Safety of laxatives. Those in the medical field or have knowledge in this would be appreciated.?

Question

Hi, I have a friend who has a bowel problem. Since young, she would have very little bowel movement compared to the average person. Nowadays, she frequently has constipation which lasts at least 2 days.

She has tried to take a lot of fibers, fruits and vegetables everyday. She does exercise a few times a week. Sometimes when the constipation lasted so long that she just eats fruits the whole day but still wouldn't have any bowel movement and got bloated instead.

So after consulting doctors, some say it's Irritable bowel disorder.. so just said it;s severe constipation and advised her to take 20ml (max 30ml) of mild laxative everyday.

She tried the laxative for about 4 days already. Managed to have 1 or 2 bowel movement (at least something). I heard that there's no cure for irritable bowel disorder, so I was wondering whether there is any side effects of taking mild laxatives frequently. Would her system be too dependent on it? How safe is it?

Thank you

Answer 1

There is a laxative called Senkot that is all natural that my doctor always recommends. It should be pretty safe.

Answer 2

I agree with the doctor.  You can take Miralax every day.  Mix it in with some juice in the morning.  There are no long term side effects for something like that.