You can teach anyone to use a colonic machine, but you can’t teach the bedside manner.
- 18 hours ago
- 19 min read
Melissa Ozukum
Colon Hydrotherapist | Owner, Your Inner Health
I personally had a lot of gut issues. I was going to a naturopathic doctor and I had bloating all the time. I was going to the bathroom, but I would wake up in the morning and feel bloated no matter what I did. Even before I would eat, I felt like I had all this gas that needed to come out and I couldn’t fart it out, so it was just uncomfortable all the time.
Before the naturopath, to go back a little farther, I would get this pain on my right side that would come and go and I thought it was my ovaries because I always had issues with my period. I eventually went to a normal doctor and they did an ultrasound — again, the pain would come and go, it wasn’t constant — and I got a call back from the nurse, “Your ultrasound images were fine, there was just a little bit of fecal matter in there.” Ok, I guess that’s normal that there’s fecal matter in my colon, and that’s where the pain is coming from. Fast forward, I’m going to this naturopath and he basically told me I couldn’t eat dairy, I couldn’t eat gluten, I couldn’t eat oats, I couldn’t eat corn… all these things that he said I couldn’t eat. And he had me on so many different supplements, so obviously I was spending a lot of money to try to fix this gut issue. I ended up seeing him for I think over a year. Eventually he was like, “You should get a colonic,” and I was like, “What the heck is a colonic?”
I had tried coffee enemas before, I had tried to do a parasite cleanse before; I had no clue what I was doing. Not a ton would come out in the enemas and they were so uncomfortable. But I was like, “I’ll just give it a try and see what happens.” I came in for my first session, and I’ll never forget I saw the lady holding up the tube and I was like, “That thing is not going to fit in there!” It was the first thing I thought of because an enema tube is literally like a pencil and the colonic tubes have to be big enough that the poop can actually fit through the tube. I was like, “Ok, other people have done this, so I’m just going to do it, just take a deep breath and get through it.” I did the colonic and I could not believe how much came out of my body. I was like, “Were has all this stuff been sitting?” And she’s like, “Yeah, I feel like you need to come back tomorrow.” I was like, “Come back tomorrow?? Is there going to be more that comes out?” I had seen so many naturopaths that I was like, “They’re just trying to sell me on this, they’re just trying to tell me that there’s going to be more.” But because I was so uncomfortable, I came back the next day and even more came out. No wonder why I had been feeling so uncomfortable.
At the time, I worked at a coffee shop. They really encourage you to do two or three sessions close together to get the stuff off the sides of your colon — I didn’t realize you can have all this build-up in there even if you poop every day. I couldn’t afford a third colonic at the time, so I think I booked it out for like 2 or 3 weeks. The lady who was supposed to give me that third colonic didn’t show up to the appointment, so the previous business owner came in and gave me a colonic. This is where I start getting into it, because she’s pretty much interviewing me while I’m on the table. I really connected with her, and she’s like, “What do you do?” I was working at the coffee shop and I was going to study to be an occupational therapy assistant. She was like, “Have you ever thought about doing something like this?” Obviously, her other colon hydrotherapist was very flakey, so she’s on the look-out! And a colon therapist really has to be someone who has gut issues, honestly, because you want to be able to relate to your clients, you want to be able to help them understand. If you have somebody who’s never done it before, they just want to be in this field, they’re going to have a really hard time relating to the clients and helping the clients feel better. She was like, “I’m a certified trainer and I can bring you through the whole process and show you everything and educate you,” and I was like, “Well, let me think about it,” because it was closer to COVID time and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do. I had already applied for two courses for the occupational therapy assistant. I applied for the biology/anatomy and the psychology class. I was like, “Well, if I decide to, I could just apply it to this, because biology and anatomy can totally apply to what I’m doing here… so I’m just going to give it a chance.” And I swear, this is so many things in my life — you just have to take a step of faith because you never know what’s going to come.
