constipation remedies

For idiopathic constipation, there are a handful of FDA approved medications available by prescription. Sufferers may also turn to conventional high fiber therapy.

A third class of less regulated substances known as herbal or natural remedies are also accessible. However, before using them, it's wise to understand the dangers in even natural or herbal treatments, and whether or not there is any basis in truth for their efficacy.

As is usual, consult your physician before embarking on any type of treatment, even if they are deemed natural laxatives. This article is meant to be merely informative, and cannot possibly give diagnosis or advice to your particular condition. In addition, none of the products that are mentioned are endorsed in any way.

The condition we know as chronic idiopathic constipation is characterized functionally. That is, the effects and outcome (i.e. the functional consequences) of this condition are observed, but the underlying causes cannot be identified. The lack of an identifiable physiological cause is what designates it as an idiopathic condition.

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.

Natural treatments may sound safe, however they should be treated with utmost caution like FDA-approved medicines. For one, correct dosage has never been tested in a scientific way. For another, there are no standards of purity to which a manufacturer must adhere as the natural treatment is not claimed to be a real medicine.

Given these caveats, there are indeed some remedies which are based on either common ingredients (such as mineral oil) or herbs that have a long history of being used for treatment in constipation (such as senna). The natural treatments can roughly be divided into kinds. One kind belongs to what are known as stimulant laxatives. These natural laxatives chemically induce motion in the colon, as well as retain water to help propel the contents to expulsion. Examples of these include the senna laxative, derived from the senna plant. Previously the cascara plant was used as a natural laxative, but its dangers became known to the FDA and it was banned entirely.

What about the other kind of natural laxatives? These broadly include mineral and castor oil, as well as prunes or prune juice (famous for being in a homemade laxative). In all of them, ingestion is thought to lead to water retention, either by coating and protecting the bowel matter (the oils) or by increasing indigestible bulk (prunes). Increased water content has been associated with better transit through the colonic space.

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.

constipation remedies

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