FAQs

Try to avoid foods that you know cause digestive symptoms in you for 1-2 days prior to treatment. I recommend that you eat a light meal no later than 2 hours prior to your appointment and increase your water intake. If you struggle with constipation, it can be helpful to add bulking fibre such as vegetables, soaked chia or flax seeds a few days before the appointment.

Trillions of bacteria live in your colon. Colonic hydrotherapy expels loose and transient bacteria, including less desirable putrefactive bacteria and parasites that may be causing your symptoms. After treatment, ‘good bacteria’ can repopulate and thrive – and you can help it along by adding the optional gut-boosting probiotic to your treatment. A probiotic implant is introduced directly into the large intestine following treatment and this enables beneficial bacteria to bypass the lengthy digestive tract (where stomach acid can decrease their numbers) and allows good bacteria to repopulate efficiently in a clean environment.

This depends on your comfort. If you suffer from heavy or painful periods, it is usually best to avoid booking an appointment during your menstrual cycle. However for many people colonics can be useful during this time, as they can help with cramps, and this is a time when the body is purging.

If you’re a sensitive person with a reliable cycle, I would recommend scheduling your first session on a non-bleed week so that you are feeling resilient.

The aim of colonic hydrotherapy is to restore bowel function, rather than to clean it out. My aim is to help re-train or maintain good peristaltic action – the waves of contraction from your intestinal muscles.

While it depends on your symptoms, and ability to integrate recommended dietary or lifestyle changes, many people feel the benefits after 3-6 treatments. People with long-lasting complaints (for example chronic constipation) might find treatment every 2-4 weeks the most helpful way to begin. Once bowel function has improved, we can space your treatments further apart. Eventually, bowel function can be maintained with seasonal treatments.

I use a closed, gravity system. This involves slowly introducing filtered water into the bowel through a small tube, and then allowing the water, along with any loose debris, to exit through a larger tube.

I use a closed system which means that there is no odour or direct contact with waste. Unlike an open system where you are left to self-administer the treatment, you will be supported and well taken care of.

Treatment shouldn’t be painful – but the experience may at times feel unusual or like having diarrhea. You might experience transient cramping or nausea, this often passes as your body releases gas and waste.

The treatment encourages your colon to release its retained faecal matter and gas through gentle fills and releases of water, in addition to relaxation exercises and skillful abdominal massage. Most first-time clients leave saying that the experience was more comfortable than they anticipated.

Typically an enema is self-administered at home, whereas colonic hydrotherapy happens in a clinically sterile environment by a trained practitioner. An enema typically doesn’t reach as far into the colon, or have the same training effect on the bowel.
Who can’t have this treatment?

Every ethical colonic hydrotherapist wants to help you while avoiding harm, and this means there are occasions where we won’t treat an individual. I suggest reading this list of contra-indications before booking your appointment, to avoid any unexpected surprises. If you have any questions, please reach out before booking.