Choosing a Therapist:

One thing most people may not understand about colonics is that not all therapists or their equipment are created equal. And the crazy thing about this statement is that it’s not a matter of always getting what you pay for. There are many therapists that charge a higher fee for their services thinking that clients will believe that they must be more expensive because they are more experienced or better qualified. This is not true, at least not locally. The cost of a colonic session in this area varies from about $65 – $115 for a single treatment. Most therapists offer package discounts and may further discount their services based on how you pay.

This page contains information and advice I would personally give to a family member for finding a therapist that practices in ways that I feel are important.

I do not know a lot about all of the therapists that practice in the Boise area but I have heard a lot about most of them. We are fortunate in that most of the therapists in the industry here are very competent and compassionate. It is important to have both to be an effective therapist. I will give you a list of questions I would always ask when selecting a therapist and things I would watch out for during a session that could lead to trouble. I don’t expect a therapist to do any more or any less than I would do for my clients’ best interest and these questions can guide a person who knows nothing about colonic irrigation to find a safe and effective practitioner.

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I have no problem posting this information on the web for all to see simply because if a more inexperienced therapist sees it and uses the information to make themselves a better therapist; that is in my eyes a positive outcome. I am not about being in competition with other therapists or keeping all of my methods secret. I have learned a lot from other therapists and sometimes I read things on other therapists sites and it strikes a cord with me and I may make a change if I feel the desire to do so. If therapists can learn from one another the profession as a whole would get better. Sure, I would like to keep my clientele loyal to me but if they should choose to go see another person for financial reasons, location, scheduling difficulties or any other reason I hope the person they go to has read this part of my website. At least they may end up being cared for by a therapist who will be safe in his or her methods. These are what I believe should be minimums in any therapists practice. As well as my personal reasons for choosing to use the closed-system equipment only.

~We will start with the beginning of treatment. Ask the therapist if they have to be in the room when you are being “hooked-up” to the equipment. Don’t be obvious about what you want them to say, just ask. If they say anything other than “Yes, the therapist will be with you at all times”. you need to end the call. There are therapists who will allow clients to insert speculums themselves or they use equipment designed to allow the client to do it alone. I used to think that this was really dangerous because the speculums they used to use were very rigid and could in fact perforate the colon wall during insertion. I have since changed my opinion on this a little and if the speculum appears to be very felxible and soft and smooth tipped the risk of perforation is much less. IN any rate the equipment designed to have the client insert it themselves does place the client in a position that is not allowed by standards of practice for medical professionals. It is widely known that insertng anything into the rectum when the person is not laying on thier left side exposes the colon wall to the object being inserted and raises the risk of perforation. For this as well as for other personal reasons I only advocate directly the use of the closed system in most cases. Any medical professional can tell you a person needs to be side-lying on their left side to insert anything into the rectum safely; perforation of the colon can be deadly so be careful if inserting your own speculum in any position other than left side-lying.

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~Next ask if the therapist will be in the room for the treatment. If they say anything but “Yes.” again, I would end the call. Many people do not have adequate sensation within the intestines to know when they may be hurting themselves or stretching their colon out. A therapist should be actively engaged in the treatment and utilizing her pressure gauges on the equipment and a clock with a second hand to ensure that she is not overfilling you! This again means equipment designed to allow a person to administer their own treatment without supervision and guidance by the therapist would not be an option that I would choose. Your health is more important than your privacy. If they leave you alone for any period of time it should be for your own benefit, not for them to use the restroom, return phone calls, attend to other clients. If you have an emergency they need to be immediately available to you.

~Ask the therapist how they do “fills”. Many therapists will have the client tell them when to release a fill. This practice can be very counterproductive. The colon can only hold so much of a capacity without stretching. A person who regularly goes to a therapist that allows the client to decide when ‘enough is enough’ can in fact become stretched out so badly that the only time that person can have a bowel movement is during a colonic session. Sometimes a client can give an accurate opinion of how full is full enough sometimes they would push it too far. While this keeps the client coming back for more sessions this is an irresponsible, selfish and again potentially dangerous thing to do. This is another reason no one should ever administer their own colonic irrigation, unless they are a therapist.

~Most therapists use disposable equipment all the time but some will use metal attachments that can be sterilized so it doesn’t hurt to ask. I would not go to a therapist who re-uses sanitized equipment, just becuase its an uneeded risk in my opinion.

~Ask them how much you can expect to “lose” during your treatment. Okay, so this is a trick question. While it is true that a person can have up to 25 pounds of waste sitting inside the intestines no one can be certain how many pounds of that will be eliminated during a treatment and in fact the best answer is that during your first treatment you may not have anything come out at all. The colon has to be strong and the material well-hydrated for your body to be able to eliminate well during treatment. Most people have their big losses after having several treatments and making some changes to other areas of their lives. The pounds of waste lost are not fat. However, most of my clients will lose a considerable amount of body fat once their bodies are functioning properly, but it does not happen overnight. It can take 2 months for a person to drop 10-15 pounds unless they are doing a weight reducing cleanse in which case that can be lost in a matter of a few weeks. You can read more about my personal experience with colon hydrotherapy and my own fat losses under Angie’s Story.

Ask if they do abdominal massage. Most therapists will say unequivocally, “Yes”. It’s very important. Massage is one of the mot effective tools I use in my treatments.

Ask if they have an attached, private bathroom. The answer should be yes. You don’t want to be running down the back hallway of a plaza located facility in your hospital gown, or going into a shared bathroom facility after your treatment. It should be within a few feet of the treatment table and used exclusively for clients and only one toilet in the bathroom. None of that partition stuff we are used all to with public restrooms; no one can relax enough to eliminate in those things!

