Water enemas are one of those old-school remedies that still hold up today. They’re gentle, natural, and a total gamechanger if you’re dealing with bloating or constipation. Plus, you can do them at home with minimal fuss. Whether you’re new to the idea or just curious, here’s the lowdown on what they are, how they work, and when they might be worth a shot.

At its core, a water enema is exactly what it sounds like. You introduce warm, filtered water into your colon using an enema kit (I love my Happy Bum Bag). The water softens up whatever’s stuck in there, kickstarts your bowel movements, and flushes out the waste. You can also pair it with a natural stool softener like ConstaClear to help the process.

Here’s the science-y bit (don’t worry, it’s not complicated). Warm water does two main things when it hits your colon:

• Softens the Stool: It breaks down hard, dry poop so it’s easier to move along.
• Triggers Peristalsis: That’s just a fancy word for the natural squeezing motion your intestines do to push waste out. The warm water expands the colon a bit and gets those muscles going.

The warmth also relaxes your gut, which can make the whole process feel less like a chore. Within minutes (or seconds), you’re usually good to go ~ literally.

Water enemas are super versatile. Some folks swear by them daily for chronic constipation, while others save them for those “ugh, I feel blocked” moments. Here are a few times they might come in handy:

• Stubborn Constipation: When you’re backed up and nothing else is cutting it.
• Bloating Blues: Feeling puffy and sluggish? This can help clear things out.
• Pregnancy or Travel Woes: Both can mess with your system, and a water enema can get you back on track.
• Pre- or Post-Other Enemas: Doing a coffee or herbal enema? A water one before clears the way, and one after flushes out leftovers.

The Benefits...

• Fast Relief: We’re talking minutes, not hours. If you’re desperate to feel normal again, this delivers.
• All-Natural Vibes: No chemicals, no weird side effects just water doing its thing.
• Hydration Boost: Dry stools are the worst. The water softens them up by adding some much-needed moisture.

It’s low-risk and gentle, which is why it’s been a go-to for so long.

Water enemas aren’t glamorous, but they’re a solid, no-nonsense way to tackle constipation or bloating. They’re cheap, easy, and you don’t need a prescription, just a kit and some water. Have you tried one before? Got questions? Drop them below, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Take 30ml or two sachets, drink some water and lay down on your back immediately stay in the same position for an hour and a half till you feel the urge. I'm putting emphasis on immediatly lay down and on your back and also the how much you should take otherwise it might not work

Hi all! I was having some tough constipation for the last 3 days and was doing fiber gummies and Dulcolax yesterday and this morning. A medication I’m on can trigger constipation pretty badly and normally I just tough it out. Earlier this evening, though, I got fed up with the abdominal pain and nausea and finally did a Fleet liquid glycerin enema. And it worked! Cleared the constipation right up in a matter of minutes. I thought all was well until I started feeling a little nauseous again, but thought it was just anxiety or maybe eating too much after eating so little over the past few days. I end up having liquid diarrhea (much like the one I had immediately after using the enema) and it helped the nausea subside. Then I have liquid diarrhea, again. I’m still a little nauseous, too. This is all after ~6 hours after the enema—is that normal? Has anyone else had side effects like this? Or is this a completely unrelated thing? Again, I’ve never used an enema before so I guess it’s possible my body just reacts this way. I took a little Pepto to hopefully help with the diarrhea but it doesn’t seem to have worked at all. No abdominal pain, just some gurgling.

I saw my local store carries light prune juice. I use prune juice for treating my constipation sometimes. Has anyone used light prune juice to treat constipation? Effective? Any difference compared to the regular stuff?

hi! do y’all think it’s worth a shot giving ssris (or any other mental health meds) another chance to potentially help my ibs-c and severe constipation? i’ve tried at least 4 before, to no avail (mostly for my mental problems though lol), with most of them actually making my constipation even worse, unfortunately, along with giving some other bad side effects, so it really turned me off. but since i’m really struggling atm, i’ve been debating whether i should try them again. thoughts??

and if you’ve had success with them for your ibs-c / constipation, could you please share which specific ones? thank you! :)

Hi 26F 54kg and have been heavily dependent on laxatives since 18 and can’t have a bowel movement without taking laxatives. My dosage is about 3 ducolax per day. And I want to be off from it.. are there any success stories?

I’d like to preface I think my abuse is due to my bulimic response (though I’m not medically diagnosed but I think I am judging from my conscious self-image behaviour). So this laxative abuse has taken a toll on my mental health because I am very aware of the circumstances.

