During the winter i developed a sinus infection.  Doc gave me a Zpac. haven't taken antibiotics in years.  Didn't really try to keep up my good bacteria while on it so it pretty much gave me the shits for 3 days.

Anyways.  After taking it, my stomach felt much better than before.  A LOT less gas and just a lot less stomach aches after eating.  It was like my stomach and intestines got a good cleansing.

So that brings me to the question that i haven't really found a good answer to on the interwebz.

is cleansing good for you?  say if you did it ever year or every two year? do you really get all that undigested matter in your bowels like some of the cleansing sites say you do?  is it really that bad for you as some say it is?  

I was pretty regular, like 1-2 times a day, before the zpac and it's still the same.  

Thoughts?



Mods:  if you feel this a "poop thread" instead of a health thread then lock it up.

The general consensus at Arfcom is that it is quackery and that there is no benefit to it.



They have no clue what they are talking about.  



Providing some means of regularly emptying out your small and large intestines is very beneficial for your health.  One excellent way of doing this is by consuming a lot of hot peppers.  It doesn't have to be colon cleansing products that you buy.

High colonic FTW

Hot peppers get me boiling.....and then......

A lot of black pepper will scrub your insides too, you can't digest black pepper like a lot of other seeds.

So tell me, what does a cleansing do or supposedly do?

It's quackery.

well according to some of the products on the market, they say you have some undigested or uncompacted matter.  whether thats true or not and whether or not ridding it is good or not is kinda why im askin.  I haven't found solid answers on teh webz.

eta:     lol no pun intended.

Try a coffee enema.

quackery

The docs and nurses I work with do colonoscopies. They laughed when I asked. If you eat normally and are regular you do not have things that linger around for longer than it takes to push everything through. Your colon is first in first out with no way stops along the way. They give people shit to clean them out to get a good pic from the camera so they can see polyps and remove them.

The shit you see on the commercials all lumpy and nasty looking is the formula NOT anything in your body.

Drink more water and eat more fiber in your diet if you want to get cleaned. You don't need fancy or exotic remedies, fancy locations, or people dressed in fancy ccostumes to take a dump.

Oh, Sherman, I was thinking about having my colon cleansed

You're less full than you normally carry around. Don't worry in a day or so you'll be back to full carrying capacity.

it's been almost 6 months since i had it.

It cleans you.  





Kind of like washing your face except on the inside.







It keeps you regular - if it takes longer than 16 to 24 hours for for food to pass through your body nothing good will come from it.......It prevents the wrong type of bacteria from taking over in your intestines......In the small intestine it allows for better digestion of the foods and better absorption of nutrients......Although you really do not have pounds of undigested meat in your body (that is the quackery part) you do have pockets of septic slime that will stay in pockets of your small intestines - if you do a bentonite cleanse you will know this stuff when you see and smell it.





 

Where's that wide eyed surprised looking icon?

Didn't realize it was that long. I don't know. Maybe some bad bacteria was cleared out and some non gassy bacteria replaced it.

Any case, glad you're still feeling better. :)

One thing to look at, your course of treatment may have had the added benefit of curing a small ulcer  or gum infection you might not have suspected.   That would account for the improved gastrointestinal benefits.

I went fifty one years without a "good cleaning out".

Then I had a colonoscopy. I got REALLY cleaned out the night before, and it was all liquid. I didn't see any rotten bits that had been stuck in there for years. The photos of the gala event (colonoscopy) I saw showed a nice clean pink colon.

My personal opinion is that colon cleansers are not required, and will only put your money in someone else's pocket.

The sites that show huge globs of "trapped gunk" their product can remove are run by quacks rip off artists. I have yet to read a single credible medical study indicating otherwise.

ha!!  my girlfriend is glad too!!  

Don't confuse the large intestine (your colon) with the small intestine.



Colonoscopies examine your colon not your small intestines.  The colon is easy to clean and examine while the small intestine is not.  People who do this for a living never see the small intestines.

gum infection as in your mouth?  wouldn't my dentist catch that?

please tell me you're not considering having a shop vac stuck up your ass like the weirdos in Kalifornia do....

tell me more.  is this some sort of home remedy or a product you buy?

you seem very adamant about  cleansing.   enlighten me.

wat??  thats hawt!!

That made me LOL.

