Pills
Laxatives are becoming a popular means among people to lose weight and are believed to work better and faster as compared to dieting and other weight loss methods. People who are facing an issue of constipation resort of laxatives to overcome the problem with the passage of hard feces. However, these pills are also becoming very popular amongst those who are conscious about their figure. Such people take these pills after their meals so as to lose weight.
Tea
Long before the medical professionals had introduced laxative pills, people had been using herbs and stimulators that naturally did the same job for them. People have been using the leaves of Senna for decades as a cleanser that detoxifies the body and frees it from the harmful toxins. The ingredients/components of the laxative tea include aloe, buckthorn, cascara, bitter fennel fruit, castor oil, rhubarb root, licorice root and sweet orange peel.
The tea can be made with as few as 5 or as many as 20 herbal stimulants. As is the case with pills, the tea is also common among people for weight loss.
Pro Ana
Pro ana refers to the promotion of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. The members of pro ana endorse anorexia as desirable and share a lot of techniques and tips with regards to diets on the small internet groups and social media. One of the most common suggestions by these members is the use of laxatives. People take up to 20 pills a day even though they start off with a few. They often find it hard to quit using them because it causes a lot of pain and discomfort. Most of them are afraid of quitting because of the disorder itself.
Side Effects
Laxatives come with a number of side effects, the most common include the following:
-Bloating and flatulence caused by bulk-forming laxatives
-Abdominal pain caused by stimulant laxatives, and if used continuously for longer periods of time, a lazy bowel.
-Flatulence, abdominal pain and bloating as a result of osmotic laxatives.
-Abdominal cramps, nausea and skin rash caused by stool softener laxatives.
Other less common side effects include vomiting, dizziness, passing blood out with your stools and fainting.
Laxatives should only be used occasionally and are meant to be for short term use. Using them for a long period of time and on a daily basis can be very harmful. Use of laxatives for a long time period makes the body dependent on the medicine, which means that the bowel will not function unless the user consumes laxatives. The abuse of laxatives also leads to diarrhea, dehydration and an imbalance of salt and mineral level in our bodies.
Reviews
Dr. Oz’s reviews for laxatives as a weight loss product are highly negative. He has been working actively in order to create awareness among women who suffer from anorexia and end up taking over the counter laxatives to help them with the weight loss, without knowing about the damage it does to the body.
The reviews on Yahoo Answers, Tumblr and Wikipedia were the same as Dr. Oz. People complained about the side effects after taking a single pill of laxatives. Those who had been abusing the laxatives for weight loss admitted that the side effects come along, but it helps them lose weight.