Ask the therapist how many treatments you need. The therapist should have an answer that tells you that everyone is different. Basically, most therapists can tell you more about this after spending one session with you. For the most part a person will require 10 sessions within their first month to see really great results and need to be seen once a month when they are trying to maintain their results. Some therapists require you to buy and use 10-15 treatments your first month or they will not see you. I do understand this method of thinking; they really want everyone to have great results and most everyone will if they do that many in a short period of time. However, if you can only afford 1 or 2 treatments it is still good for you to do them. Most of my clients will do about 6 to 8 for preparation, then go on a fasting cleanse where they will have one every day for 3 to 5 days during the fast. After that they will have a couple more coming off of the fast and then move to the once a month maintenance. They typically do a cleanse a few times a year from that point on and don’t require the 6 to 8 preparation treatments if they have been seen once a month since their last cleanse.

Lastly, I can’t believe I even have to mention this but it comes after hearing stories about a woman who does this to her clients. Ask the therapist if they answer their phone during treatments or attend to other tasks. I would want the therapist to be with me and taking care of my needs. There is no excuse to be on the phone or running out of the room over and over again to handle other things. This is dangerous and it’s unnecessary. There are plenty of us who will gladly give you our undivided attention and make sure you get the most from your treatment.

Ask them if they recommend any supplements. A therapist will use a very small amount of herbal supplements along with nutritional changes and colonics to help get you healthy. Some herbal supplements are helpful between treatment and for maintenance but the bulk of what a person takes should be during fasting cleanse and should not cost more that $150-300, and that is being generous. The supplements a person takes long term would be about $50 to $100 a month depending on how many additional suggestions they are willing to adopt. They may need more if thier diet is a constant struggle for them.This may include a bowel and parasite cleanse that does NOT contain senna ( this is HIGHLY addictive even though its natural and can cause intestinal damge if taken too long ) possibly a good broad spectrum pro-biotic, and maybe a magnesium supplement. Cleansing herbs are not cheap and are very important during a cleanse and some are needed for long term use. Some therapists push lots of unnecessary supplements, ask what they are for and how you may know if they are effective for you or not.

Many therapists are trained very well and then mentored by another therapist like I was; I feel this is the best case scenario for training a therapist. Hopefully they also have an extensive medical background its not necessary but it really does help a lot. Unfortunately some therapists are trained in one weekend on how to run the equipment and given a license. Even well trained therapists can become lazy in their methods, we all can become complacent. Asking these questions will ensure that you are more likely to get a therapist who really understands what he or she is doing.

Now we can discuss some of my reasons for advocating the use of the closed-system equipment.

The closed-system requires direct and active participation by the therapist at all times. I am not very comfortable with the idea of leaving a client alone for any period of time although some therapist do this and are responsible and dont abuse the ability to be absent during treatment.

The closed-system colon therapy builds the strength of the colon muscle itself much like the use of weight bearing excercise builds the strength of other muscles. The client is laying flat during the treatment which forces the colon to function without the assistance of gravity and it must work much harder. It also has to push waste out through a tube. This tube extends the amount of time the colon must contract in order to have a bowel movement by 3 to 5 times, making the colon again much stronger. The open-system colonic allows the waste to fall directly out of the rectum without much effort. It is performed with the client laying in a supine position so gravity is helping the colon remove waste, so this system will not work the muscle as much as the closed-system colonic irrigation will.

The closed-system colonic will hydrate and tone the entire colon. The client is laying flat and the therapist is massaging the abdomen as well as doing short fills of the colon. This causes the water to reach far up into the colon and helps hydrate the entire colon and soften the its entire contents. In the open system the client is not laying flat and the water must be able to travel up-hill to reach anything beyond the sigmoid.  The open system colon hydrotherapy also does not allow for any fill cycles, which I think are important in a colonic to stimulate a release.

The closed-system colonic equipment is “closed”. All of the waste material is inside a tube and carried away into the sewer without smell or sound. It is a more sanitary method for the practitioner as well as a less embarrasing method for the client.

There has been very little research done on colonics; I feel its because there is no money to be made in healthcare with healthy people or those who are truly persuing health ( we dont have healthcare, we have sick care ), however there has been some research published and it was based solely on the use of the Dotolo T-Oxygen closed system colon therapy equipment. Any time I can side with research and imperical evidence I will do so as long as it is a beneficial pracice. To my knowledge there has not been any research done using the open system as of yet. Although I feel that hydrotherapy of any kind is better than nothing at all.

In my practice I spend about an hour or 2 with a client the first time they come to see me. After that they are with me for about an hour. I do feel that if the client was left alone during this time a lot of time and education would be lost. I answer questions and make constant reminders to my clients during thier treatment as well evaluate the way thir body is responingto treatment. In an open system ( not all therapists do this ) a client is handed instructions on how to preform thier treatment and sometimes they dont get to talk to the therapist at all. This to me is such a lost opportunity for helping the client.  I think the therapist should be present, answering questions, massaging, etc the whole time.

I would encourage you if you are interested in learning more about the open system to locate a therapist who uses one and ask them why they prefer it as apposed to the closed system. I am sure they have thier reasons. Don’t let me be the authority on thier methods. I can only speak to my own personal opinions and experiences.

I hope this helps anyone out there who is looking for a good therapist and cannot come see me! I also have a couple therapists in the area that I refer to as well that meet the criteria I would want in a therapist and can send you thier way if you need to see someone other than myself.

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Image by Wonderlane via Flickr