I started working for her and she trained me and brought me through the whole process and got me all my hours so I could work on clients. I ended up loving it. People were like, “Eew, you have to look at poop all day, you have to look at buttholes all day…” and that’s literally not even what I think about. There are so many people that struggle with gut issues and they feel so much better afterwards. People come out of the bathroom like, “I feel so much better, I feel so much relief. This is this first time my stomach feels flat.” Or, “I’ve never felt like I wasn’t bloated.” So many things that people struggle with, and they come out feeling so much better.
Anyway, after really liking it and enjoying working with her — and apparently even before I started working for her — she wanted to sell her business and she really had her eye on me. She told me later on, “I knew from the moment I met you. I didn’t want to freak you out, but I knew you were supposed to buy the business.” It was not my plan. I was not like, “Yes, I want to be a colon therapist, this is what I’m going to do with my life and then I’m going to have my own business.” She kind of put hints here and there, like, “Would you ever consider buying a business like this?” I’m not from here; I was born and raised in Hawaii and I moved out here eight years ago and California is very different, it’s very fast-paced. A lot of buildings, and I think that’s the biggest thing, it’s so congested and there are so many buildings and Hawaii is more open, there’s more open fields and nature. That being said, I was like, “I don’t even know if I want to stay here. I don’t even know if I want to be in California. If I buy a business, I have to really commit to being here.”
I remember she was starting to show people her business, to try to sell her business. These people came in and that particular day I was in the room that we’re in right now and you can hear everything in the lobby. I was with one of our regular clients and I remember feeling these people’s energy that she was thinking of selling the business to — it was very corporate and I feel like they’re going to come in and change everything, who knows if I’ll even have my job if she sells to these people? The regular client, not knowing that I’ve already talked to the business owner about this, was like, “You should just buy the business.” It was the universe giving me that hint again. I don’t remember all the things that happened after that but I talked to my husband and he was like, “Are you sure? We weren’t going to stay here, we don’t know what we’re going to do.” I decided to just take a step of faith and told her I was going to buy the business. I have literally no savings, no “I have this bundle of money that I’m going to give to you,” I tried to go to my parents and they wouldn’t loan me money, I tried to get a small business loan — I have nothing to prove that I can pay off a small business loan… so it was, to me, quite a miracle that she let me make payments to pay off the business. I made payments to her and within four years I was able to pay off the business. In May of this year, it’s five years since I bought the business and it’s been a crazy journey.
It’s a 40-minute session and the colon therapist will be with you for the whole duration of the colonic from the time you get here to the time you leave. They’re going to guide you through, they’re going to control the machine, everything. They’re going to bring you into the room, you’ll change into a gown, and once you come out they’ll help to insert a speculum through the rectum area. And then it’s a series of fills and releases of water through the large intestine.
What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to soften the old hard waste that can get stuck on the sides of the colon. Even if you poop every day, you can have anywhere from five to 20 pounds of old waste in your gut at any given time. I would say if you’re going every day then you’re probably on the lower end; I doubt if you poop every day that you have 20 pounds. I just say that because there’ll be a lot of people that are like, “That’s not true,” and I do get people that are constipated for over six to seven days and they have a lot of poop in there. It’s going to vary depending on that person and what their diet is like, what their health is like, all of that.
Our colon’s job is to absorb all the water and electrolytes from our food. When that food particulate comes from our small intestine into the large intestine, it travels from pocket to pocket absorbing the water and electrolytes and eventually forming a hard stool. Unfortunately, over time, most of us have been exposed to alcohol, processed food, pharmaceutical drugs, stress, and all of those things can dry us out even more and slow our motility, which is the pace that the colon is moving things through. Things can actually get caught in those side pockets as it’s trying to travel through. If something gets caught in there, the colon is going to keep doing its natural function which is absorb the water and electrolytes. Whatever gets stuck almost turns into cement-like rocks on the sides of your colon. That’s how you can still poop through the center while having rocks on the sides. Your colon can actually start to expand while you’re still pooping through that center area. When that happens and you have things that are caught in there, your body’s still going to try to detoxify itself. So some people might start to feel fatigue, brain fog, some people may start feeling bloaty. I used to have really bad acne and that’s how it came out for me. For years, I could not figure out how to control my acne until I got into colonics. That’s actually part of my maintenance routine: once I start breaking out, I’m like, “Time for a colonic! I waited too long!” It’s one of those things that doctors will say, “You don’t need that, your body should naturally detoxify.” And I 100% agree, this is not just to detoxify, this is me trying to remove that waste that should not be there so your body can go back to its natural detoxification process. I always tell people that this is not to replace that, this is to support your body. This is preventative care so we don’t have those issues as we get older.
