Do laxatives make you lose weight?

Do laxatives make you lose weight ?

Laxatives are normally used when someone has been constipated for a long time and they need to have a bowel movement. However, in the world of eating disorders, people will abuse and overly use laxatives believing that they are losing weight from the use and that they are thinner. Of course, life would be a little too easy if some issues didn't come up from the abuse of laxatives, and believe me, there are MANY *issues* that pop up from the abuse of these pills.

First, you should know just how exactly a laxative works. The common belief is that it will make you lose weight. So, is this true? Absolutely NOT. A laxative performs it's duty in your colon, not in your stomach. What is the big deal with that? you ask. Here is the big deal - by the time food reaches the colon, all of the calories from the food have already been absorbed by the body. Yup, you read that right. You may feel as though you have lost weight after spending a day on the toilet from these pills, but the only thing you've lost is water weight which just bounces right back on. Within 48 hours of using a laxative the body retains water to make up for all that it has lost.

After finding out that calories aren't really absorbed through the use of laxatives and that real weight hasn't been lost it is common for someone with an eating disorder to just say, Well, I at least FEEL better and I FEEL that I've lost weight, so who cares. BUT, there are a lot of medical risks that accompany the abuse of laxatives, whether the laxative be in pill, suppository, herbal, or liquid form. Below is a list of the problems that you will encounter if you begin the treacherous road of laxative abuse:

* Severe abdominal pain
* Chronic Diarrhea: After repeated use of laxatives you eventually lose control of your rectum and may find a pile of you know what in your bed or underwear when you wake up.
* Bloating
* Dehydration
* Gas
* Nausea, even vomiting
* Electrolyte Disturbances: This can lead to heart arrythmias and heart attacks
* Chronic Constipation: I've heard stories from friends where when they tried to stop taking laxatives, they were unable to go for as long as a month

When trying to stop the addiction to laxatives, people commonly experience nausea, constipation, and gas. For me personally I've found that weaning myself off of laxatives slowly has helped to not only decrease the severity of withdrawl with the body, but it is also easier to handle psychologically as compared to stopping cold turkey. I also found that taking some kind of fiber supplement during and after the weaning helps to ease any stress on your stomach and colon, although before you try anything you honestly need to see your doctor to get an evaluation to see if anything is going bonkers within your body and also to see if any damage has been done from the abuse. If you are seriously involved in laxative abuse, medical help will be needed to help your colon operate squeaky clean and new again.

http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Eating_Disorders/peacelovehope/laxatives.html

nope they're taken to either make you poop or make your poop softer.

only if you want to be older and not be able to hold it in when you want to go
youll just sh*t everywere
because laxities f*uck up your bowels
if your going to abuse them, your going to be kicking yourself later on in life over all the problems they would have caused
so not really, your going to crap out that food anyway
theres no rush to do it in
eating healthy and exerscising reguarly is the best way
not abusing things that you dont know how many horrible problems theyll cause later on