then running down to the cecum. This is supposed to break up any masses in the transverse.

Need I mention that some people use a butt plug to hold the water in?

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Expulsion:

Obviously, most people expel their enemas while seated on the toilet. This is probably not the best position for expelling water from the colon because of the need for the wide cecum to push the water up hill to the transverse, and then for the transverse to pump it back up its sag to get it to the descending. A large volume in the descending will cause the descending colon to slide down the left side and kink where it meets the sigmoid. This can get you stuck! If you can feel lots of water bulging on the left side, but can't get it out, you need to change positions. Get up and lie down for a moment, or get into the knee-chest position, or just turn around as if you are looking over your right shoulder. These techniques can un-kink the descending, and get the water passing out again.

Some people prefer to expel in the bathtub, which is much easier, because the colon does not need to lift water to get it out. This is extremely messy, however, so don't do it unless you don't mind cleaning up. If the colon becomes severely blocked while holding an enema, you may prefer to do this rather than call the paramedics. In the hospital, patients are frequently given a bedpan when expelling enemas, to get the same benefit of the position.

If there is substantial gas in the colon, it may be very difficult for the colon to lift water when large air bubbles are present. These like to collect at the hepatic flexure, high on the right side, and can be detected by a rumbling sound when you press there. If you want to get the gas out, you can sit on the floor and make sure the gas is at the hepatic. Roll slowly onto the right side, then massage the transverse, following its course with your hands. You will know that you are moving that gas by the rumbling. When you have the gas moved to the splenic flexure, move quickly to the knee-chest position. Now massage the descending colon upward, from the ribs to the groin on the left side (you're upside down, remember) until the gas has moved to the sigmoid. Use heavy massage in the groin area, to move water out of the sigmoid, and move the gas in. When this is done, get on the toilet quickly, and you should be able to expel a prodigious gas blast. You may have to repeat this procedure several times, but when all the gas is out of the colon you should be able to expel the water quickly.

Don't sit on the toilet for more that a few minutes if there is no water coming out. Sitting too long and straining are the chief causes of hemorrhoids. Those will certainly ruin your enema pleasure. If nothing is coming out, lie down either face down or up, or lie on your left side, or get into the knee-chest position. These will help the water move, and soon you can go back to the pot.

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Equipment:

Standard Brands:

The standard enema apparatus available in the drug store can be divided into several types. There is the open-top fountain syringe, usable for enemas and douches. There is the closed-top type bag, which can also be used as a hot- water bottle. There is the four-way type, which also is intended to be used as an ice bag. Most of these units offer 2 quart capacity. If that is the limit of your capacity, the open-top fountain syringe is the best type to use, because it is very convenient. The enema and douche nozzles that come with these units leave much to be desired. There are also discreet type units sold primarily for feminine hygiene use, but some come with enema tips also. These are good because a woman can put them in her purse.

Shy - An expandable syringe that is filled by pressing the mouth of the bag against the sink faucet. This bag will hold 4 quarts. The big drawback is that it has no way to shut off the flow except to remove the bag from the tube, which will cause the water to flow from the rectum. What you need to do is to attach a hose with a clamp to the nozzle, which is inserted into the bag. You can pour liquid soap into the bag before filling with water.

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Special Hardware:

Here are some descriptions of exotic enema equipment you can build from commonly available items.

The faucet enema is not for the inexperienced. If you don't have much enema experience, I suggest that you start with a standard 2-quart open-top fountain syringe from the local drug store. When you get able to take 2 fillings of the bag at one time, then you are ready to get more exotic.

