Published: 12th June 2026 | The Healing Rebel Podcast, Episode 247
Should you purge after a lymphatic drainage treatment?
Short answer: no
That doesn’t mean it never happens. But it absolutely shouldn’t be the goal of the treatment, and if it’s happening regularly to you, something’s off.
I’m Jen Wilson, The Healing Rebel, and this episode came out of a conversation with a fellow massage therapist friend. She told me about a client of hers who keeps going to a different practitioner for lymphatic drainage because she always has a big purge afterwards. My response was: no. That’s not what’s meant to happen.
Listen on your favourite platform:
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What this episode is about
This is a short, focused episode pushing back against the “more aggressive equals more effective” mentality that’s crept into lymphatic drainage and so much of the wellness industry generally.
Gentle works. Soothing works. The state your nervous system is in during the treatment matters more than the manual technique itself. And the dramatic purges, the healing crises, the “you have to go through it” narratives are mostly red flags, not signs of a powerful treatment.
What purging actually is
Your body purges through vomiting or diarrhoea when something genuinely harmful needs to leave fast. A bacterial infection. A virus. A toxin. That’s your body doing exactly what it’s designed to do in an emergency.
It’s a function. It’s available when needed. But it’s not a state we want to artificially trigger through bodywork.
When a lymphatic drainage treatment causes purging, one of two things has likely happened. Either there was something genuinely significant in the system that needed to clear fast (rare), or the treatment was too aggressive and your body is reacting by pushing things out faster than it can comfortably handle (more common).
The “healing crisis” red flag
In wellness circles, there’s a long-standing idea called a “healing crisis.” The concept is that when your body is detoxifying or healing, it can go into a kind of acute crisis state, with purging, flares of underlying conditions, intense emotional reactions, all of it. Some practitioners frame this as a necessary part of healing.
I have questions about that. Big ones.
If a treatment has been so aggressive that your body is in crisis afterwards, your nervous system isn’t healing. It’s reacting. It’s defending. It’s in fight or flight. Purging is part of that fight or flight response.
The body heals in the parasympathetic state. Settled, safe, soothed. Not in crisis. So a treatment that pushes you into crisis isn’t accelerating your healing. It’s interrupting it.
How proper lymphatic drainage works
I was trained in the Vodder technique. The actual hand technique is a slow, gentle stretch and release of the skin, just deep enough to engage the lymphatic vessels sitting just beneath the surface. You’re not pummelling tissue. You’re not creating bruising. You’re not forcing anything.
The image I use with clients is feeding a rope, slowly, hand over hand. Or pulling a bucket up from a well, slow and steady. We always clear the terminus points at the collarbone first, because that’s where lymph empties back into the bloodstream. You can’t drain a sink if the plug is in. Same principle.
Once the terminus is clear, we work systematically through the body, moving fluid in the direction it’s designed to flow, never against it. The lymph then carries waste through the bloodstream and out via your tears, exhaling breath, mucus, sweat, and what you do in the toilet.
Your body already does this. Every minute of every day. The treatment supports the process. It doesn’t replace it, and it definitely doesn’t need to force it.
What the before-and-after photos actually show
You’ve seen the photos. Person lying on a treatment couch looking soft and a bit puffy in the “before.” Same person looking sculpted with visible bones in the “after.”
What you’re seeing isn’t fat loss. It isn’t lymphatic miracle work. It’s fluid that’s moved. And as soon as that person eats, drinks, takes a flight, or has a glass of wine, that fluid comes right back.
This is why getting lymphatic drainage before your holiday won’t keep you looking lean on the beach. By the time you’ve gone through the airport, sat on a plane in air conditioning, eaten salty plane food, drunk a glass of wine, and arrived at your destination, your body has retained more fluid than the treatment shifted in the first place.
It’s not that lymphatic drainage isn’t worthwhile. It is. But it isn’t an aesthetic quick fix, and it isn’t the sculpting tool it’s been sold as. The real benefits are about how your body feels, how it processes, and how settled your nervous system becomes.
What aggressive treatments actually cost you
When your body is pushed into rapid elimination through an aggressive treatment, you lose more than just water.
You lose vitamins and minerals your body still needed.
You may lose beneficial gut microbiome.
You stress your nervous system, which then pushes it further into fight or flight, which makes future healing harder, not easier.
The body has its own pace. Your job, and mine as a therapist, is to support that pace, not override it. Aggressive treatments override the pace. That’s the problem.
When a detox reaction does happen by accident
Sometimes, even with a gentle treatment, a client will have a detox reaction. That’s because a blockage has unblocked, and something the body had been holding has now started to move. It can happen without aggressive technique.
