Author:
Old man
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Date Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 12:31: pm
I am a 'war-baby' (born in 1944), and did get a generous allotment of enemas from Mum until I left home at 18. A thought occurred to me while I was reading the following posts, and that is this: At that time (1944-1950), antibiotics were just becoming available; a lot of the medical research had been 'pushed' by the war effort, Fleming's discovery of penicillin was still very new, for example. So the emphasis for home care remedies was on more 'natural' methods; because the option of getting a prescription for some drug or other was not always available, or perhaps couldn't have been afforded. So if the kid had a fever, cool him down with an enema; it really does work, ladies and gentlemen. If one had a head cold, use steam to help relieve congestion. It works. Oh, and, of course, if the kid is constipated, what else? Two or three enemas should do the trick. Oh, and who can forget the calming influence of a nice enema? Your kid was being fractious, refused to settle down? What else. And in the pre-tranquilizer days, enemas were used for their calming effects (on patients )in mental institutions. I have read that enemas were once even considered a pain relief therapy, when pain drugs were not readily available.
Somehow, I believe the side effect of having received many enemas of becoming enamored of them, is a lot safer alternative to being hooked on assorted cold remedies with their unknown potential side effects, assorted psychotropic drugs for depression (some of which precipitate suicide, ironically enough), and having to suffer from laxatives.
As one doctor (whose name I cannot remember) once put it when asked why an enema rather than a laxative, 'Why bother disrupting the whole 30 feet of digestive tract, when the problem is likely only in the last five feet?'
As for why they seemed to die away as a home remedy, there are a few obvious reasons. First and foremost in my mind is the withdrawal of support for it as a treatment option by the family doctor. This was, of course, encouraged by the pharmaceutical industry, which has a multibillion dollar business in providing laxatives, and other medicinal cures for constipation. And, of course, it Is easier to take a pill, than to take time for an enema.
And, of course, the use of the steamer and mustard plasters for congestion, and the enema for fever reduction, all of which are labor intensive, while consuming any of the many hundreds of cold remedies is simpler, easier and faster (and is also another multibillion dollar subdivision of the pharmaceutical industry).
So the withdrawal of 'Professional Support' for the enema, combined with a 'disinclination' to administer enemas to their kids by many Mums (either because they didn't like doing them, didn't want to do them to their kids because they didn't like getting them when they were kids, or they were just too busy/lazy to give them) has led to the reduction in use of them in child rearing.
It is interesting to note that there were some who persisted untii present tiem, and I believe that their kids are actually better off because their Mums did 'carry on the tradition'.
Yes, I suppose there are some Mothers who may 'enjoy'(get sexual gratification out of) giving enemas to their children; but I believe that given a mother's commitment to their children, the amount of time and care they have invested in their charges, any choice to administer an enema would normally be made for a 'legitimate reason', especially if one considers the time commitment it entails.
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