Actually, the equipment for the faucet enema is available at any hardware store. It is called a shower hose adapter for the bathtub faucet. It has a rubber fitting that fits over the bathtub faucet, a hose, and a rubber shower head. Attach the faucet fitting to the bathtub faucet, remove the shower head from the end of the hose, and you are ready. Set the faucets to a gentle flow, with a temperature that feels a little warm to the tongue. Sit on the edge of the tub, and ease the flowing hose against and then into your anus. You will feel the water filling your rectum. Relax the bowels as much as you can, and you don't need to worry about spilling a little water into the tub. When the bowels feel full, remove the hose and wait a moment. The feeling of pressure should pass, then insert again. When you are totally full, move to the toilet and expel the water. You can repeat the process as many times as you like. Since the water is always running, you can move back and forth between the tub and toilet very quickly, and get a good cleaning out in about a half hour to 45 minutes. When the bowel is clean, take as much water as you can, and then enjoy the sexual release. When completely filled, don't miss looking at your distended belly in the mirror. You can also adapt a colon tube or other nozzle to the flexible hose on a personal shower head.

A few cautionary notes about the above procedure! The pressure from the water faucet is enough to burst the colon. Don't let the pressure rise too much in the bowel. When the pressure is strong, pull the tube out, or let the water pass out of your rectum. Don't take water that is too hot. Use some lubricant on the anus first, and after every few insertions. If you have a very large colon, or have heart disease, the water absorption can be deadly. You must use water with salt in it to avoid "hyponatremic shock" - dilution of blood electrolyte.

A 4 quart enema jug can be made from a Rubbermaid 1 gallon orange-juice pitcher. Drill a hole near the bottom of the pitcher, insert an all-thread pipe nipple of about 3/8" size, and seal with nuts pressing on rubber washers sealed with RTV (bathtub caulk) or contact cement. Attach plastic tubing to exposed end of pipe nipple, held with hose clamp, and sealed with same sealant. You will have to make or order a large diameter enema nozzle or colon tube, although the end of the plastic tube can be smoothed off and used just like that.

A 4 quart bag can be made from a Faultless brand ice bag. Drill a hole in the center of the plastic cap, and adapt as above with the pipe nipple, etc. Get an 8-32 Eye Bolt with machine screw threads, 2 8-32 fender washers as large as available, and 2 8-32 nuts. Poke a hole in the center of the end of the bag opposite the filling mouth just big enough to take the eye bolt. Screw one nut onto the eye bolt. Place a washer on the eye bolt. Put contact cement onto the washer facing away from the ring end. Push into the bag from the outside. Coat the other washer with contact cement, and place over the exposed end of the eye bolt inside the bag. Screw the other nut on to hold the bag between the two washers. This should provide a leak-proof hanging hook for the bag. Glop some contact cement on the inside washer and nut to prevent rust. Voila! A 4-quart enema bag!

Nozzles and tubes: There are many different types of nozzles and tubes available for inserting into the rectum. What you want is either a colon tube (a rubber tube from ¼" to ½" diameter and anywhere from 10" to 3 feet long) or a nozzle with a bulb on the end, to help you hold it in. These are called "N-Tips". Some of the best drug stores carry these items, but you will have to ask for them. Some drug stores also carry the fleet high-volume bag enema or an equivalent brand, these are made of plastic and will not deteriorate when oils are used, as a rubber bag will. The "high-volume bag" usually holds 2500 CC (over 2 quarts) but in the same series, the manufacturers make a barium enema container which can be ordered, and it has 3500 cc capacity (almost 4 quarts). Medical and ostomy stores carry many of these items. These are considered disposable, but with a little care they will last a long time.

The Colon Tube is a straight tube with a rounded end, and usually a small hole in the side near the tip. They come in many sizes, and are usually measured in "French" sizes. 28 French is a small tube, and 36 is fairly large.

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Subj: solutions chart
Date: 95-12-08 09:41:13 EST
From: swtlass@conc.tdsnet.com (jessa)
To: WaterLuv@etzine.com

Highlights

• Isotonic Enemas
• Soapsuds Enemas
• Oil Enemas
• Coffee Enemas
• Exotic Enema Solutions

Isotonic Enemas

The Salt Water enema (Saline Enema) is just warm water with one tablespoon of salt to the quart. The salt is to prevent absorption of the water by the colon. It does this by bringing the salts content of the solution closely in balance with that of the body fluids. Thus, transfer of fluids through the colon walls is virtually halted.

