The Risks Of Unwise Use Of Laxatives

There is nothing wrong with laxatives use when it does correctly and for the right reasons. The only need you should have for a laxatives stimulant or any other type of laxatives is to ease the symptoms of constipation. If you are looking for any other result, that is abusing laxatives and unhealthy for you in every way. You may be wondering about how someone could abuse laxatives. Most of the time, this kind of medication abuse is directly related to weight loss. Of course, we are not talking about someone who feels like they need to lose a few pounds. Laxative abuse often occurs with a person who suffers from one of the eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Just for clarification, here are a few of the times when laxatives dependence is used a way to achieve unhealthy weight loss.

The only type of weight loss that laxatives should be expected to help with is the loss of stool from the colon. Trying to use laxatives as a quick fix before a special occasion to fit into a dress or suit is a bad idea. In the first place, it probably will not work and you could end up spending the evening miserable with horrible gas and explosive diarrhea. It may sound like a good idea in the beginning, but odds are good you will regret your decision later. Laxatives are intended to help with bowel movements.

These circumstances doesn’t necessarily describe an eating disorder. However in the case of anorexia, laxatives are a harmful addition to an already harmful illness. There have been documented cases of anorexia patients using laxatives to eliminate food, and as such calories, from their bodies before the food has time to metabolize. There are many things dangerous about this practice. Anorexics don’t eat enough to maintain healthy body functions anyway. When food is eliminated in this way they receive even less. On top of the starvation factor, extended use of laxatives on a colon that is working fine will cause permanent damage to the organ. With bulimia, things are a little different as anorexia and bulimia are different diseases. However the bulimic uses the laxatives to help purge after a binge. Beyond that small difference the effects of laxative abuse are the same.