Perhaps a change in the bacterial balance.

You probably have H pylori and the Z-pac cleared it up temporarily. Go to your PCP and get tested for H Pylori.


H Pylori

Depends as when the last time you went to a dentist.  Gum diseases cause stomach upsets,  after all, you are swallowing all that bad bacteria constantly.

Thanks, this is part of what I was talking about.  For the life of me I could not remember the name.

You know, I notice a trend with you. Everything you say is either wrong, stupid, or nuts. And, sometimes (like now), a combination of the three.



 

The mucus lining stuff in your guts, i.e the "compacted matter" is actually beneficial and stops nasty stuff getting through to your blood stream.

Eat a salad and some yogurt. "Cleansers" are bunk. Bentonite is clay-somehow people are astounded that if they consume clay, they shit black stinky play-doh. Often these are the same people who believe that if they go to Sedona and pay 2 grand, they can psychicaly connect with dolphins and whales. Without fail, those people are dumb. You don't have 14 pounds of swallowed bubblegum stuck in "pockets" of intestine-simple peristalsis squeezes material through your digestive tract with great efficiency-millions of years of evolution made sure of it.

Or spend a bunch of money and then try and convince others that it was well worth it so that you don't feel like such a fool. Whatever trips your trigger.

the aches were generally from spicy foods.  I no longer am getting them even after six months when i eat spicy foods.

farts weren't that bad.  Other than that i don't have any of those symptoms.

i'll bring it up when i go in for an appointment however.

every 6 months.

I eat salad almost daily.  use to eat yogut daily but that kinda went to the wayside.  

maybe i should keep up with it.  

Could be like what shane333 said and the zpac just changed my bacterial balance.

Yep, it's quackery.

If you have ANY pockets of "waste", "compaction", a "coating", or "slime" in your GI tract, you have diverticulitis, and you will be in very serious pain, and would already be in medical care. Essentialy, anything that outstays it's welcome in your bowels will have you feeling pretty poorly and you'll know it.

And if you were tough enough to ignore that, then you've progressed to periontitis, and then sepsis, and everyone will start saying 'Dibs on guns'....

From your mouth to your ass, your entire GI tract secretes mucus and various digestive juices and enzymes etc. constantly, and it moves down with the rest of everything you eat.

Get extra fiber in your diet from grains or vegetables, or add some generic Metamucil. And if you've taken some antibiotics, some Acidophillus to help repopulate your guts with the beneficial bacteria that aid in digestion. As to the gas and other things, taking antibiotics can go either way. It's killing the germs in your gut, some are more resistant than others and the balance changes, and you either get cramps, gas, or whatnot, or it actually feels better.

"LIKE SPACKLE ON WALLS"


I'd like to donkey punch both the idiot that came up with that radio commercial and the person that thought it was a good idea to put that on the air.

just eat some fiber

Proper diet and being active is pretty much all your body needs.

You are assuming 1 was the reason for the other.  You should take this up with the doc and see if there is other issues with your health. Good diet and exercise should keep your guts nice and free. If you are getting packed up eat better.

As a teenager my wife's digestion got severely screwed up after being on antibiotics for several days.  After taking some prescribed Acidophilus pills, things quickly began to normalize.  

While I don't buy into colonic "cleansers" I do think it helps to maintain a healthy bacterial balance in the digestive system.  I understand that eating yogurt helps in this regard as well.

so if you are out of balance what will bring you back into balance?  just yougurt?  I was already eating fresh vegies and had extra fiber prior.

Ask him about colloidal silver.

Oh gosh, not that.  It took the combined efforts of my wife, father in law, and myself to keep my MIL from buying into that (literally).

I exercise and generally have a good diet.... not counting the bourbon and food on the weekends.  

not backed up at all or ever for that matter.

just had some extra gas before and was mildly sensitive to some spicy foods as i got older.  those just kinda went away 6 months ago after the zpac.

will discuss it with the doc. he does check my blood 1-2 times a year.  wouldn't he discover something amiss during those checks?  

My girlfriend talked me into doing the "colonix" cleansing.  Here is my take on it:



The drink was near impossible for me to get down.  the consistency about made me throw up.  The pills that came with it jack with you for a day or two.  The tea actually tasted good and would knock the "crap" out of your system.  I believe that was the laxative that got the fiber out.