The baking soda enema (which can also have salt added as above) has one or 2 tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in each quart of water.

WaterLuv's favortite recipie is one teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of soda per quart of water.

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Soapsuds Enemas

Soaps: Ivory Bar soap works well. Hold the bar above the top of the bag while the water fills it. For a stronger soapy solution, use a container and swish the water around to dissolve more soap.

Ivory Liquid dish-washing detergent should be used in very small amounts, such as one teaspoon per quart. It can be fairly irritating.

Castile Enema soap in premeasured packets. Standard packet is 2/3 Oz of soap. Instructions on packet usually say something like : Dilute contents of packet with 1 or 2 quarts of lukewarm water. This is too strong for me, I use it about half that strength.

Castile Liquid soap (Dr. Bronner's is one brand). Use about 1 teaspoon for each quart of water. Dr. Bronner's soap is available in plain (green label), with Peppermint (blue label) and with Eucalyptus Oil (brown label). Never use the Eucalyptus oil in the bowels, it will cause a very bad reaction. The peppermint oil is a cooling additive, but I prefer the plain Castile soap. If you use any Castile soap, you may want to finish with a plain water enema to prevent any soap from remaining in the bowel to cause irritation.

Kirk's Hardwater Castile Soap is a very fast dissolving bar soap. If you hold it in the running water filling the bag, take the soap away when the bag is about half filled, or the solution will be too soapy.

Hair Shampoos can be used like soap for enemas. Look at the label, don't use any with formaldehyde. Use a small amount, perhaps a teaspoon per quart or less.

Non-soap: Plain tap water can be used, but be warned that your colon will absorb quite a bit of the water, which will dilute the blood electrolytes. Then the various tissues of the body absorb the excess water and swell. Your brain swells, too, and there isn't any place for it to expand into. This is called cerebral edema. A few 2 quart plain water enemas won't do any harm, but if you take large or many enemas, use salt.

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Oil Enemas

The Oil Retention enema is an injection of about 4-8 fl. Oz. of mineral oil, vegetable oil or olive oil. It is held in the colon for 1 hour or more before a soapy water enema is given. The soapy water enema can be very strong because the oil will protect the colon from irritation. The oil coats the lining of the colon, and also softens the bowel contents, making for a spectacularly powerful evacuation. When the oil is in the colon, do not be fooled by what feels like the urge to expel gas. If you do so, you will expel a blast of dirty oil with it, and it will be a mess. If you absolutely must pass the gas, get into the knee-chest position for one minute, and then hold a piece of toilet paper over the anus, to prevent the release of the oil. Do not expel the oil before taking the soapy water enema. You will need to take at least three soapy enemas to remove all trace of the oil, or dirty oil will leak out of the anus for about 12 hours.

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Coffee Enemas

Coffee enemas have been used in the past for cleansing. The theory is that the coffee assists the large intestine and liver in getting rid of the toxic substances that have accumulated there. It does seem to work. They are still popular among certain US naturopaths, and are widely available outside the US in specialized clinics. For an article on Coffee enemas relating to cancer treatment click here.

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Exotic Enema Solutions

Beer (usually warm) or wine can be used. It is pretty irritating. Obviously, you will get drunk. A word of caution. Use any form of alcohol sparingly. It is absorbed in the intestines much more rapidly than in the stomach, and once it's in the bloodstream, you can't readily get rid of it. Also, whenever alcohol and sex are mixed, there is increased risk of doing foolish things that compromise safer sexual practices. Play should be fun, so do play safely.

Lemon Juice is said to help dissolve fecal masses. Use 1/3 cup real-lemon per quart, similar to a lemonade recipe. It is also said to dramatically enhance cramping; so consider lemon-juice enemas if cramping is your bag.

Epsom Salts (2 tablespoons per quart) can be soothing to the colon.