We use a closed-system colonic, so everything is closed off. I have a lot of people who are surprised that when they walk into my clinic, there’s absolutely no smell. They walk in and they’re like, “It actually smells good in here.” It doesn’t smell like poop in the clinic, which surprises a lot of people. I do put gloves on, obviously, when I’m touching everything, but I’m not actually touching the waste or touching the poop. I help to insert the speculum though the rectum area and then we have a tube that the waste is going through and all of the waste goes directly into the sewer line. Obviously, there are some clients who come to us that are very, very impacted… they just have so much waste in there. We do have a pad on the table because they potentially could leak, because there’s so much in there that their body can’t handle the water. But typically, because I’ve done this for so long, if I feel like their body can’t take any more water, I’m normally able to get them up soon enough to get them into the toilet without too much of a mess. Has it happened every now and then? Yeah. But that’s why I have gloves on, that’s why I wear scrubs to work, that’s why we have the pad on the table. Most of my messes happened early on because I had less experience and the more experience that I have, the more that I’ve learned to read people’s bodies. But I would say it’s very uncommon unless I have a case of someone with very bad constipation, like it’s been five to six days. My typical client, either they poop every day or they poop every two to three days. With a typical client who is pooping at least once a day or every two to three days, normally I don’t end up with any kind of mess.
The other thing people ask me is, “Doesn’t it gross you out to be looking at poop in the tube all day?” I always tell them no; what I explain to people is that what I’m seeing in the tube is literally toxins that are making you not feel well. I don’t view it as the poop you see in the toilet. I tell people that I am a poop cheerleader: as soon as that starts coming out, I’m like, “Look! Yay! It’s coming out!” There are some people who are so impacted — and this happens quite often — that their first colonic, nothing comes out. It’s completely clear. People see on Instagram or TikTok all this poop coming out and think, “That’s what my colonic’s going to be like.” When you see those colonics where there’s a lot of stuff coming out, typically, that’s somebody’s second or third colonic. We’re trying to take water to rehydrate that old poop. So when I have someone come in for their first colonic and it’s all clear water, that indicates to me that that stuff is so dry in there that it’s really going to take time to hydrate that waste and get it to come out. That colonic is why I’m so adamant on teaching and educating people on what’s going on with their body, because somebody could have a colonic like that and think there’s nothing in there or it didn’t work. I tell people that it’s going to take time, just like it took time to build up that waste, it’s going to take time to get that waste out.
In my opinion — and again, I am not a doctor or nurse — typically I recommend doing two or three because the majority of people can have build up in there. So people feel their best when they do a series close together. I do have people who just want to try it, so they’ll do one and then they’re like, “I really don’t want to do that again.” But you have to do what feels best for your body.
The other thing that people ask me is, “Will my colon be perforated?” I only use high quality speculums and I use a rounded tip. They may not know what that means, but that’s super important because if you have cheap equipment and pokey equipment, the perforation would happen from the insertion of the speculum. You want to make sure that you’re at a professional who knows what they’re doing — and I only have professionals who know what they’re doing, so that will not happen. Or they ask, “Am I going to explode?” because they’re worried there’s so much water. But what I tell people is that I do not have a suction cup in your bottom, so the worst thing that’s going to happen is if your body can’t take any more water, it’s going to start leaking around the tube, there’s not a suction down there.
Gut health is not talked about a lot. Nobody wants to talk about it. But we eat every single day and if we’re eating, we have to get that waste out. I tell people to think about it like this: we brush and floss every single day and then we go get teeth cleanings and there’s always plaque on our teeth even if we brush and floss. I explain that to people because to be quite frank there is not enough scientific research for it to be backed by doctors so I totally understand why there are a lot of doctors that are against it, because there isn’t enough scientific research. My hope one day is that there will be more scientific research to show this actually really does help support your system.
