Editing Enema (section)

==== Relatively benign ====

===== Colonic irrigation =====

The term "colonic irrigation" is commonly used in [[gastroenterology]] to refer to the practice of introducing water through a colostomy or a surgically constructed conduit as a treatment for constipation.<ref name="pmid11113099">{{cite journal |last1=Locke |first1=G.Richard |last2=Pemberton |first2=John H. |last3=Phillips |first3=Sidney F. |title=AGA technical review on constipation |journal=Gastroenterology |date=December 2000 |volume=119 |issue=6 |pages=1766–1778 |doi=10.1053/gast.2000.20392 |pmid=11113099 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Food and Drug Administration]] has ruled that colonic irrigation equipment is not approved for sale for general well-being<ref>{{cite web |title = Subpart F—Therapeutic Devices Sec. 876.5220 Colonic irrigation system |website = Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21 Food and Drugs, Subchapter H – Medical Devices, Part 876 – Gastroenterology-Urology Devices |date = 1 April 2007 |url = http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=876.5220 |publisher = FDA }}</ref> and has taken action against many distributors of this equipment, including a [[FDA Warning Letter|Warning Letter]].<ref>{{cite web |author = Department of Health and Human Services |title = Warning letter to Dotolo Research Corp |url = https://www.casewatch.net/fdawarning/prod/1999/dotolo.shtml |format = reprint by Casewatch |date = 21 July 1999 |publisher = FDA |access-date = 31 December 2007 }}</ref>

===== Colon cleansing =====
{{Main|Colon cleansing}}

The same term is also used in [[alternative medicine]] where it may involve the use of substances mixed with water to [[Detoxification (alternative medicine)|detoxify]] the body. Practitioners believe the accumulation of fecal matter in the large intestine leads to ill health.<ref name="pmid11124189">{{cite journal |author = Whorton J |title = Civilisation and the colon: constipation as the "disease of diseases" |journal = BMJ |volume = 321 |issue = 7276 |pages = 1586–9 |year = 2000 |pmid = 11124189 |pmc = 1119264 |doi = 10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1586 }}</ref>  This resurrects the old medical concept of ''autointoxication'' which was orthodox doctrine until the end of the 19th century but has now been discredited.<ref name=Ernst>{{cite journal |last1=Ernst |first1=E. |title=Colonic Irrigation and the Theory of Autointoxication: A Triumph of Ignorance over Science |journal=Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology |date=June 1997 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=196–198 |doi=10.1097/00004836-199706000-00002 |pmid=9252839 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author = Kaiser |title = The Case Against Colonic Irrigation |journal = California Morbidity |issue = 38 |year = 1985 }}</ref><ref name = Chen>{{cite journal |vauthors = Chen TS, Chen PS |title = Intestinal autointoxication: a medical leitmotif |journal = Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology |volume = 11 |issue = 4 |pages = 434–41 |year = 1989 |pmid = 2668399 |doi = 10.1097/00004836-198908000-00017 }}</ref>

=====Kellogg's enemas=====

In the late 19th century, Dr. [[John Harvey Kellogg]] made sure that every patient's bowel was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine ("just like one I saw in Germany") that could run fifteen gallons of water through a person's bowel in seconds. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yogurt—half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema "thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace "the intestinal flora" of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a completely clean intestine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumofquackery.com/amquacks/kellogg.htm |title=Dr. John Harvey Kellogg |website=Great American Quacks |publisher=Museum of Quackery |access-date=12 February 2018}}</ref>