Salt Water Enema

[JoshS]

Is this a legit technique for staying hydrated? Or just a rumour?

[charleslockerbie]

I have read it in a novel based on a survival story but no idea if its true

[Vulpes]

Good god! I'm not sure I'd want to suffer it even if it did. I know someone who had a colonoscopy and had one...not the most comfortable thing in the world to hold in from what I hear...

[bushwacker bob]

It probably stems from 2 sailors stuck in a lifeboat, wondering what to do with a length of hose.

[Expat]

Well, I thought it was going to be one of those "Where can I get"...... threads...

[lavrentyuk]

Please publish the review here when you've tried it but remember, no photographs please. An audio recording though......... could be hilarious.

[JoshS]

If you haven't already seen this its worth a giggle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtIG4TuVnvg

Just found this claims salt water enema is just as dangerous as drinking it, but with fresh water will more quickly hydrate you.
http://www.caske2000.org/survival/survivesea.htm#Water

[The Big Lebowski]

Or, two two sailors, one rowing boat and some disturbing humour.

[monkey spanner]

Sound's like a pain in the a$$ to me.

[ged]

ISTR it's covered in Lofty's book.

[para106]

Got one of those once whilst water skiing - accidental of course!!!!!!

[boatman]

See the device used by the Robertson family when their yacht was sunk. 38 days adrift and fresh if possibly polluted water used via a makeshift enema made out of the rungs of a ladder. Exhibit in the Maritime Museum, Falmouth, Cornwall.

[mattmcdaid]

It is a legit method to rehydrate yourself. I remember reading about it a few years back. Basically, if you drink sea water, the levels of salt will attack and erode your kidneys. By giving yourself an enema, the salt water bypasses your kidneys and rehydrates you internally. Good luck to anyone needing to do it though! ~)c:

[Big Si]

I can't imagine trying it but I suppose if needs must!

Si

[Graveworm]

It is a legit method to rehydrate yourself. I remember reading about it a few years back. Basically, if you drink sea water, the levels of salt will attack and erode your kidneys. By giving yourself an enema, the salt water bypasses your kidneys and rehydrates you internally. Good luck to anyone needing to do it though! ~)c:

??? Sea water doesn't attack your kidneys it's just that your kidneys "wash" excess salt out of the blood using more fresh water than is present (And certainly that can be absorbed) in sea water so it is counter productive, too much salt and the kidneys can't cope which means you die, if not from dehydration, most likely from a seizure as it stops nerves working.

An enema would still put the salt into the blood stream so it would not "bypass" the kidneys and would be just as dangerous. Going back to the OP's question, a "Salt Water" enema is valid in some contexts but not at sea water levels; if you are severly dehydrated then oral fluids take a long time to be absorbed, IV/IO is the best option at .9% saline (which is the same as blood). But if that is not possible then water or even better the same saline concentration in an Enema will work much faster than drinking.

[Bartnmax]

The major danger with drinking salt water is that it will actually dehydrate you faster than not drinking it.
The high salt content demands a lot of moisture to metabolse it through the digestive tract, thus actually exascerbating dehydration.
The 'SW enema' allows water to be absorbed through the colon whilst the salt can then be passed back out as it does not have to go through the digestive process.
So, the SW enema can work successfully in re-hrydrating a person, bit it can also cause other complications depending on the individual's physical condition.

Should be looked upon as an absolute 'last resort'.

Bill.

[ged]

I think the idea is not so much for using salt water, but being able to use any water which is so foul that drinking it would be next to impossible, as boatman describes. Not a first resort to be sure, but something to keep at the. er. bottom of the mental toolkit.

[Graveworm]

The major danger with drinking salt water is that it will actually dehydrate you faster than not drinking it.
The high salt content demands a lot of moisture to metabolse it through the digestive tract, thus actually exascerbating dehydration.
The 'SW enema' allows water to be absorbed through the colon whilst the salt can then be passed back out as it does not have to go through the digestive process.

I am sorry but you don't metabolise (In fact strictly speaking you use salt to metabolise it is not metabolised) salt in solution in the digestive tract it happens in the blood via the kidneys, which does indeed have the effect of using the bodies water.

The salt concentration in the blood (0.9%) and the enema (approx 3.5%) would try to equalise so water would move from the blood into the Colon or salt would move from the colon into blood depending on the way you look at it. Either way you make matters worse. Your colon has no mechanism for removing the salt from suspension and to pass it out leaving the water.

[knifefan]

If I remember rightly, I think I saw "Bear" doing "it" to himself whilst on a raft !!!!!! I'm no expert but I would assume that any intake of saltwater would be harmful !!! No matter which end you drink it from

[Spaniel man]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAaGGM0B8oM

[demographic]

For all the good it did me I might as have put it up my ****...

[AussieVic]

If I remember rightly, I think I saw "Bear" doing "it" to himself whilst on a raft !!!!!! I'm no expert but I would assume that any intake of saltwater would be harmful !!! No matter which end you drink it from [IMG]file:///C:\Users\c783714\AppData\Local \Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_ima ge001.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:\Users\c783714\AppData\Local \Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_ima ge001.gif[/IMG]

I think he used "dirty" fresh water from a rookery, not salt water - at least in the raft episode I'm thinking of

[pango]

JoshS,
With regard to your original question, "Is [a salt water enema] a legit technique for staying hydrated, or just a rumour?"

Although I'm be extremely wary of anything read on the internet, why allow these well informed rationalists to influence and spoil your enjoyment of the countryside? I'm sure there are a number of Bushcrafters who actively research such techniques... in fact I've even heard rumours of groups who dress up in cammo-gear and do just that.

The therapeutic value of colonic irrigation is well publicised and has become very popular over the past 20 or so years, and if it's good enough for certain television celebrities and the Royal Family, then it is most certainly good enough for Bushcrafters.

Having said that though, I'd be extremely wary of practicing the technique on my local beach or woodland due to the real possibility of being discovered holding a flotsam 2 ltr soft drinks bottle full of sea water, attached to a length of garden hose plugged into my rubber-ring-gear, as I think that one might just make the front page of the local newspaper!

Cheers,

Pango.

[Andy BB]

OK. The answer seems to be "yes", "no" and "maybe".

Do we have a definitive answer from a reputable body?!

[Manacles]

In the early 70's a guy named Dougal Robertson and his family were forced to take to a life raft when their yacht sank suddenly one night. They were adrift for 38 days and when they ran critically low on water he used salt water enemas to keep the family alive. He did write about it in a long out of print book called "survive the savage sea" where he described the method in some detail.

[JoshS]

Manacles I just did a google search for "Dougal Robertson enema" and this http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=f...page&q&f=false
came up page 94 says it was a mixture of rainwater, turtle blood and seawater in the bottom of their dinghy, not pure seawater. I read that book years ago but had forgotton and don't have it now, thank you for reminding me it's a very interesting book.

Pango I was just curious and would like to know the theory and rely on other peoples ahem "research" personally I can think of 1001 things I would rather do at the beach than shoving some flotsam where the sun don't shine but different strokes for different folks!