A big question I get asked by people is, “Are you going to deplete me of my electrolytes and my gut microbiome?” I always tell people, “No, I’m only running a 40-minute session, and that is the reason why — because I do not want to deplete you.” I always encourage people to have an electrolyte or a probiotic afterwards. That’s one of the bigger arguments from doctors about why you shouldn’t do a colonic. But again, a lot of people who are against it have never tried it, either, so they don’t know how their bodies are going to feel. I don’t have anything against what doctors have to say because they’re only saying what they’ve learned in school and I’m just going based off of my experiences of, “How does this make me feel?” If there are any contraindications, I want you to talk to your doctor first. Contraindications could be if you have a hernia or diverticulitis or certain conditions in your colon. I’m the type of clinic that always errs on the side of caution and if there are any you list on the contraindication chart, I’m going to have you talk to your doctor first.
I feel like it’s something that people aren’t talking about much, but colonics can support a lot of people. Even with the rise of all these GLPs and weight loss medications, one of the biggest struggles that people are having right now is constipation and they can’t find a solution for it. Because basically what these GLPs do is it slows your motility and so your whole system is slowing down which means things are taking a longer time to travel through which means it’s more likely that things can get stuck and dry in there. I truly believe that if GLPs are something that can help support a lot of people, this could come alongside so they can continue with whatever their doctor is prescribing them but also have relief so it’s not, “I can have one thing but not the other.” That’s something I have a big heart for is helping people to support them and feel better whether they’re on a GLP or they’ve just always struggled with gut issues.
I only have women working here and the reason why is not anything against men, but I feel like this is a very motherly job. Women don’t really want a man looking at their butt and putting a tube in there, but I also feel like men don’t want another guy to be putting a tube in their butt. Could a guy do it? Sure, if they had that motherly nature, they could, I just haven’t necessarily come across that particular man. If I did, maybe I’d hire them. I’m very particular about who I hire here. You can teach anyone to use a colonic machine, but you can’t teach the bedside manner and I think that’s a huge thing. You have your own private room, you have your own private bathroom, everything’s very clean and sanitary, there’s just one colon therapist so there’s not people coming in and out of the room, the door stay closed the whole time. It’s a very private experience. When people come in, I would say nine out of 10 say, “That was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
This clinic is open seven days a week and I have four girls besides myself. I personally am in the office on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and typically I try to see clients back-to-back-to-back. I try to keep it at five to seven max because it does get exhausting because you’re talking with people all day. A lot of people think the majority of our job is the colonic, but honestly the majority of our job is talking to people. That’s a huge chunk of what we do because it’s a 40-minute session so my goal is to make that person comfortable while I’m making conversation with them. Sometimes I do feel like I’m their therapist, just like how a hairdresser would feel. I do have some clients that might not want to talk at all. But the majority of clients, they’re not sure how they’re going to feel but they love it after because we’re engaging in conversation the whole time and we’re making it about them and how they’re feeling.
Typically, on a Wednesday I work from 2:00 to 7:00 and we work on the hour. So I’d see someone at 2:00, they’d have that 40-minute session, so by 2:40 I would get them off of the table. They might take like five to 10 minutes in the bathroom, I get them out, check them out from their colonic. Then I go in, I clean the bathroom and I set up the room for the next person. It’s kind of in and out, in and out. I keep it pretty tight and that’s why I tell my clients to come five to 10 minutes early because the session starts on the hour. If my client is late, that’s part of their colonic time. It starts on the hour and I’m very, very clear about this because in the past I’ve had people be like, “That’s not fair,” so I have it in the text I send, I have it when people book online, I literally have it so many places. And when I book on the phone I tell them, “Make sure you come five to 10 minutes early because the session does start on the hour, so if you’re late it will cut into the session time.” I try to make sure that people get seen on time and I think that’s one thing that our clients really appreciate about us. They know that when they come in to see us, we’re going to get them in on time and then they can plan for their next appointment. If I accommodated for every single person who was late, then I’m not accommodating for those people who are on time.
