Questions & Answers

Why Relying on Laxatives Like Miralax Is a Bad Idea

Are you still taking laxatives? Are you still taking laxatives? So many people take laxatives every single day. I’ve had some patients who took laxatives daily for years, sometimes 7 to 10 years. It’s so crazy. I think that was the worst case I ever saw, a lady who took them over 10 years daily, an Italian patient I had when I practiced in Brisbane, Australia. So I’ve often say to people, I never turn people back, but sometimes when I get someone in who’s been on laxatives for multiple years, I started thinking, “Man, is it really worth working with this client for, because I know that it’s going to be a real big pain in the butt, not for me, but pain in the butt for them, because it’s going to be difficult coming off them.”

So, many people who go on laxatives, unfortunately, slowly start on that way because they had problems. They had problems with their lifestyle or their diet. They had a relationship problem or they had an issue where they work. You’d be surprised who take laxatives, taxi drivers, bus drivers, people who fly jumbo jets, the big planes, who just have to stay in their seats for umpteen hours. It’s not healthy. If you have to start taking a medication to poop properly, you know that your lifestyle is really a poopy lifestyle when you think about, okay? Or if you’re in a relationship, I’ve also seen people in relationships that were so emotionally problematic that they ended up getting bowel problems.

So, the best way to not to have laxative… to stop taking laxatives, obviously, not to take them in the first place. Don’t even take these things. You’ve never got a reason to take them. And then you’ll say, “Oh yes, I had. I had this operation.” Or, “Da de da de da.” Okay, but then, if you were convalescing or getting better, then you had a defined period where you could come off the medication.

When you think about it logically, no person should ever stay on any kind of drug for days, months, weeks or years on end. In my opinion, no drug should be taken with no sort of date where you stop that drug. I mean that’s crazy. The damage that laxatives can do to your bowel is quite remarkable. I’ve heard of stories of people getting prolapse and even needing colostomy bag after abusing these products for so long.

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So now I’ve scared you all, literally poo-less. It’s time to get off them. Okay. You can get off laxatives. I don’t care what your story is. I don’t need to hear your excuses because I’ve heard them all before. I’ve heard them all before. Okay. When you’ve been in practice for decades, you’ve heard every type of excuse before, “Why I can’t get off laxatives, I’ve tried this.” I don’t care what you tell me, you can get off them. But you need to change your lifestyle to get off these things because they will damage you and make you very sick.

The hardest part probably for people coming off them is to do it very, very, very slowly because cold turkey never works. Warm turkey works, but you might want to try hot turkey for when you’re coming off these things. It might take you months and months and months to slowly come off them in a very gradual controlled way. The diet needs to be adjusted for this person coming off laxatives because people who take laxatives every day are generally not eating good food and if they are, then they need to change that diet again as they’re transitioning off laxatives. Does it mean to say you need lots of figs and dates and dried fruits and stuff like that? No. That’s not what we want you to do. If you start pinging all those down your throat, you’ll end up with a yeast problem like many patients have. Also, you need to be careful if you’re taking other medications on top of the laxatives. So I want you to listen carefully.

If you’ve been on laxatives for over 12 months and you’re listening to this and you would love to come off them, you really need help. It’s not something simply that you can do yourself. I work with many, many patients, possibly hundreds of people to help them off laxatives over the years. So you’ll need to see a naturopathic physician or a doctor, preferably a doctor with integrated medicine training. So he or she is interested to spend some time with you instead of a hurried three minute visit, which I hate. I hate going to medical doctor’s offices because they usually got one eye on the Rolex and they’ve got one eye on the computer screen. Got no need for that.

So if you’ve got constipation bad, you’ve got a problem there with laxatives, you need to spend time with somebody and talk through your problems. Talk through your emotional stuff. Okay? Because you’ve probably got some kind of constipation emotionally or cognitively as well. This needs to be discussed and it’s totally achievable to come off them. And I can tell you now, it’s a blessing to be able to go to the lavatory once or twice a day unaided with any medications. It’s a real relief, but not just for you, but also for your family and for your health long term and for the people who care about you. It’s very important to do that for yourself. There’s nothing worse, nothing worse than having a bowel that’s very problematic because it gives you a lot of problems in your life, but it’s something you can totally overcome.

You need to be confident about this and talk to someone about it. I know it’s embarrassing, but it’s well worth discussing with someone such as myself, although as you’re aware, I’m not practicing anymore. And it’s can be overcome completely. All right. I just want you to have that confidence to make that call and get out and do something before you end up with serious problem.