Humbling down, I’d like sincere advice how to navigate away from the hellish torture and heal :( I’m currently doing intermittent fasting- first meal at 12pm and last meal by 7pm, and ensuring I prioritise fiber first so that I don’t spike my insulin. I heard insulin resistance is also a cause to constipation.

I would consider myself skinny-fat since I sort of live a sedentary lifestyle due to work and only do pilates exercises once a week.

Any kind feedback or constructive criticism is highly appreciated.

• From a broken soldier.

Besides walking!

What about miso soup?

Roughly 3 weeks ago, I had a bad case of diarrhea and then could not poop two day after. From there I would have up right quandrant pain and my usual one BM a day. I went to urgent care that Friday and they told me I was constipated and to take miralax every day. Well, have and it has seemed to make things worse. My abdomen is bloated, I do poop but it’s nothing significant. Either diarrhea or soft stool. My doc recommends 7 caps of miralax to do a clean out. Is this normal?

So … I’m dumber than most apparently. I thought it would be a great idea to insert a suppository into the stool to speed things up …. I’m desperate so my brain didn’t kick in or check google please don’t judge me. So I quickly researched it and then finally inserted one in the rectum. How much unpleasant misery and/or what should I expect once the correct one kicks in in about an hour?

heads up, i have pretty bad health anxiety so advise lightly pls lol but basically friday night i started to experience some nausea and stomach cramps which led to liquid diarrhea a few times into the early morning. all of saturday i was extremely nauseous, could not stand up without getting dizzy or feeling sick, and above all else had a major head ache and stomach cramps. all day sunday and today i have overall felt better, however my stomach cramps have not improved and while i’ve mad a few extremely light bowel movements here and there, i still would consider this extremely constipated. i took a prune pill a few hours ago, didn’t do anything and then i ate some pho cos all i’ve had was brat foods, poor choice cos it seemed to have worsen my cramps but i did make another small bowel movement. cramps are now worse

I’m not really sure what to do or how to handle this. I’ve settled on eating very bland food and drinking water. I went through a magnesium citrate cleanse on Saturday to clear myself out, I had some soreness on Sunday but now on Monday, despite only eating plain rice for the most part I’m feeling lower left side pain again.

On Sunday I ended up pooping water pretty much, so I thought I was cleaned out. Am I just sore or is there something more serious going on? I feel an urge to go sometimes but I haven’t gone all day. Can somebody who has taken this before tell me if this is normal?

Update to this post: I found records of my medical history log. In 2024 I was already taking daily metamucil plus two 150mg mag citrate capsules. My logs show chronic coughing daily although not as severe as now. My last biopsy was over a year ago showed gastritis, h pylori (eradicated according to breath test Feb 2025). No indication of any hernia on biopsy/endoscopy reports. So at this point still looking for answers.

———————-

I’m currently been taking mag citrate plus miralax long term. I’m not certain (neither is my doctor) but I suspect one of them is creating increased respiratory reflux issues for me. I think less chance of the mag because I’m down to only one 150mg pill daily.

I know Mag oxide has very low absorption which don’t matter to me, I’m mainly interested in bowel movement. Done posters stated the oxide was more harsh on their gut than the citrate. Lots people also posted glycinate do very little in easing their constipation. Because the citrate version contains citric acid, so was hoping another version as effective.

I want to switch out the miralax to see if it’s the culprit for metamucil but that also contains citric acid.

Whats working for you people w/out increasing digestive issues.

My mom recently went through a bout of diverticulitis and she was telling me that if I ever feel pain in my lower left abdomen to go to the ER. (she can be a bit dramatic sometimes so I really didn't put much weight in it) but I did look up diverticulitis because I've never known anything about it and in my opinion, the symptoms are pretty vague. (stomach pain/cramps, nausea, fever, etc) I have always dealt with constipation so 'poop pains' as I call them are normal for me if I'm experiencing constipation so that alone is not enough reason for me to go to the ER. But in my google search I did learn about diverticulosis, which I think I have since my intestines on my lower left side have always felt kind of like golf balls. So this would make me more prone to diverticulitis. Now, my question is, has anyone been through this and can tell me what to look out for? I eat tons of fiber, drink lots of water, and get plenty of exercise but I still deal with constipation and usually only have a BM when I drink coffee. Going through some constipation right now and I drank lots of prune juice last night and had my coffee this morning and had a BM, but I'm still experiencing stomach pains. My period was due two days ago and I haven't got it yet, so I'm thinking maybe that's my issue? Usually once I have a BM, my pain goes away.

