What If You Accidentally Overdose On Laxatives?

brainerd you seem to be rather stuck no not in your life not literally in the ground either I mean your digestion it happens to the best of us don't worry nothing like a good old-fashioned laxative to get things moving smoothly once again though but if you think you can just down that whole box based on the logic of well if one works why not - why not four why not the whole thing then it's time to talk about exactly why you should pass on doing that today we're discussing exactly what happens to the body if you take too many laxatives what are the consequences to your body if you do and even look at some real-life examples of when someone took way over the recommended amount on accident I'll tell you this you can bet they had an accident am i running out of jokes yet better soften up that sense of humor because I'm dropping loads of knowledge on the regular big time okay that's enough if you've ever wondered exactly what happens when a laxative enters your system I don't blame you it seems kind of crazy to think that by simply ingesting something you can kickstart your innards and get what was once not working working again but that's exactly what they do laxatives by definition or medications that stimulate bowel movements or will soften your stool so that things start going smoothly again they're the main defense against constipation which is when your body has either infrequent painful or difficult bowel movements many factors can cause constipation so brain iord be sure to take note of what they are so you can be prepared if you aren't eating in a fiber eat a ton of dairy products don't drink enough water have a sudden change in your diet or activities are stressed aren't active or get this one over use laxatives you can find that what was once easy is now hard what was once regular is now infrequent what was once here is now absent and you may need to seek out laxatives to get your digestion back to normal there are quite a few types of laxatives too and they work in different ways as always I recommend seeing a doctor first but if you do want to try an over-the-counter option then hey if you find it doesn't work for you then you have plenty of other options to choose from here are a few to look out for next time you're in the store brainerd bulk forming laxatives are made up of certain types of fiber that are not absorbed by your intestines logically because they aren't absorbed they'll pass right on through and this will cause you to go to the bathroom emollient laxatives are commonly known as stool softeners they you guessed it soften your stool but they do this by making your body pull more fat and water during the digestion process next up our lubricant laxatives they work by adding an oily substance to your digestive tract and make it harder for your body to absorb water thus things are much easier on the move Peiper somatic laxatives cause more water to be drawn into your gut and because of this your constipation is relieved water is the body's natural lubricant and if water is moved to your intestines then they can definitely clear your pipes finally stimulant laxatives are a type of medication that will speed up the movement of your intestines muscles by making these muscles contract and move which is the process called peristalsis this will in turn move food through your intestine pretty darn amazing huh there are many many options to choose from and these don't even include the natural option you know like prunes or figs they all work so your cramping will be a thing of the past and you can get back on track brainerd I see you're giggling and truthfully yes there is something inherently funny about today's subject but I want to point out that if you're gonna be taking a laxative you should use the utmost care and take it seriously these can be very powerful medications and there can be quite a few side effects if you decide to take more than the recommended dosage other than the obvious which brings us to our question just how many laxatives can you take in a day first of all I do not recommend you take more than the packaging or your doctor says as you can expect things can get pretty serious pretty quickly and while there's nothing wrong with taking a normal measured dose there are a ton of side effects that would occur as you took more and more throughout your day until eventually you had to stop overuse of laxatives can cause you to become really really dehydrated I mean it makes sense right after all that water is now being added to your gut and has to come from somewhere and it'll be drawn out of other areas of your body because of this many people have used laxatives to lose weight and quickly but this is a quick fix and a temporary one at that any weight loss that occurs would be from the loss of water in your body as soon as you were hydrated again well the weight would come back I highly recommend you do not do this Brainard after all the symptoms of dehydration include headaches dizziness low energy dry skin and more just stick to a healthy diet and the gym its tried and true for a reason another big reason taking laxatives should be treated with the utmost seriousness as an overuse of them to cause the electrolyte imbalance the electrolytes in your system things like potassium sodium chloride calcium phosphate and more are essential for your cells to work properly if they're thrown out of whack things can get really bad really fast if an electrolyte imbalance occurs seizures or even a coma could be the side effect you heard this right you overuse laxatives you could very well find yourself in a hospital for quite a long time if that's not enough for you to take these medications seriously other side effects include rhabdomyolysis which means your muscles start deteriorating gastrointestinal damage which can also manifest as long-term pancreatic damage liver damage or even kidney failure abusing these medications has absolutely no joke and wolfing down as many as you can in a day to try to clear out your system is absolutely the wrong route to take just be patient if you find that your first dose isn't working as intended don't just start wolfing down more because you think it'll speed it up these are a safe effective way to treat constipation but you have to let them do their thing but people have absolutely taken more than the doctor ordered and been fine in fact they took the laxatives without the doctor's order in the first place because they accidentally took them case in point author Abbey Jimenez his husband accidentally took quite a few of X Lacs because he thought it was a bar of chocolate now in his defense we want to say that this particular laxative really did look like a bar of chocolate and I get it sometimes you get that sweet tooth and you just help yourself but in this case it probably would have done him some good to take a closer look at exactly where the chocolate was from we can tell you that the X and X lakhs doesn't stand for exotic so what happened well he ran to his wife in quite a bit of pain and completely terrified that he was really sick but then when Adi found the wrapper for X lakhs and realized he'd eaten 12 doses of the laxative yeah she couldn't stop laughing the recommended dose was 2 needless to say Abby's husband didn't feel too well and when she shared the story on Facebook it was shared over 62 thousand times looks like quite a few people got a good laugh well Abby's husband didn't another story of mistakenly taking laxatives was shared by Jani ream who had a suspicion that his 56 year old roommate was going through his medicine cabinet and stealing his prescriptions Jamie decided to replace the contents of one bottle with laxatives and let his roommate have a little surprise if he decided to go through things that weren't his sure enough the trap worked and Jamie's roommate took the bait so not only did he have a good laugh Jamie was able to call the police on his roommate and get this turns out swapping the contents of the container with laxatives wasn't against the law the police said it was because it was a substance that wouldn't kill a person who would take it so there was nothing wrong I guess the lesson here is better think twice before going through your roommates medicine cabinet now huh so that's the truth of laxatives brainerd if used properly and in the right doses they can be a safe and effective means to get you back in the game as with all medicine though treat it with respect if you weren't sure what the right dosage is or what kind of laxative will work best with your body then go see a doctor they can help find exactly what will work best for you and hey don't go taking a whole bunch in one day because you're impatient and think they aren't working there can be some pretty serious side effects and you won't be feeling too hot either as for taking them accidentally we say double no triple check that label or it's going to be one not so bumpy ride you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 264,601

Keywords: Brainiac, laxative, cramps, stuck, stool, exlax, intestines, gut, small intestines, large intestines, bathroom, constipated, clogged, toilet, rest room, education, diarreah, stool softener, how many can i take, constipation

Id: D0vY4_pO_ms

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 21 2020