Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | With regard to laxatives...

I've always understood that while they can be helpful for those with chronic constipation, they can spell trouble for those with IBS-C because they can overstimulate the GI tract, since IBS, unlike CC, is related to a brain-gut dysfunction. Remember that crazy graph of the waves, spasms in an IBS gut vs. a non IBS gut? (here's that page if you haven't seen it) My line of reasoning is that if that's what food does to the colon, imagine what a laxative would do! Sure you'd be emptied out, but it's spasms that cause C in the first place...

*Disclaimer: I'm not a C, but I have read and reread way too many articles on IBS in my lifetime!*

The difference between CC and IBS-C is fundamentally the presence of abdominal pain/bloating as an additional major symptom (not just C), or at least that's how this article posted on the research forum describes it.

And maybe I'm imagining this, but haven't I read somewhere about sustained use of laxatives and the bowels becoming dependent on them?

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