Colonic irrigation and parasites
Do colonics remove parasites?
No — a colonic empties the large bowel, and a parasitic infection is found on a stool test and treated with medication. Both are worth understanding before you spend money on either.
- A full hour booked
- Closed system, therapist present
- Private ensuite room
- No referral needed
Where the question comes from
Two places, usually. Something alarming read online about what is supposedly living in the average bowel, or an account from someone who was told during a session that a parasite had been spotted going past the viewing tube — followed by a recommendation for more sessions, infusions or supplements to deal with it.
It is a reasonable thing to want answered. Being told something is living inside you is frightening, and frightened is a poor state in which to weigh up a purchase.
What a viewing tube can and cannot show
The tube shows waste, water and normal digestive matter moving past in real time. That is the whole of what it is for, and it is genuinely interesting to watch. What it cannot do is identify an organism: most intestinal parasites are microscopic, and the ones that are not are identified by their eggs, cysts or larvae under a microscope rather than by their outline through a plastic tube.
This is why nothing seen during a session is offered here as a diagnosis. It is a limit of the equipment rather than a policy, and it applies to every viewing tube in every clinic.
The rope-like strands people describe are the most convincing version of this. They are usually mucus, fibrous plant material or undigested food, and the so-called rope worm has been analysed and found to be shed human intestinal material rather than an organism. If you have seen one and wondered, that is what you saw.
What actually identifies a parasite
A stool sample, analysed in a laboratory. Depending on what is suspected it may be several samples across a few days, because parasites are shed intermittently and a single sample can miss one that is there. A positive result names the organism, and that is what decides the medication — the treatment for a protozoan is not the treatment for a worm.
Tell us if this is what is on your mind and the naturopaths here can arrange that pathology through a private laboratory, paid directly to the lab without a Medicare rebate and separately from anything you pay here. Two of them also run the colonics, so it can be the same person you already see.
Where a result calls for a prescription, we'll provide a detailed letter outlining our findings and recommendations, including the specialist we believe is best suited to your needs, helping ensure a smooth transition to the next stage of your care.
So what is a colonic good for
The thing it has always been good for. Warm filtered water empties the large bowel more completely and more gently than a laxative, and most people leave feeling lighter and less bloated. That is a real effect, it is the reason the room is booked out, and it needs no parasite to justify it.
If digestion is the underlying worry — bloating that keeps coming back, a gut that has never settled since a course of antibiotics, a pattern nobody has looked into — that is everyday naturopathic work and it happens in the same building. A session and a plan are not the same purchase, and you should not be sold the first while wanting the second.
If a clinic has told you this
It can be reported, and colonic irrigation having no registration scheme does not put a clinic beyond reach. The Health Complaints Commissioner(opens in a new tab) takes complaints about health service providers in Victoria, including those in professions with no registration behind them, under its Code of Conduct for General Health Service Providers.
A misleading claim about what a treatment does can also be reported to Consumer Affairs Victoria(opens in a new tab) or the ACCC(opens in a new tab) under the Australian Consumer Law. You are also entitled to decline anything recommended to you on the spot and to ask for a stool test instead.
A colonic clears what is in the bowel now. It is not a test for a parasite and not a treatment for one — that is a stool sample analysed in a laboratory, and medication prescribed on the result. Book a session for how you feel day to day, and treat a suspected infection as the separate question it is.
Or call (03) 9380 8099 and reception will find you the earliest time.
What the session is like
A full hour is booked for you and the treatment itself runs thirty to forty minutes, so nothing about the appointment is rushed. It starts with a consultation — your health history, anything you take, and whether a colonic is the right step for you today — and then you are shown to a private room with its own ensuite.
Warm filtered water flows gradually in and out through a small single-use tube while your therapist adjusts temperature and pressure and massages your abdomen. This is a closed system, which means someone qualified stays with you the whole time rather than leaving you to administer it yourself, and waste passes through sealed tubing directly into the sewer — so there is no odour and nothing to clean up. Your own bathroom is through the door of your own room afterwards, in your own time.
Once your booking is confirmed we email you How to Best Prepare for a Colonic — when to stop eating, how much water to drink beforehand, and what to wear. There is a fuller account of the room and the equipment, with photographs and three short clips filmed during a session, on the colonic irrigation page.
What it costs
A session is $150, whether it is your first or your tenth. Infusions are not offered on a first visit, and where your therapist judges one appropriate later it adds $30. There are no health fund item codes for colonic irrigation, so that figure is what you pay rather than a gap. No referral is needed, and the satisfaction guarantee covers the service on your first visit.
Before you book
Most healthy adults, and there is a short list worth raising with the front desk first. We screen for all of it at the consultation, and will refer you rather than book you in where a colonic is not the right step:
- Pregnancy
- Recent bowel, abdominal or rectal surgery
- Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis during a flare
- An active episode of diverticulitis
- Severe haemorrhoids, fissures or rectal bleeding
- Bowel cancer or any undiagnosed change in bowel habit
- Severe uncontrolled blood pressure, heart or kidney disease
- Recent heart attack or stroke
If you are not sure, call (03) 9380 8099 and ask — it is a short conversation, and the front desk answers it every day.
