For idiopathic constipation, there are a handful of FDA approved medications available by prescription. Sufferers will also turn to conventional high fiber therapy on advice from their physicians.
There is a third therapeutic possibility known as home-based or natural remedies to treat the condition. It is important that note that although they are not classified as medications, improper use can lead to dangerous health effects. Furthermore, before taking any herbal or natural treatments, the user would be well-advised to investigate claims as to their efficacy.
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.
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.
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.
Additional resources provided for home made laxatives can be located here. The articles supplied for magnesium citrate as a laxative will be useful to many.