AIR can be pumped into the colon. An easy way to do this is to disconnect the hose from the enema bag and insert the nozzle into the anus. Take the other end of the hose into your mouth and blow. Don't mix air and water. If you have taken enemas, make sure you get all the water out before you put the air in. A mixture of water and air in the colon causes terrible cramps. If this ever happens to you, you may have to expel in the bathtub, where the flat position makes it easier for the colon to push the water out without the large air bubbles defeating the peristalsis.

Barium Sulfate is injected into the colon for diagnostic purposes. It absorbs X-rays, leaving a picture of the shape of the hollow inside of the colon. Sometimes some of the barium is released and then air (or CO2) is injected. This double contrast enema leaves barium coating the colon wall, and gives a clear but ghostly image of the lining of the colon.

Urine is sometimes used by the "Golden Showers" crowd. While you might catch something from the urine of an unhealthy donor, your own won't hurt you. You certainly won't contract any disease from it that you don't already have. In fact, yogis drink their own; and claim great restorative powers for the practice. No question that the practice would at least let you exercise your control over your gag reflex.

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History of the coffee enema:

COFFEE: THE ROYAL FLUSH
From The Cancer Chronicles #6 and #7
© Autumn 1990 by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

This is a two-part story on the history of the coffee enema.It has been reprinted often around the world. --Ed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The most controversial alternative procedures has to be the coffee enema. Along with other detoxification routines, the coffee enema is a central part of both the Gerson and the Kelley programs. It is always good for a laugh: "with milk or sugar?" This bizarre-sounding treatment can also be used to scare people away from alternatives in general. No quackbusting article these days is complete without a reference to "enemas made from roasted coffee beans." So what's the story? Is the coffee enema crackpot faddism or is there some rationale behind this procedure?

An enema is "a fluid injected into the rectum for the purpose of clearing out the bowel, or of administering drugs or food." The word itself comes from the Greek en-hienai, meaning to "send or inject into." The enema has been called "one of the oldest medical procedures still in use today." Tribal women in Africa, and elsewhere, routinely use it on their children. The earliest medical text in existence, the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, (1,500 B.C.) mentions it. Millennia before, the Pharaoh had a "guardian of the anus," a special doctor one of whose purposes was to administer the royal enema.

The Greeks wrote of the fabled cleanliness of the Egyptians, which included the internal cleansing of their systems through emetics and enemas. They employed these on three consecutive days every month said Herodotus (II.77) or at intervals of three or four days, according to the later historian Diodorus. The Egyptians explained to their visitors that they did this because they "believed that diseases were engendered by superfluities of the food", a modern-sounding theory!

Enemas were known in ancient Sumeria, Babylonia, India, Greece and China. American Indians independently invented it, using a syringe made of an animal bladder and a hollow leg bone. Pre-Columbian South Americans fashioned latex into the first rubber enema bags and tubes. In fact, there is hardly a region of the world where people did not discover or adapt the enema. It is more ubiquitous than the wheel. Enemas are found in world literature from Aristophanes to Shakespeare, Gulliver Travels to Peyton Place.

In pre-revolutionary France a daily enema after dinner was de rigueur. It was not only considered indispensable for health but practiced for good complexion as well. Louis XIV is said to have taken over 2,000 in his lifetime.Could this have been the source of the Sun King's sunny disposition? For centuries, enemas were a routine home remedy. Then, within living memory, the routine use of enemas died out. The main times that doctors employ them nowadays is before or after surgery and childbirth. Difficult and potentially dangerous barium enemas before colonic X rays are of course still a favorite of allopathic doctors.

But why coffee? This bean has an interesting history. It was imported in Arabia in the early 1500's by the Sufi religious mystics, who used it to fight drowsiness while praying. It was especially prized for its medicinal qualities, in both the Near East and Europe. No one knows when the first daring soul filled the enema bag with a quart of java. What is known is that the coffee enema appeared at least as early as 1917 and was found in the prestigious Merck Manual until 1972. In the 1920s German scientists found that a caffeine solution could open the bile ducts and stimulate the production of bile in the liver of experimental animals.