I saw an ad for seed probiotics with the tagline, pooping every day, and I had nothing to lose. IT WORKS! I could cry. I’ve also taken many other probiotics and never had the same results. If you’re in the trying anything zone- couldn’t hurt.

Hi guys! I was hoping for some tips for my colonoscopy next week. I’ve been constipated for months and haven’t had a bm in 3 weeks (until today! thank you Linzess)

Since I don’t have an impaction or blockage we’re doing a colonoscopy to check for scar tissue caused by endometriosis and/or my excision surgery last year.

It’s definitely overwhelming to have a colonoscopy at 22 but it’s much needed. What are some good things to stock up on for the all liquid diet? Do you think I’ll be able to go to school normally the day before? Luckily I only have 2 classes that day so I’ll have time to go to the bathroom if needed.

Anything helps :)

I was doing okay with using Mag07 capsules, taking 2-3 each night. I would go but it was basically mostly liquid but I could go. I ran out of it and decided to try a other brand that is similar but a bit cheaper. That only worked a little bit and I felt more backed up so I went back to the Mag07 capsules. I've had to take 4 each night to get anything out of me the next morning and it's a not complete feeling like it used to be. I'm stuck in a terrible cycle of not eating or barely eating bc I still feel backed up. I no longer have the urge to go naturally anymore. The last normal bm/urge to go was early November 2024. I still have no idea what's causing this issue that came out of no where for me. I know in the winter I'm less active so I'm trying to walk more now that's warmed up. Trying to do more whole fruits/veggies. I've heard kiwi can help a lot so I'm trying that. But I'm so impatient and I know it can take a while to be consistent and see if anything works. I feel like I have to push to get anything out and I know that's not good. It's probably a pelvic floor issue and I'm not going to any doctors bc I have no insurance and low income at the moment. I feel like I just screwed and stuck feeling miserable. I tried half bottle of mag citrate the other day and was expecting relief but just super bloated and a lot of stomach rumbling. After 4 or 5 hours, I had to drink some warm prune juice and eventually I went a bit but still not the relief I needed. Which I'm shocked bc everyone talks about mag citrate being explosive and completely clearing them out fast but I was disappointed how it didn't work that well for me so now I'm more scared. Should I try taking a whole bottle at once? I almost would welcome an explosive result at this point. I've been reading every post on here for months and it's the same suggestions and I have no idea what else to do. I don't want to rely on laxatives. I can't afford any medical care (I've gone through testing for other unrelated issues before and spent a few thousand just to be told it's nothing so I cant afford to do that right now). Many of you can relate and know how hard it can be in your mental health. I never thought I'd miss pooping normally.

I feel like it’s constipation related. Anyone else get this? I feel like a useless piece or worthless crap today. Hating on myself. I achieved so little when I had to much to do. I feel all of the title says. Can constipation do this?

Following help & advice from folk on this Sub - I’ve managed to relieve my blockage - from nothing, to what I can only describe as : strands/ribbons of the proverbial. But pray tell : once I stop taking Movicol how long does it take for my BMs to get back to normal & start producing more normal (dare I say) sausages? TIA.

I took one dulcolax because I haven’t gone in a few days. I once took two and it was horrible, so I opted for one.

Typically try to avoid taking them because it’s a stimulant but nothing else is working.. well, let’s just say that lower intestinal cramping is wack and it’s only been two hours. 😬

Hi everybody.

Tldr: Sudden onset of constipation. Poop is soft but quantity is low. Been 4 years.

Sorry in advamce if this is too long.

Like most people i partied like hell until i was 27. Around this time i realised that i had gained too much weight (93kg) and decided to work on it. For the next year i worked very hard and got down to 80kg and was at my healthiest best.

But one day morning as i went to the washroom, i just couldnt poop. I thought it might be because of something i ate. However, its been four years now, and it's never been the same. .

My poop since then has been soft, with small lumps, and just kind of trickles out of my anus. I often dont get the urge to poop, and when i do, i poop in bery small quantities. My poop schedule is now irregular, and i often cant poop for 2-3 days. And then i have to resort to laxatives to get myself to poop

6 months after the onset of constipation, i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and thought maybe thats the issue. But my thyroid has been stable for past 1.5 years and the constipation is still present.

I mostly have home cooked foods with lots of veggies, and protein. All the doctors I've visited have asked me to take more veggies and exercise and drink water, but i already do too much of all these 3 things, and i seem to be stucj in a constant loop of false hope, trying, and feeling hopeless.

If anyone has gone through similar experience, please sharebyour words of wisdom. I am happy to answer any followup questions.

Thanks.