# Are colonics and coffee enemas beneficial?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colonics-and-coffee-enemas-beneficial/306687>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 3, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colonics-and-coffee-enemas-beneficial/306687 "2005-06-03T05:27:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colonics-and-coffee-enemas-beneficial/306687/41 "2005-06-08T14:52:31Z")

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> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> There has been a resurgence lately in quackery related to colonic irrigations, purges, “cleanses” and the like,

I’d say it started in the nineties. For a while, magnetic healing devices were everywhere. I also spotted a few healing wands consisting of batteries, a buck or two of circuitry, and two or three red LEDs.

When some friends and I took a trip to Atlantic City, we visited the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum. In an exhibit on medical quackery of the nineteenth century were a healing magnetic belt, and a healing “purple ray tube” which used a neon bulb rather than LEDs.

> [@](#):
>
> This fascination with our bowels and the belief that they are the source of “toxins” goes back into ancient history.

I’ve seen it traced directly back to the theory of the four humors. First there was blood lettting to rid you of the black humor. Then the more modern and effective leech. Then enemas and colonics.

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**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colonics-and-coffee-enemas-beneficial/306687/42 "2005-06-08T15:37:23Z")

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> [@Washoe](#):
>
> Paging Dr. Bendover… 😃

That’s the scottish Drs: Ben Dover and Phil MacCrevice

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**Author:** ![olpeculiar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@olpeculiar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olpeculiar)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colonics-and-coffee-enemas-beneficial/306687/43 "2005-06-08T18:46:27Z")

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A friend of mine was in a losing battle with leukemia, and the medication he was on was of the “Well, we’ve never tried doses this BIG before” variety. Surprisingly, the doses of medication didn’t kill him, and that was a very real possibility. Not surprisingly, the medication made him nauseous to the degree where he wished that he **was** dead. After countless other “remedies” had failed, a coffee enema was the only thing that relieved his nausea.

I can’t tell you why it worked, and I doubt that coffee enemas have any actual medical benefits, but in at least one case, they certainly relieved the symptoms.

At the time, it occurred to me that the enema was reliving the nausea by flushing away the offending toxins - in this case, the cancer medication. But his entire medical team knew about the enemas, and they were okay with them. And besides, if you had seen his misery, you wouldn’t have denied him his relief either.

So if you’ve got nothing else to lose, go for it!

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