It took about 2 weeks before I noticed anything.  I used to poo about 1 every other day and now I was going to the bathroom at least 3 times a day and up to 5 sometimes.  Movements were considerably larger than normal but you felt really good after one.  I also noticed a bit more energy level.



Here is what DID NOT happen.



I did not ever drop something in the bowl that looked like an alien seed pod.

I did not loose 20lbs (even though it felt like it leaving the bathroom sometimes)

I never saw any parasites





Overall, its not what they tell you it is.  did it make me feel a little better....yeah maybe.  but it wasnt the cure all its made out to be.  the only big change i saw was the sheer mass of what was left in the bowl.

Well, maybe the Z-pac did put you back in balance, killing off some unwanted bugs, and the good ones got the upper hand.

And yeah, eating lots of yogurt can help. Or just Acidophillus pills. Or both.

In terms of Acidophillus suppliments, there's various levels of quality. The lowest being the dried powder ones from major chain stores. The vitamin company grows a huge vat of Acidophillus and then dries it out, then only a certain percentage of the bugs reactivate in your gut, the rest (most of them) are dead. However, it's cheap, and it still seems to work. (I notice digestion changes when I take the cheap stuff)

The local health-food/vitamin shop has higher quality "live culture" ones, you can tell because they must be kept refridgerated. Also they'll have blends with oher good bugs besides just Acidophillus.

Generally though, it's not something you need to keep up with. Once the good bugs are established, they'll happily live along and turn over their population in your gut naturally. So once you're over the hump, yogurt will probably do just fine.

I had scrambled eggs bacon & sausage at about 2AM and the result was a cleansing the size of Texas.

Most people here confuse the large intestine with the small intestines.  I guess that it is only logical since "colon" cleansing references the colon or large intestine and not the small.  When you have a colonoscopy it photographs only your large intestine.  Although your large intestine does have a couple of bends in it it is relatively straight when compared with the small intestine.  The large intestine is fairly easy to clean.  Most intestine related health issues are almost always associated with your colon.....ie cancer of the colon.  The large intestine really doesn't do much other than remove water from the digested residue.





However.....the small intestine is not easy to clean and this is what needs to be cleaned.  The camera never gets there.  It looks like 21 feet of knotted rope that is put in a ball.  The marble or penny that you swallowed when you were five that never came out is probably there.  Digestion and nutrient absorption occurs there.  The small intestine is not cleansed by an enema or even by a high colonic.





When you purchase a colon cleansing kit which promises to remove 10 pounds of undigested meat in your intestines and they show you the pictures of the five foot long lengths of rope that will come out of you......this is the scam part.  That rope (I think they refer to it as mucoid plaque) is really the solidified bentonite that comes in the kits......it was not in your body to start with and the bentonite solidifies in your intestines taking on the shape of the intestines.  If you look at the Internet pictures that shows this rope, the grease like substance on the outside of it along with the occasional penny or marble that is stuck to it was in your body.  





The solidified bentonite takes a lot of grease/mucus with it as it goes through your small intestine.  If it is a bright green color with little odor chances are it is mostly fresh bile.  If it is brown to black and putrefied smelling then it came from a pocket in your small intestine.  If you ever do a cleanse.....you will know this stuff when you see it and smell it.  You will be glad that it is no longer in your body.





Let me say it again......the rope that comes out is the solidified bentonite that was in the product that you drank.  The crap that comes out with it was in your body.  Cleaning out the pockets of mucous and cleaning the lining of your small intestine is the main purpose for "colon cleansing".  If you have an inefficient small intestine then you will not be healthy.  If your body can not absorb the nutrients in the foods that you eat then you will eventually have some health problem that is not directly related to the small intestine.  If your body can not absorb the things that it needs to stay healthy then it will not be.





You have a couple of choices......Do a cleanse that you drink 4 or 5 glass fulls of a bentonite substance for 4 or 5 days - if you do this you will certainly go through an interesting experience that is quite probably very beneficial for you.....the other choice is to regularly eat foods that will flush out your small and large intestines..... like hot peppers.  



How long does it take food to pass through your body?  How bad does it smell when it comes out?  Do you generally have a light feeling in your stomach or a heavy feeling? Are you generally an unhealthy person?  Cleansing can make a difference.




 
 

Put me in the general consensus camp, then.