Risks Associated with Long-Term Use of Laxatives
Question: What are the greatest risks associated with long-term laxative use?
What are the greatest risks associated with long-term use of laxative products?
Answer: The main risk associated with long-term laxative use is the increase of laxative requirement over time.
The main risk associated with the use of laxatives is the increase of laxative requirement as time goes by.
But for a patient who needs laxatives, the risks of not taking laxatives are much worse and eventually the patient may need higher doses of laxatives because constipation produces a dilated colon and a dilated colon produces more constipation.
Some concern had been expressed that using senna (Senokot") for many years could potentially cause cancer, but government-promoted research concluded long-term use of senna poses no such risk.
Except for higher doses required in a patient as time goes by, we are unaware of other secondary effects. However, that does not answer your question. Actually, nobody can guarantee that laxatives are free of secondary effects on a long-term basis.
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