LAXATIVES

What are they?

A laxative is a medication taken for constipation, working with the large intestine to trigger a bowel movement. My clients with bulimia think this is going to help them become thinner. But, alas, this isn’t the case.

You may think that abusing the body and taking laxatives is going to get rid of the food and calories you’ve binged on before the body can absorb any calories. Laxatives drain your body of water, electrolytes, and minerals like potassium, sodium, and magnesium.

But it’s essential to understand that laxatives work on your large intestines. Most of the foods and calories eaten are absorbed into the body in the small intestines before it reaches the large intestines. Therefore, it’s not going to help you become thinner.

Taking laxatives to become thinner is so much more harmful to the body instead of making you slimmer. I know once you’ve taken the laxatives, your stomach may be flatter, you feel lighter, and those scales may make you happier. But it’s only temporary, as you’ve only lost fluid from the body.

Once you drink fluids and rehydrate your body, what happens? Yes, you’ll be back to where you started.

And because the body builds a tolerance to the laxatives, for many, the cycle continues, increasing the laxatives, the pattern worsens, and they become severely dehydrated.

What are the dangers of taking laxatives?

1.           Dehydration is one of the leading causes of laxative abuse. Taking laxatives causes diarrhea, which is mostly water in your bowel movements. To compensate, you may just drink more water. But, unfortunately, this doesn't work, as the body doesn’t hydrate fast enough. Therefore, it can cause dizziness, feeling faint, confused, weakness, blurred vision, and can lead to organ failure and death.

2.        Electrolyte Imbalance. Dehydration affects the loss of electrolyte minerals in the body, for example, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. These electrolytes help to maintain your muscles, nerve, and heart functions.

3.        Depression. If you have bulimia and are abusing laxatives, then you could be feeling very low, even depressed. Abusing laxatives will increase the feelings of depression and tiredness due to the low levels of electrolytes in the body.

4.        Constipation. So how does this work? You’re taking the laxatives to get the bowels moving, so how does it cause constipation? This is a good question. The answer is the overuse of laxatives damages your colon by artificially stimulating it, and your nerves become weakened and damaged, thus causing the constipation.

5.        Bleeding in the stools. Because of the misuse of laxatives and diarrhea and always having to rush to the bathroom, the anus and rectum can become aggravated and cause bowel movements to become sore, painful, and bleed. You may become aware of blood in your stools due to extreme overuse of laxatives, which could result in anemia. Anemia symptoms can include dizziness, absolute exhaustion, irregular heartbeat, and chest pain.

6.        Increased risk of colon cancer. Excessive use of laxatives can severely damage the nerve lining of your colon, which could become weak and not work correctly. It may also cause IBS and, if this continues, colon failure, which may result in surgical removal of part or the whole of your colon, resulting in a colostomy. Therefore, it could also increase your risk of getting colon cancer due to the constant irritation, swelling, and inflammation caused by the laxatives, affecting the cells, which could develop abnormalities.

8.         Bingeing and purging increases if you’re also using laxatives. Many of the side effects like feeling fat, bloated, tired, or down, are triggers that cause you to binge. So, it sends you into the downward spiral of the binge-purge cycle.

9.        Kidney Damage. Your kidneys work so hard to remove waste from your body and filter your blood. To work correctly, they need plenty of fluids. As you become dehydrated, the toxins won’t be flushed from the body, which could lead to serious kidney damage. If severe, it could lead to kidney failure.

LAXATIVES AND THE BULIMIA BEAST

Bloating, oh yes, the dreaded bloating can be caused by the use of laxatives because:

• Again, due to dehydrated, the body slips into the panic mode, slowing digestion and holding onto any fluids, causing bloating.
• Laxatives trap gases in the intestines, which can also cause you to feel bloated.

NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP ABUSING LAXATIVES

Are you in the vicious circle of taking laxatives to feel slimmer or lose weight only to fall back down into that rabbit hole of feeling fat and bloated because of extreme water retention then trying to climb out of that rabbit hole by taking more laxatives?

Well, now is the time to begin to make that change and stop abusing your body with laxatives; the physical and mental effects are extremely dangerous.

Please consult your doctor about safe methods of quitting laxative abuse.

It all comes back to your thoughts and feelings that drive this behavior.

Complete the LAXATIVE CAUSES & NEW COPING STRATEGIES table below or grab your notebook and complete this list of your thoughts and feelings that cause your behavior of taking laxatives. Now is the time to challenge these. Once you have your list, then create new powerful positive coping strategies.

LAXATIVE CAUSES & NEW COPING STRATEGIES:

THE CAUSES                                                   NEW COPING STRATEGIES

Great, so now you have your list of what causes you to reach for the laxatives and listed new coping strategies it’s time to STOP, STOP, STOP taking laxatives. There are so many dangerous health effects which, if they become extreme, could lead to death. TOSS THOSE PILLS IN THE BIN NOW! Yes, this may be a scary thought. But you can do this and move on completely.

Here are positive steps to begin to break your vicious laxative circle:

• It’s time to start to hydrate your body, so begin drinking half a liter, to begin with gradually building up to 2 plus liters of water per day, little and often is best, and avoid beverages with caffeine, as this is a diuretic. It's essential to not only drink at regular intervals but also to eat regularly, of course! So, hop back to Step 4, learn about how to implement your structured eating program.

• Start to move your body more. Do some physical activity each day. Take a 20-minute walk. It will help to stimulate your digestion and get your bowels moving again. I am not asking you to take this to the extreme and rush out and spend the day like a rabbit, hopping in and out of every aerobic exercise class you can find at your gym. This will exacerbate specific side effects like constipation. Start with gentle walking.

• As I mentioned, there could be side effects when stopping laxatives. Or there might not be any! Constipation, pain, and bloating, to mention a few, are possibilities, but this doesn't mean you’ll get any. If you do, it's important to remember that they’re only temporary and will stop.

• Inform a friend or family member you have made this decision to completely stop taking laxatives. Having the support and someone to be accountable to will increase your chances of achieving your goal of breaking free from laxative abuse.

It's now time to step up the fiber. To get your bowels moving naturally, you need to eat fiber. It moves quickly and relatively easily through your digestive tract and helps it to function correctly. Pdf below

Men should aim for 30 to 38 grams of fiber a day.

Women should aim for 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day.

These sorts of foods include whole-grain bread, cereals, and crackers—grains with wheat bran.

High fiber fruits:

Pear                                  5.5 grams (1 medium)

Bananas                           3.0 grams (1 medium)

Apples with skin                4.5 grams (1 medium)

Oranges without skin!        3.0 grams (1 medium)

Strawberries                      3.0 grams (1 cup)

Raspberries                      8.0 grams (1 cup)

High fiber vegetables:

Green peas boiled            9.0 grams (1 cup)

Broccoli boiled                   5.0 grams (1 cup)

A potato baked with skin    4.0 grams (1 medium)

Sweet corn boiled             3.5 grams (1 cup)

Cauliflower raw                  2.0 grams (1 cup)

Carrot raw                         1.5 grams (1 medium)

The darker the greens, the higher the fiber content.

Avoid prunes, as they’re an irritant laxative. If you were to dive in and eat lots of prunes, it could have the same negative results as if you were taking laxatives.

Speak to a nutritionist. They will be able to help you to figure out good positive eating habits, which will help to prevent bingeing.

When you begin to break free from the laxatives, write down the frequency of your bowel movements. If you find you’re constipated for more than three days, it’s time to call your doctor.