Enema: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}

 

An '''enema''', also known as a '''clyster''', is an injection of fluid into the [[Large intestine|lower bowel]] by way of the [[rectum]].<ref name=Cullingworth_introduction>Cullingworth, ''A Manual of Nursing, Medical and Surgical'':155</ref> The word enema can also refer to the liquid injected,<ref name=Merriam-Webster_Enema>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enema |title=enema noun |work=[[Webster's Dictionary#Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language|Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language]] |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=2019-04-15 }}</ref><ref name=Free_Dictionary_Enema>{{cite web |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Enema |title=Enema|work=The Free Dictionary |publisher=[[TheFreeDictionary.com]] |access-date=2019-04-15 }}</ref> as well as to a device for administering such an injection.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/enema |title=enema |work=[[Dictionary.com]] |publisher=s[[Ask.com]] |access-date=2019-04-15 }}</ref>

''In alphabetical order''

 

 

====== Compounded from multiple ingredients ======<!-- Klyx redirects to here -->

[[File:Barium Contrast Enema.jpg|thumb|A barium enema in a disposable bag manufactured for that purpose]]

 

 

Failure to expel all of the barium may cause constipation or possible impaction<ref name=Hopkins_Barium>{{cite web |url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/gastroenterology/barium_enema_92,P07687 |title=aGastroenterology Tests and Procedures – Barium Enema |work=Health Library |publisher=Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |access-date=2019-04-01 }}</ref> and a patient who has no bowel movement for more than two days or is unable to pass gas rectally should promptly inform a physician and may require an enema or laxative.<ref name=SW_Med_Center>{{cite web |url=http://www.swmedcenter.com/index.php/services-2/diagnostic-imaging/bariumgastroview-enema/ |title=Barium/Gastroview Enema |work=Our Services |publisher=Southwest Medical Center in Liberal, Kansas, USA |access-date=2019-04-01 }}</ref>

In the 18th century Europeans began emulating the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas#North America|indigenous peoples of North America's]] use of tobacco smoke enemas to resuscitate drowned people.<ref name=BCMJ>{{cite web |url=https://www.bcmj.org/special-feature/special-feature-tobacco-smoke-enemas |title=Special feature: Tobacco smoke enemas |author=Sterling Haynes |date=December 2012 |work=British Columbia Medical Journal |publisher=Doctors of BC |access-date=2019-03-29 }}</ref> Tobacco resuscitation kits consisting of a pair of bellows and a tube were provided by the Royal Humane Society of London and placed at various points along the Thames.<ref name=Royal_Pharmaceutical /> Furthermore, these enemas came to be employed for headaches, respiratory failure, colds, hernias, abdominal cramps, typhoid fever, and cholera outbreaks.<ref name=BCMJ/>

 

 

According to [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|the duc de Saint-Simon]], clysters were so popular at the court of King [[Louis XIV of France]] that [[Marie Adélaïde of Savoy|the duchess of Burgundy]] had her servant give her a clyster in front of the King (her modesty being preserved by an adequate posture) before going to the [[comedy]]. However, he also mentions the astonishment of the King and Mme de Maintenon that she should take it before them.<ref>Saint-Simon, ''Memoires'', vol. 10, [http://rouvroy.medusis.com/docs/1004.html ch. 4].</ref>

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

 

 

===== Colon cleansing =====

Both women and men may enjoy sexual enema play, heterosexually and homosexually, experiencing [[sexual arousal]] from enemas which they find gratifying or sensual<ref name="Agnew, 1982">Agnew, 1982</ref><ref name="Denko"/> and which can be an auxiliary to, or even a substitute for, genital [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]].<ref name="Agnew, 1982"/><ref name="Denko">{{cite journal|last=Denko|first=JD.|date=April 1976|title=Amplification of the erotic enema deviance|journal=Am J Psychother|volume=30|pages=236–55 | issue=2|pmid=937588|doi=10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1976.30.2.236}}</ref>

 

 

That some women use enemas while masturbating was documented by [[Alfred Kinsey]] in ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'': "There were still other masturbatory techniques which were regularly or occasionally employed by some 11 percent of the females in the sample... Douches, streams of running water, vibrators, urethral insertions, enemas, other anal insertions, sado-masochistic activity, and still other methods were occasionally employed, but none of them in any appreciable number of cases."<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Kinsey | first1 = Alfred Charles | title = Sexual Behavior in the Human Female | publisher = Indiana University Press | place = Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A. | year = 1953 | isbn = 978-0-253-33411-4 }}</ref>

 

Enemas have also been forcibly applied as a means of punishment.

 

In the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp#Torture|Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp]], the [[Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture]] documented instances of enemas being used by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] in order to ensure "total control" over detainees.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rushe|first1=Dominic|last2=MacAskill|first2=Ewen|last3=Cobain|first3=Ian|last4=Yuhas|first4=Alan|last5=Laughland|first5=Oliver|title=Rectal rehydration and waterboarding: the CIA torture report's grisliest findings|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/cia-torture-report-worst-findings-waterboard-rectal|access-date=13 March 2015|agency=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 December 2014}}</ref> Enemas, officials said, are uncomfortable and degrading,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/us/fresh-details-emerge-on-harsh-methods-at-guantanamo.html|title=Fresh Details Emerge on Harsh Methods at Guantánamo|author=Neil A. Lewis|date=2005-01-01|department=Archives – 2005|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2019-04-20}}</ref> The CIA forced nutrient enema on detainees who attempted hunger strikes, documenting "With head lower than torso … sloshing up the large intestines … [what] I infer is that you get a tube up as you can … We used the largest Ewal {{sic}} tube we had" wrote an officer,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/cia-report-rectal-feeding-detainees|title=Controversial 'rectal feeding' technique used to control detainees' behaviour|date=9 December 2014|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2019-04-20}}</ref> and "violent enemas" is how a detainee described what he received.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/opinion/a-detainee-describes-more-cia-torture.html|title=A Detainee Describes More C.I.A. Torture|author=The Editorial Board |date=2015-06-05|department=Editorial|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref>

In the [[Theatre of Dionysus|Dionysus]]' [[satyr play]] ''Limos'', [[Silenus]] attempts to give an enema to [[Heracles]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Carl A.|date=2014|title=Satyric Play: The Evolution of Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama|page=15|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-995094-2}}</ref>

 

 

In the 17th century, satirists made physicians a favorite target, resembling [[Molière]]'s caricature whose prescription for anything was "clyster, bleed, purge," or "purge, bleed, clyster".<ref>Magner, ''A History of Medicine'':218</ref>

 

 

 

 

==== Film ====

In ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'', during flight training astronaut [[Alan Shepard]] retains a barium enema,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/21/movies/film-right-stuff-on-astronauts.html|title='Right Stuff,' on astronauts|author=Vincent Canby|date=1983-10-21|department=Film|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-27}}</ref> given two floors away from a toilet, embarrassedly riding a public elevator wearing a [[hospital gown]] and holding the enema bag with its tip still inserted in him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teachwithmovies.org/the-right-stuff/|title=The Right Stuff|publisher=Teach with Movies|access-date=2019-03-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086197/characters/nm0001277|title=The Right Stuff|website=[[IMDb]]|access-date=2019-03-27}}</ref>

 

 

==== Song ====