If it does happen, the instruction is simple: do nothing else until you feel better. Don’t load more on. Don’t do another treatment the next day. Don’t hit the gym hard. Don’t have a heavy meal out. Your system is already busy. Let it finish its work.
Why being soothed matters more than the technique
This is the bit I really want you to hear.
I have clients who fall asleep on the bed and tell me afterwards they melted into it. I have clients who lie there with their eyes wide open, scanning, unable to settle. The technique I’m using is identical in both cases. The outcome is different because their nervous system is in a different state.
Being soothed isn’t a side benefit of the treatment. It’s the active ingredient.
When your nervous system gets into a settled, parasympathetic state, that’s when your body heals. The manual technique supports that. But without the nervous system safety, no amount of skilled hand work will do the deeper work.
Which is why building a relationship with a therapist matters. Why honest conversation matters. Why a practitioner who’s willing to adapt and notice and ask rather than just push through their protocol matters.
What you can do at home
You don’t need to come in for a treatment to support your lymphatic system. You can do the basic self-care in as little as one minute a day. You can do it in the shower. You can open the main valves at the terminus points just to keep things moving efficiently.
The free Lymphatic Drainage Self-Care Routine I’ve put together is designed to give you exactly that. A simple, gentle, daily practice you can build into your existing routine without needing a treatment couch or a therapist.
If you do have the time and budget for a treatment, brilliant, come in. But the daily self-care matters just as much, and in some ways more, because it’s the consistency that builds the real benefit.
The bigger picture
I’ve lived with inflammatory bowel disease and endometriosis for years. I’ve done some genuinely extreme things in my own healing journey trying to fix myself.
The aggressive things never helped. The gentle, consistent, soothing things did.
The body doesn’t need to be punished into wellness. It needs to be invited into safety.
Frequently asked questions
Should you purge after lymphatic drainage?
No, purging is not the goal of a proper lymphatic drainage treatment. If you’re regularly purging after treatments, the treatment is likely too aggressive for your nervous system. Gentle techniques like the Vodder method are designed to support your body’s natural drainage without forcing rapid elimination.
What is a healing crisis and is it real?
A healing crisis is a wellness industry concept describing intense detoxification symptoms following a treatment. While the body can have detox reactions, the idea that healing requires a crisis is questionable. Healing happens in the parasympathetic state, not in fight or flight, and treatments that consistently cause crisis are likely too aggressive.
Why does my body purge after some lymphatic drainage treatments?
Purging usually means the treatment was too aggressive and your body is reacting by pushing things out faster than it can comfortably handle. Occasionally it happens because a genuine blockage has cleared and the body is processing rapidly, but this is less common than over-aggressive technique.
Is aggressive lymphatic drainage better than gentle?
No. Lymphatic drainage is designed to be gentle. The lymphatic vessels sit just beneath the skin and respond to light, specific touch. Aggressive pressure works on deeper tissues, not the lymphatic system, and can stress the nervous system rather than support healing.
Can I do lymphatic drainage on myself?
Yes. Self-lymphatic drainage is one of the most accessible self-care practices available. It can be done in as little as one minute a day, in the shower or as part of your morning routine, and supports your lymphatic system without needing any equipment.
Does lymphatic drainage help you look thinner?
Temporarily, yes, because it shifts retained fluid. But the change is temporary and comes back as soon as you eat, drink, or experience anything that causes the body to retain fluid again. Lymphatic drainage is better understood as a wellness and recovery practice than as an aesthetic treatment.
Want to start with something simple?
Download my free Lymphatic Drainage Self-Care Routine. A gentle, daily practice you can do in as little as one minute, in the shower, before bed, or whenever suits your day.
[Download the free routine here]
Come in for a treatment
If you’re in or around Glasgow and you’d like to experience proper, gentle Manual Lymphatic Drainage from a Vodder-trained practitioner, I offer treatments from my private home studio in Springburn, North Glasgow.
[Book Manual Lymphatic Drainage] | [The Reset (90 minutes, £85)] | [The Recalibration (3 hours, £197)]
Related episodes
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- “What I’ve Unlearned After 24 Years in the Wellness Industry”
- [Link to “Eldest Daughter Syndrome and Why Firstborn Daughters Burn Out”]
About Jen:
Jen Wilson is The Healing Rebel, a holistic wellness practitioner with over 15 years in practice, supporting capable, responsible women over 40 who give to everyone and struggle to receive. Working from her private home studio in Springburn, North Glasgow, Jen offers The Reset, The Recalibration, Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Therapeutic Fascia Massage, Menopause Massage, Reiki, Reiki Drumming, and Sound Healing, plus online classes and an on-demand subscription library.
Find out more at iamjenwilson.com
