The World After a Colonic!
The Questions People Ask

Now that I’ve had my first colonic, what can I expect?

I get all sorts of questions about what happens after the first colonic. I hope to answer of few of them here. It’s great that one colonic can raise so many questions about our elimination process and all the factors that go into making it better, optimal, in superior working condition, complete, easy, and predictable.

When will I have my next elimination?

Some people have a redundant colon which means it takes many rises and falls, loops and coils before it reaches the anus. This tortuous or circuitous gut makes for very difficult elimination both during the colonic and in one’s everyday life. These people may eliminate later in the day or on the way home. One client with a redundant colon would eliminate water after the colonic whether on the way home or at home. This pattern improved after subsequent colonics and more attention to bowel care. These instances occur in maybe 5% of cases.

For some, the colonic gets things moving in the gut and the person is quite happy having a few more eliminations later in the day. Some have to go back to the bathroom before they leave the office and have a big elimination. The water, breath, massage, hot rocks and vibrator or whatever techniques the therapist uses - stimulate and relax the muscles enough so that one finally lets go.

Most people do not eliminate again until the next day and in quite a few cases, 2-5 days later. That’s what I call transit. Transit is how long it takes matter to fill the gut so that one has a bowel movement again. Most people do not have peristalsis or the natural expansion and contraction of the gut muscles. Most guts work on gravity, one meal pushes the next one around and eventually one poops again. For many, it takes a few days to fill up.

It’s better if one can have an elimination cycle of 24 hours however that’s not case in most people. The colon serves as a storage tank rather than a pulsating muscle system working efficiently. Colon hydrotherapy helps to stimulate and train peristalsis.

Can I eat and what can I eat?

Wow! Unless you are using the colonic to launch a fast, most people use the colonic to launch a better dietary program or even a cleansing program. A better diet is personal to you. Obviously, the closer to nature one stays on the food chain, the better it is. That means letting go of or NO refined foods like white sugar, flour, milk, chemicals, additives and preservatives. If you take just that out of your diet, you are approaching sainthood.

Some people have symptoms of carbohydrate indigestion, a faulty carbohydrate metabolism or Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Those people usually follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet that forbids all complex carbohydrates. See scdiet.org.

Some people prefer to do raw foods for the rest of the day or a few days such as fruits, veges, nuts, seeds, and juices all of which are alive or uncooked.

Others begin a cleanse and that can mean many things. One can find cleanses for the liver/gall bladder, kidneys, intestines, parasites, yeast, pathogenic bacteria and heavy metals. Protocols exist for each of these cleanses. See or email me for further information on cleanses.

Hydration is an enormous factor in intestinal and immune health. I encourage people to bring their fluids to one gallon a day. That can mean water, herb teas, and raw juices. Get off any diet drinks because the chemicals they contain are toxic. Also, people may be dehydrated when they come in for a session. The colon hydrotherapy as the latter word says, is a 'hydrating' process. It introduces water into the system and helps to hydrate it.

Make sure you are balancing your electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals and trace elements. Many companies produce the liquid or colloidal minerals, or mixtures of fine grasses, algae and herbs such as Synergy the product I carry at the office for the purpose of building oneself up and balancing out all the important elements that make us work right.

Make sure you are taking a probiotic, or good flora or bacteria such as acidophilus, bulgaricus or thermophilus. They are the natural good bacterial inhabitants of the GI tract that do wonders for your gut wall and immune system. Antibiotics destroy the good and the bad flora and many people have a history of antibiotic use. Many people are bankrupt in good flora from inappropriate lifestyle. Probiotics assist the colonic process.

How will I feel after the colonic?

This can run the gamut. Most people feel more relaxed because they hold tension in their gut. Most people feel lighter. They have successfully released stored waste and they are ready to fly. Many people are more in touch with how their gut feels; the colonic opens their intestinal and internal awareness process. Some feel tired. The stored waste or toxins irritate and when they are removed or stirred, the person can feel their true fatigue from holding on, from fermenting or putrefying wastes or a build-up of waste from incomplete elimination. Constipation affects the quality of one’s life so if the colonic helps release stored waste the person feels a greater sense of well being. One person recently told me they felt a "resurgence of love."

Some people feel fatigue, toxic, sick or weak after a colonic. They fall into the 5% or less category. What does that mean? Generally, that person is more toxic and the gut wall is more compromised. Often their electrolytes are imbalanced and their pH or acid-alkaline balance is upset before the colonic. These clients usually have environmental illness, chronic fatigue, multiple chemical sensitivity, dehydration, advanced candida or dysbiosis – imbalance in good/bad flora. They are the big sufferers. When people feel weak and sick, they need to build themselves up and often come in daily for 2-3 days until they clear their system. See ariseandshine.com for testing pH.

Will the colonic affect my emotions in any way?

Many old emotional patterns are stuffed deep in our bowels or deep in our unconscious. According the Institute for Biodynamic Psychology in UK, the gut is the seat of the unconscious. That’s where we store those parts of ourselves we don’t like. Maybe that’s why it is so difficult to talk about and deal with intestinal health. It’s brings up our taboos, the unknown, the secrets, the skeletons, our shadow or dark side we don’t want anyone to know about least of all ourselves. You might see your life in review, old feelings may come up, former physical or sexual abuse issues may surface, repressed and hidden feelings may arise and memories of old injuries return. Better to have it surface and deal with it than to continue repression. The colonic does assist this awakening in some people. Doing therapy while taking colonics is helpful for these individuals.

Breathing and Exercise

I encourage my clients to practice deep belly breath, to draw the breath into their torso from below the navel, from the pelvic floor. It gives the intestines more space, massages the internal abdominal organs and promotes better elimination. One can practice while working out, driving, working on the computer and during colonics.

Movement stimulates circulation and promotes peristalsis so all clients are encouraged to include an hour a day of exercise, something one really enjoys. Exercise encourages deeper breathing. Deeper breathing allows for greater relaxation. The gut performs better when we are relaxed.

Should I get more, how many should I have?

Most people begin with a series of 6-12 colonics taken weekly depending on their condition. Some need to do 2-3 colonics a week initially to clear their system, to break up a bound condition. While fasting, some take the colonic daily or every other day. I encourage people to learn to take enemas as home in between colonics when it is called for. Serious constipation, chronic fatigue, fasting or a cleansing program might call for daily colonics or enemas for a period.

If you can think of any more questions, let me know.

Congratulations on your first colonic session!

Sheila Shea©2002 All Rights Reserved

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