Dr. Max Gerson used this clinically as part of a general detoxification regimen, first for tuberculosis, then cancer. Caffeine, he postulated, will travel up the hemorrhoidal to the portal vein and thence to the liver itself. Gerson noted some remarkable effects of this procedure. For instance, patients could dispense with all pain-killers once on the enemas. Many people have noted the paradoxical calming effect of coffee enemas. And while coffee enemas can relieve constipation, Gerson cautioned:

"Patients have to know that the coffee enemas are not given for the function of the intestines but for the stimulation of the liver."

Coffee enemas were an established part of medical practice when Dr. Max Gerson introduced them into cancer therapy in the 1930s. Basing himself on German laboratory work, Gerson believed that caffeine could stimulate the liver and gall bladder to discharge bile. He felt this process could contribute to the health of the cancer patient.

Although the coffee enema has been heaped with scorn, there has been some independent scientific work that gives credence to this concept. In 1981, for instance, Dr. Lee Wattenberg and his colleagues were able to show that substances found in coffee-kahweol and cafestol palmitate-promote the activity of a key enzyme system, glutathione S-transferase, above the norm. This system detoxifies a vast array of electrophiles from the bloodstream and, according to Gar Hildenbrand of the Gerson Institute, "must be regarded as an important mechanism for carcinogen detoxification." This enzyme group is responsible for neutralizing free radicals, harmful chemicals now commonly implicated in the initiation of cancer. In mice, for example, these systems are enhanced 600 percent in the liver and 700 percent in the bowel when coffee beans are added to the mice's diet.

Dr. Peter Lechner, who is investigating the Gerson method at the Landeskrankenhaus of Graz, Austria, has reported that "coffee enemas have a definite effect on the colon which can be observed with an endoscope." F.W. Cope (1977) has postulated the existence of a "tissue damage syndrome." When cells are challenged by poison, oxygen deprivation, malnutrition or a physical trauma they lose potassium, take on sodium and chloride, and swell up with excess water.

Another scientist (Ling) has suggested that water in a normal cell is contained in an "ice-like" structure. Being alive requires not just the right chemicals but the right chemical structure. Cells normally have a preference for potassium over sodium but when a cell is damaged it begins to prefer sodium. This craving results in a damaged ability of cells to repair themselves and to utilize energy. Further, damaged cells produce toxins; around tumors are zones of "wounded" but still non-malignant tissue, swollen with salt and water.

Gerson believed it axiomatic that cancer could not exist in normal metabolism. He pointed to the fact that scientists often had to damage an animal's thyroid and adrenals just to get a transplanted tumor to "take." He directed his efforts toward creating normal metabolism in the tissue surrounding a tumor.

It is the liver and small bowel which neutralize the most common tissue toxins: polyamines, ammonia, toxic-bound nitrogen, and electrophiles. These detoxification systems are probably enhanced by the coffee enema. Physiological Chemistry and Physics has stated that "caffeine enemas cause dilation of bile ducts, which facilitates excretion of toxic cancer breakdown products by the liver and dialysis of toxic products across the colonic wall."

In addition, theophylline and theobromine (two other chemicals in coffee) dilate blood vessels and counter inflammation of the gut; the palmitates enhance the enzyme system responsible for the removal of toxic free radicals from the serum; and the fluid of the enema then stimulates the visceral nervous system to promote peristalsis and the transit of diluted toxic bile from the duodenum and out the rectum.

Since the enema is generally held for 15 minutes, and all the blood in the body passes through the liver every three minutes, "these enemas represent a form of dialysis of blood across the gut wall" (Healing Newsletter,

Prejudice against coffee enemas continues, however. Although this data was made available to Office of Technology Assessment it was largely ignored in their box on the procedure. They dismissively state "there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that coffee enemas detoxify the blood or liver."