Colon Therapy: Why Some Doctors Have Started Backing the Cleansing Treatment

Health begins in your colon, so it’s important to keep it clean. Doctors are now touting colon therapy as an easy and effective colonoscopy preparation because it flushes waste and pathogens out of your intestines prior to the procedure.

With colon therapy, doctors are getting better colonoscopy results, and patients have a much easier colonoscopy preparation.

What Is Colon Therapy?

Here at Body Ecology, we’ve long been proponents of colon therapy (also called colonics and colon hydrotherapy). Along with improving your health on the Body Ecology Diet, colon cleansing is one of the best ways to keep your intestines — and the rest of your body — in tip-top shape.

Herbal fermented detox blend

Colon therapy can be used to prep for a colonoscopy and to improve detox. You can give your body extra support during the detoxification process by taking fermented herbs, like those found in the Body Ecology Fermented Herbal Blend for Detox.

During colon therapy, a trained colon therapist uses warm water to gently fill up and flush out your colon. This process may feel strange at first, but it can clean out your colon more thoroughly than many other colon cleansing treatments.

In fact, colon therapy is so effective for cleansing, some doctors are beginning to recommend colonics as a colonoscopy preparation.

Let’s face it — anyone who’s had a colonoscopy will say the preparation was the worst part. Colonoscopy preparation consists of drinking a mixture that results in uncomfortable diarrhea as a way to clear your bowels for the procedure. Indeed, colonoscopy preparation alone may keep people from doing this important early-detection procedure.

New research is showing that colon therapy is a win-win for doctors and patients. With colon therapy, doctors are getting better colonoscopy results, and patients have a much easier colonoscopy preparation. Physicians at Danbury Hospital agree this much is true — in a 2008 press release, Danbury Hospital confirmed that it was the first hospital in Connecticut and in the U.S. to offer an alternative prep for a colonoscopy that did not involve drinking liquid laxatives. Dr. Joseph Fiorito, chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, says the innovation of colon hydrotherapy, which uses warm, filtered, chemical-free water to cleanse the colon before a colonoscopy, now gives patients a choice. Dr. Fiorito also believes hydrotherapy to be more convenient since it does not require fasting or cause diarrhea.1

Dr. Fiorito speaks from experience as he was the physician who performed a blind study on hydrotherapy that was presented to The American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting in 2006. His study found hydrotherapy to be a good or better alternative preparation for a colonoscopy that was also preferred by patients. The patients who received hydrotherapy in the blind study compared to typical pre-colonoscopy cleansing liquids had a “significantly better” experience when it came to quality of colon cleansing, overall tolerance, comfort, and convenience.2

2004 research published in the Hebei Medical Journal found colon hydrotherapy prep for a colonoscopy successful in 98 percent of cases.3

It took until 2011 for the second hospital in the U.S. to jump on board with this newer and more convenient colonoscopy prep treatment. Barton Memorial Hospital, located in South Lake Tahoe, began to use colon hydrotherapy as a preparation for colonoscopy, under the guidance of colon hydrotherapist Susan Frailey. Like Danbury Hospital, doctors and patients at Barton Memorial Hospital were both “very satisfied” with the results of colon therapy. Frailey confirmed fewer cases of failed or canceled colonoscopies after implementing the new treatment.4 For this reason, hospitals like Danbury and Barton Memorial continue to offer colon hydrotherapy as a safe and gentle colon cleansing alternative to make colonoscopies — a potentially life-saving exploratory procedure — feel less invasive for their patients.

Why Cleanse Your Colon? The Benefits of Colon Therapy

Besides colonoscopy preparation, there are other reasons to cleanse your colon, too.

Colon therapy is ideal if you:

  • Experience constipation
  • Want to improve your colon health
  • Want an easier colonoscopy preparation
  • Need to detox
  • Want to support your digestive health
  • Want to hydrate your body down to the cellular level
  • Are experiencing signs of “die off”
  • Are moving from processed foods to a healthier diet, like the Body Ecology program
  • Want to flush out bad bacteria, yeast, mucous, and old fecal matter from your colon

The Body Ecology System of Health and Healing embraces colon therapy — both complement each other to cleanse and detoxify your body. In fact, many Certified Body Ecology Coaches are colon therapists. And Donna Gates, founder of the Body Ecology Diet, has served as a keynote speaker and workshop leader at the International Association of Colon Therapists (I-ACT) annual conferences.

Is Colon Therapy Right for You?

We can all benefit from colon therapy. Whether you are kicking off a weight loss or detox program, changing your eating habits, or simply doing annual “spring cleaning,” colon therapy can be a great way to jumpstart your journey to health or to enhance the natural cleansing process that takes place as part of a healthy diet.

However, for the most effective and safest outcome in hydrotherapy, it’s important to check with your doctor before trying a professional or home treatment. While colon hydrotherapy can be beneficial to cleanse and support digestion, for certain groups especially — like children, pregnant women, and the elderly — the treatment should be performed under the care of a doctor or pediatrician. People with specific medical concerns, like heart disease, anemia, and diseases of the bowel that include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, should also consult with their doctor first.

Here’s what you need to know about colon therapy: 

  1. It’s safe. Colon therapy is a safe way to flush toxins out of your body. Be sure to find a certified colon therapist and check their references as you would with any technician.
  2. It’s effective. Whether you just need a periodic colonic or want to cleanse out your colon more thoroughly with a series of sessions as you start your new diet, colon therapy is easy and pain-free. It can also be more thorough and gentle — and less messy — than many other cleansing options available, including “fad” diets and cleanses.
  3. It reduces detox symptoms. If you are starting to feel the symptoms of detoxification, then a colonic can help flush toxins out of your body and keep you feeling energetic.

If you want to try colon therapy to prep for a colonoscopy, we recommend visiting a professional for treatment. You can also gently detoxify and cleanse the colon at home — with permission from your doctor — by using a preferred cleansing device, like the FDA-registered Colenz or a home enema kit. Remember, colon therapy is just one way to take care of your digestive system. Combined with a healthy, cleansing diet, regular colonics can heal your intestines to create vibrant health in children and adults.

What To Remember Most About This Article:

Keeping your colon clean is one of the best things you can do for your body, when you think about the fact that all health begins in the gut. Today, many doctors are even endorsing colon therapy as both an effective and convenient way to prepare for a colonoscopy; colon therapy can help to flush waste and pathogens out of the intestines before the procedure. Also referred to as a colonic or colon hydrotherapy, colon therapy can help to support hydration, digestion, and detoxification.

Anyone can benefit from colon therapy, as long as you receive permission from your doctor first. For children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with an illness, it’s important to perform a home or professional hydrotherapy treatment under the care of a doctor. When used safely and correctly, colon therapy can help to jumpstart a weight loss or detox program by supporting the body’s natural ability to cleanse. And if you’re looking for an extra “boost,” you can help the detox process along by taking fermented herbs, found in the Body Ecology Fermented Herbal Blend for Detox.

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REFERENCES:

  1. “A New Choice For Colonoscopy Preparation.” Danbury Hospital.
  2. Fiorito J, Culpepper-Morgan JA, Estabrook SG, et al. Hydrotherapy compared with PEG-ES lavage and aqueous sodium phosphate as bowel preparation for elective colonoscopy: A prospective, randomized, single blinded trial. Presentation at the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting, Las Vegas (NV); October 20–25, 2006.
  3. Hebei Medical Journal, Dec 2004, Vol 25, No. 12.
  4. Molchan, Shelby, Certified Colon Hydrotherapist. “Colon Hydrotherapy: New Method of Colonoscopy Prep.” Healthy Beginnings Magazine.
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