Detoxification and bowel cleansing medicine

Currently, there is no "detoxification and intestinal cleansing medicine" that can be used safely for a long time and truly achieves the "elimination of feces and intestinal toxins" promoted by the merchant. Most of the products sold under this banner on the market are essentially either stimulant laxatives or ordinary dietary fiber supplements. They have no so-called "detoxification" effect, and long-term use may irreversibly damage intestinal function.

During my rotation in the gastroenterology department of a tertiary hospital for more than half a year, I met three to five patients every week who had problems eating these products. What impressed me the most was a young girl who just graduated last month. In order to be able to wear a small-size dress for her graduation photos, she followed the trend and bought the "Thailand-imported herbal bowel cleansing pills" recommended by bloggers. She took them for three weeks in a row. When she came, she suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. Her blood potassium was so low that she wobbled when she walked. After a colonoscopy, the entire colon mucosa, which should have been light pink, turned gray and black. This is a typical melanosis of the colon caused by long-term intake of stimulant laxatives.

Don’t think that this is a low-probability event. Nowadays, just watch a short video or browse an e-commerce platform, and a search for “colon cleansing and detoxification” will bring up hundreds of products, such as enzyme jelly, herbal bowel cleansing tablets, and probiotic defecation pills. If you casually look through the ingredient lists of these products, you will see that the top ingredients include senna, rhubarb, cassia seeds, and aloe vera. You don’t have to hesitate to add stimulant laxatives. The principle is very simple. It directly stimulates the peristalsis of your colon mucosa, forcing the contents of the intestines to be excreted quickly. You run to the toilet within two hours of eating, feel your stomach is flat after having a bowel movement, and feel that "the poison has been excreted"? How can this be such a good thing? Most of what you excrete is water and nutrients that have not had time to be absorbed. At most, the edema will be eliminated. The weight you will lose is also water, and you will regain it after drinking two glasses of water.

Of course, some people will say, "It's really useful for me to take it once in a while. I haven't had diarrhea for several days and it's uncomfortable. I take it once and it's gone." This is not unreasonable. From the perspective of ordinary users, if the constipation is really serious and can’t sit still, taking an emergency drink once in a while is better than holding it in and getting anal fissures and hemorrhoids. This doesn’t need to be beaten to death. But if you take this product as a daily health supplement and take it every day, you are ruining your intestines - over time, the nerve receptors in the colon will be stimulated to paralysis. In the future, it will not wriggle on its own if you don't take the medicine, but will become stubborn constipation, which is not worth the loss.

Oh, by the way, it doesn’t mean that all medicines that can help with defecation are IQ taxes, but they are never sold under the banner of “detoxification and bowel cleansing”. For example, the polyethylene glycol electrolyte powder you need to drink before a colonoscopy, and the lactulose and polycarbophil calcium that doctors often prescribe to patients with constipation, either lock water in the intestines through osmotic pressure to soften feces, or supplement dietary fiber to promote peristalsis, which will not irritate the intestinal mucosa and are much safer. However, these are prescription drugs or OTC Class A drugs. They must be used according to the doctor's advice. You must not buy them at home and take them as bowel cleansing medicine every day.

Speaking of this, some people may also mention, doesn’t Chinese medicine also have a saying of “cleaning the intestines and detoxifying”? Yes, according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, some purgative prescriptions will indeed be used for patients with accumulated food and internal heat and blocked internal organs, but what they emphasize is "stopping the disease as soon as possible", that is, stopping the drug when the symptoms are relieved. You will never be allowed to take purgative medicine for ten days and a half, let alone take purgative medicine as a daily skin care product. It is completely different from these "detoxification and bowel cleansing medicines" sold on the market now, so don't confuse them.

I had been working on a project for a week, and had suffered from constipation even after eating heavy takeout. I tried the pure prune juice mentioned on the Internet, which is actually high in dietary fiber and sorbitol to promote defecation. I drank a small half cup at a time, and drank two more glasses of water. It took half a day to clear up the juice, and I didn’t have the stomachache and cold sweats like taking laxatives. It is much more reliable than those fancy bowel cleansing products.

Harmful, to put it bluntly, there is no concept of "intestinal poisoning" in medicine. The feces in your intestines are normal metabolic waste. As long as you can defecate more than three times a week and do it without straining, there is no need for additional "intestinal cleansing". If you really have trouble defecating, eat two more mouthfuls of green leafy vegetables and walk two more steps. If you can't, ask a doctor to prescribe some safe medicine. Don't blindly buy those Internet celebrity "detoxification and bowel cleansing medicines" and pay IQ tax. If something goes wrong with your diet, you will be the only one to suffer.