Colonic irrigation for constipation, in Brunswick

What people come in with

Constipation arrives at this clinic in about three shapes. There is the short, miserable kind — a week of travel, a run of rich food, a change of routine, and everything has stopped. There is the long-standing kind, where going every third or fourth day has been normal for so long that it stopped registering as a problem. And there is the kind that has become a relationship with laxatives, where the dose creeps up and stopping is what people actually want help with.

All three book the same session, at the same fee. What differs is what happens afterwards, and that is the part worth knowing before you book.

What a colonic does about it

Warm, filtered water is introduced into the large bowel through a small disposable tube and allowed to flow out again, repeatedly, across thirty to forty minutes. It softens and carries away what is sitting there, and because your therapist is massaging your abdomen throughout, it reaches material that a single ordinary movement would not shift. Most people describe feeling lighter and less bloated afterwards, and that relief is immediate rather than something you wait days for.

It is also gentler than the alternative most people have already tried. A stimulant laxative works by irritating the bowel wall into contracting; used most weeks it becomes something the bowel comes to rely on. A colonic uses water and nothing else. There is nothing to swallow, nothing to buy afterwards, and no preparation kit.

Where the lasting change actually comes from

If constipation has been your pattern for years, the useful question is not how many colonics but what is driving it. Fibre and fluid account for a great deal of it. So does sitting still. So do several common medications, iron supplements among them. And so does stress, which changes bowel transit more than most people expect.

That work is what a naturopath does — an hour going through diet, sleep, stress and everything you already take, and a plan that comes out of it. Two of the naturopaths here also run the colonics, so one person can do both and you are not repeating your history to a stranger. Most places offering colonics offer only colonics, and that is the practical difference between clearing the backlog and changing the pattern.

When constipation needs looking at first

Constipation that is new and unexplained, constipation with blood, weight coming off without you trying, or pain that wakes you at night — those need investigating before a colonic, not after one. Tell the front desk when you call. If specialist care is the next step we will provide a detailed letter setting out our findings and recommendations, including who we believe is best suited to you, so the handover is smooth rather than a fresh start.

A colonic empties the bowel. It does not change what slowed the bowel down — that is usually fibre, fluid, movement, stress or a medication, and it is the part that decides whether the relief lasts a week or becomes the new normal. Anyone who tells you a single session cures chronic constipation is selling you the session.

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.