Your colonic therapists
There is no government registration scheme for colonic irrigation in Australia, so training varies a great deal between clinics. Two of the therapists here are also qualified naturopaths, and two hold diplomas in remedial massage. Each card below carries the association and provider number you can check them against.
Sara Canney
Colonic Therapist & Naturopath
Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS)(opens in a new tab) · Provider 089322CL
Carmen Farrugia
Fertility & Pregnancy Naturopath, Colonic Therapist
AHPRA-registered midwife NMW0001034617
Vanessa Bruce
Remedial Massage Therapist & Colonic Therapist
Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA)(opens in a new tab) · Provider 1467214H
Kass Sidley
Colonic Hydrotherapist
Massage Association of Australia (MAA)(opens in a new tab) · Provider A199221L · Member 200590
Getting here
Finding us in Brunswick
The clinic is at 1/68 Melville Road, Brunswick West — on the Brunswick border, a few minutes from Sydney Road and the Brunswick shopping strip. If you are searching for a colonic therapist in Brunswick, this is the practice most locals mean.
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By tram, train or car
- Route 58 tram along Melville Road — stop 35, at Victoria Street
- Upfield line: Brunswick and Anstey stations are a short ride away
- Street parking out front — the opposite side of Melville Road is unrestricted at any hour, the clinic side from 9am on weekdays
Opening hours
- Monday – Friday
- 8:45am – 7:00pm
- Saturday
- 8:45am – 4:00pm
Closed Sunday and public holidays
Patients travel to us for colonic irrigation from across Melbourne's inner north — most often from Brunswick, Brunswick West, Brunswick East, Parkville, Carlton, Coburg, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South, Thornbury, Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Avondale Heights and Fitzroy.
What people say about the clinic
4.9395+ Google Reviews
Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 396 Google reviews.Real, unedited reviews from our Google listing. Nothing here is written by us.
“Vanessa you're the bomb! From one colonic hydrotherapist to another, thank you for an awesome treatment today. Technique is spot on, comfortability and compassion is perfect!”
Vesna NovakovicGoogle reviewLocal Guide “Very professional, clean, friendly. The results I have had from colonic hydrotherapy have been amazing. I feel like I now have a new life.”
Ellie O'BrienGoogle reviewLocal Guide “I've been seeing the team at Brunswick Health for nearly 3 years. They've been instrumental in managing my chronic health problems, especially Sara and Vanessa. I cannot thank these women enough for how they've helped me through hard times. Illness is more than just physical and the team at Brunswick Health have never failed to provide attentive, thorough and holistic treatment. A special mention also goes to Bree at reception — her warmth, kindness, and professionalism help create such a welcoming environment from the moment you walk through the door.”
Honor RushGoogle review
Questions
Parasites and colonics, answered
What a viewing tube can and cannot show, what a stool test involves, and what happens if one comes back positive.
Do colonics remove parasites?
There is no good evidence that a colonic clears a parasitic infection, and it is not used as a treatment for one. What a session does is empty the large bowel of its contents, which people book for bloating, heaviness and sluggishness — real effects, and a much smaller claim than a parasite cleanse. A confirmed parasitic infection is treated with targeted antiparasitic medication, prescribed on the result of a laboratory test.
Can a colonic show whether I have parasites?
No, and the reason is the equipment rather than the practitioner. Most intestinal parasites are microscopic, and they are identified by finding eggs, cysts or larvae in a stool sample under laboratory conditions. Nothing passing through a viewing tube in real time can establish that, so nothing seen during a session is offered here as a diagnosis.
What are the rope-like strands people describe seeing?
Usually mucus, fibrous plant material or undigested food, which can look startlingly like a worm as it passes. The so-called rope worm has been analysed and found to be shed human intestinal material rather than an organism. The resemblance is genuinely convincing, which is why it is worth knowing what it is before you are asked to buy something about it.
What test actually finds an intestinal parasite?
A stool sample analysed in a laboratory, and depending on what is suspected it may be more than one sample across several days, because parasites are shed intermittently. Tell us if this is a concern and the naturopaths here can arrange that pathology through a private laboratory, paid directly to the lab without a Medicare rebate and separately from anything you pay here.
What happens if a test comes back positive?
Treatment is a prescription medication matched to the organism found, which means a prescriber. If specialist care is the next step, we'll provide a detailed letter outlining our findings and recommendations, including the specialist we believe is best suited to your needs, helping ensure a smooth transition to the next stage of your care. The naturopathic work on digestion continues alongside that rather than instead of it.
I have been told I have parasites. Should I book a colonic?
Book the test first. A session will not change what a stool sample shows and will not treat what one finds, so the order that saves you time is testing, then treatment, then a colonic if you want one for how you feel day to day. Tell the front desk what you have been told and they will point you at the right one to start with.
Bookings
Book a colonic in Brunswick
Thirty to forty minutes of warm water and abdominal massage, inside an hour that is not rushed, in a private room with its own ensuite.
No payment needed to book · Confirmation by SMS · No referral needed