My New Bidet

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Anyone who has Crohn's, IBS or any other colorectal problem, knows the importance of personal hygiene.  When someone is going upwards of ten times a day, things can get rather inflamed and irritated.  Keeping the area clean is of the utmost priority.

Enter the bidet.

Most Americans have no idea the glory of the bidet.  Most of the world, especially countries in Europe and in Eastern Asia, have bidets as a standard household item.  The term comes from the French for "pony," no doubt because of the way one has to straddle the device.  However, today the bidet is often integrated into the standard toilet.

My new bidet.

My friend a few years ago installed a bidet toilet seat.  This is a pretty high-tech thing, with an electronic control panel on the wall and a heated seat (much like those available in Japan.  See below).  My new bidet is not so high tech (and not so expensive).  It does what it needs to do, though. 

It is the Luxe Elite 320 and it attaches directly underneath the toilet seat.  I chose this model because of the fact that all of the fittings are metal, has a hot water import and was relatively cheap.  From Luxe Bidet, it was only $71 (with coupon code), and that included free shipping.  This is a company based out of San Francisco.

When you first use a bidet, it takes a little to get used to.  You need to know exactly how to sit so that the stream goes to the right place, so to speak.  Plus, pulling up on the lever needs to be done extremely slowly, or the jet turns from a gentle wash to an enema.   Plus, the water is a little cold at first. I have found that you set the dial to hot and turn the stream to a little trickle for about a minute or so to get the hot water moving into the seat before you use it for its intended purpose.

So far so good.

By far, the culture with the most experience now in making some of the most high-tech toilets is Japan.  They have toilets that, in addition to all of the cleaning and drying functions, also can analyze urine and stools to detect medical problems you might be having.  Check this out:




The Japanese know their toilets and put a great deal of effort into personal hygiene.  For those who rely solely on toilet paper, this may seem a little strange.   Do a quick search on Youtube for Japanese toilet, and what you will find is a lot of videos of Americans and other foreigners laughing or marveling at the Japanese toilets. Like this one:




This bidet is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time, I must say.  And it is a must for anyone suffering from Crohn's or IBS.