About Laxative Abuse

The process of abusing laxatives begins with a person consuming large amounts of food in order for their food to be ingested quickly and pairing with laxatives to achieve weight loss. This comes from the belief that the person is removing calories from their body before it is absorbed.

Laxatives artificially stimulate nerve endings in the colon, only relieving ingestible fiber and non nutritional components by the time the ingested food travels to this end of your body. They also remove nutritional value from food, promoting a false weight loss as a result. The weight is immediately put back on after ingesting liquids. Effecting electrolyte balance in the body, such as sodium and potassium can greatly affect functioning in nerves and important muscles in the heart. The overuse of these drugs to promote weight loss can cause muscle spasms, heart murmurs, and cardiac arrest from removing these important electrolytes.

These drugs also strip necessary fluid from the body causing long term dehydration, kidney damage and faintness over time. You can become laxative dependent, reaching the point where you can physically no longer produce bowel movements without the use of laxatives.

Other physical complications involve stripping mucus from the colon, leaving it prone to infection, developing irritable bowel syndrome as well as the possibility of developing cancerous bowel tumors.

But considering the daily societal pressures we are faced to obtain a certain body weight or image, there is no reason to feel ashamed about struggling with laxative abuse. We can help!

All you need is to reach out and explain your struggles with laxatives to a professional experienced in the subject. Together, we can help you identify how this disorder can be prevented by physical as well as mental exercises. Reach out to us by phone or email (whichever you are most comfortable with) and we can help you get the help with going forward with treatment for these issues in order to prevent you from harming your body any further and breaking this life threatening habit.

When you are ready, look through our directory and find and contact a professional who is well versed with laxative abuse so we can help you receive the best possible care to reach recovery and heal your body, relieving you from the torment of this illness. Just one phone call or email away can kickstart your life towards recovery and ultimate freedom:)