The most my girls work is six or seven hours, and then they’ll have an hour break in there. I’ve had days where on a Saturday I’ve had 10 people… it’s a lot. But it does get busy on the weekends. I’m very blessed that I live walking distance from the clinic so if there’s an emergency or one of my girls clogged up the toilet and can’t figure out how to unclog it, I’m really close by. But my girls are very independent and self-sufficient. I’m not a micromanager; once they know how to do their job, they’re kind of on their own. We don’t have a receptionist, so my girls will come in, they’ll set up the room, make sure the water is heated up, they’ll make sure the bathroom is clean. Once they have the initial setup, they’re good for the day. They bring the clients in and get them out, clean up, do the next one, clean up, do the next one. We have a system down where they do it themselves — they check out their own clients so typically whoever the colon therapist is, is going to be the initial contact for that client who comes in.
I’ve tried to work really hard at making that a smooth process. I love the previous business owner, she’s amazing, but it was just kind of old school, it was paper books so it was easy to double book people and if somebody didn’t show up, nobody got paid for those no-shows. Now, I’ve come up with a system where — and people are like “Wow, that’s a huge no-show fee!” — I have a $90 no-show/rescheduling fee. But it helps so much because people will call and be like, “Is there any way I can rebook,” and I’ll be like, “I can rebook you but there is a $90 no-show/rescheduling fee,” and typically those people are like, “Oh, no, I’ll come today.” And that’s the thing, they want to do what’s convenient for them but I have employees and I have to make sure that they get paid. So if I don’t have some sort of policy in place then I’m losing all this money because I still have to pay my colon therapists, regardless of whether you show up or not. Having that in place has really helped a lot because before, when I used to work for the previous business owner, if nobody showed up, I didn’t get paid.
I think my biggest vison right now — and this is something that I’ve been working toward for about three years — is getting our books completely full. I want our employees to never have to worry. People are like, “Are you going to open another clinic?” I want to focus on making this clinic the best it can possibly be. My vision is to become the best colon hydrotherapy place in Orange County and a place where people feel safe, a place where people are like, “I had the best experience there.” That’s my vision, of this being our specialty. There are some places that do lymphatic, and they do this, and they do that, and have all these add-ons. People have asked me, “Why don’t you do lymphatic massage here? Why don’t you do red light?” I want to be the best at one thing, and that one thing I want to be the best at is colon hydrotherapy. I want people to feel like they had the best experience in that one service that we offer. I want to have our books filled up so much that maybe every now and then we’d have a cancellation and I could fit somebody in on the same day, and where my employees feel super secure. I’m not there yet, but every day I’m working towards that and working towards what does that look like and how do I expose more people to this.
I think the biggest thing is educating people because people don’t know what they don’t know. A big thing that I’ve been trying to do is post on my Instagram more; I’m not the best at social media, but I’m trying. I’ve been trying to get ambassadors, which are people who are really passionate about colonics, to come in and I’ll do a complimentary session for them if they’re willing to share on their stories or something like that. That’s my vision, where it’s more natural and organic and I’m not trying to sell it or advertise it but it’s coming more organically from people who are passionate about colon therapy and exposing it to other people. So I don’t have a vision of having ten clinics!
If you’re in colon therapy for the money, you’re in the wrong business. But if you’re in it to want to help people and help people feel their best, then you’re in the right place. My brain never goes to the money and, “How much money can we make?” It’s how can we help the most amount of people that we can at maximum capacity and how can I provide a secure lifestyle for my colon therapists. Because my colon therapists are like my family to me, they’re people that I care about. I have a very low turnover rate and I would say that’s because the girls here feel like they’re a part of something and they don’t feel micromanaged, they don’t feel like somebody’s over their shoulder. They feel like it’s their thing, but they work for somebody. I’m providing a space for them to do their thing; of course, I have to hire them as employees because of California laws. But it feels like it’s their space. That’s my vision: they know walking into the week that they don’t have to worry about hours filling up, it’s just going to be full.
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