Few FDA approved medications can be found for people who suffer from functionally defined constipation, or constipation without identifiable causes. Sufferers may also elect to under something known as high fiber therapy.
The last choice for many people is to try out so-called herbal or home-based products. There is some evidence for their efficacy, but the user should always consult with a physician to understand the dangers of using any bioactive substance. The user should investigate with the help of a physician as to whether or not claims to the usefulness of these herbal and home-based remedies hold water.
Reading of this article should not be construed as medical advice, as an article is incapable of understanding the nuances of your particular medical conditions. Please consider the article merely as journalistic health information. Moreover, any products mentioned are not endorsed, but rather presented for educational value.
Chronic idiopathic constipation is a condition or disease that is defined in a functional way. Any organ system has two characteristics, it has a physiology and a function. The physiology is the physical and biochemical characteristics, whereas the function is what it does. When a condition is called idiopathic, it means that something is impaired with the function, but the source in the physiology can’t be pinned down.
The history of diagnosis starts with the Rome Criteria. Before their establishment, it wasn’t unusual to get differing opinions from personal primary care doctors whether a patient should be diagnosed with chronic constipation. Some doctors thought that hard stools and two or more days between bowel movements was normal. Other doctors thought that a patient should be defecating every single day. These disparate opinions were due to inconsistent agreement of what was considered normal. However, many physicians use the Rome Criteria, which uses a set of conditions to define chronic constipation. Loosely speaking, one can say that two or more conditions drawn from the Rome Criteria signals that a patient has constipation.
In order to treat chronic constipation, the physician will usually offer the patient three choices. The first choice is to submit to an intense fiber diet for two weeks. The patient will take up to 30 grams of insoluble fiber with the help of supplements and plenty of water. After two weeks, if the diet is deemed successful, then it is considered a correct diagnosis as well as a correct treatment. The second choice is to take one of several, new FDA approved medications for treating chronic constipation. These medicines have passed gold-standard, clinical trials and are deemed most likely to help. The third choice is for the patient to try some non-FDA approved, “natural” medications.
In the case of trying a natural laxative, the patient should be fully aware that taking any sort of bioactive chemical is to risk one thing in trying to cure another. Consulting with a physician, even if the medication is so-called “natural”, is absolutely vital. Even the household medicine aspirin can be considered a natural medication, as it’s derived from Willow bark, but excess amounts can be life-threatening.
These warnings aside, a patient may still turn to some remedies based on very common ingredients. Some examples include castor oil and prune juice, both of which will be discussed. Can these natural laxatives be classified in any way? One group is known as stimulant laxatives, and cause the intestine to contract more forcefully as well as retain water to assist in expelling lumenal contents. Medical versions of these are the anthraquinones, but also the natural herb senna which contains anthraquinones that have the same sort of effect on the colon.
The second class of natural laxatives might encompass the oils, such as mineral oil and castor oils. Ingestion of these is thought to coat the contents of the colon, which decreases fluid outflow into the walls of the intestine. As such, the stomach contents retain water, bulk, and move more easily through the colonic space. Drinking prune juice has similar effects, as the high concentration of sorbitol makes it hard to digest and therefore retain bulk and water. Prunes are a major component of the famous Beverly-Travis homemade laxative recipe.
Just because such products are available for consumption without the need for a prescription doesn’t mean they are safe. If a patient is intent on trying them, it should be done with the help of a physician who understands the patient. If such natural treatments end up working for any patient, then he and his doctor should be congratulated.
Read the latest information in relation to home made laxatives. Read the latest news concerning to magnesium citrate for constipation.
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