HWN Suggests

This Is What It's Like Being Addicted to Laxatives

Shit is a fact of life. It's also a good litmus test for the wellbeing of our body's inner mechanisms. Regular, firm, a decent color? You're doing okay. Black and tar-like? Something's probably up. Haven't dropped your kids off at the pool in days? Eat a banana, or head to the pharmacy.

Laxatives are a valuable tool for the constipation afflicted, but they can also disguise a toxic secret. For those with eating disorders, laxatives can become a crutch, an addiction, a weapon against their own bodies.

Anorexia and bulimia are, like many other mental health conditions, difficult to talk about. They're wrapped in shame, stigma, and the fear of being viewed differently. But…

read full article

Articles of Interest

Dying to Be Thin: 7 Shocking Facts About Teen Laxative Abuse

The fact that it doesn’t actually help with weight loss has not made laxative abuse less prevalent. One study revealed 56.3 percent of those with eating disorders used laxatives. Of those suffering with purging anorexia nervosa, 71.6 percent used laxatives.

How I overcame laxative abuse—the eating disorder we don't talk about enough

I discovered Jessie Kahnweiler’s semi-autobiographical digital series The Skinny, which touts Jill Soloway among its executive producers and premiered at Sundance in 2016. I watched all six episodes in one sitting, and while it seems incredibly trite to binge a show about bulimia, I’d never seen anything like it before. It’s so rare to see an honest depiction of bulimia—especially laxative abuse—in the media.

How to Stop Abusing Laxatives

People who abuse laxatives often find themselves in a no-win situation. They use laxatives to “feel thin,” which is an immediate, positive result. Eventually, however, the exact opposite occurs. They find themselves “feeling fat” from excessive water retention—a delayed, negative result. Here are some steps to stop abusing laxatives:

I struggle with laxative addiction and it's an eating disorder we need to talk about

Laxative abuse is taboo. It’s often addressed either quietly on message boards or between close confidants. Laxative, as a word, is often said as a joke. But laxative abuse and addiction is real, and we need to start really talking about it.

Laxative Abuse Series: Part 1, How It Happens

Welp. This isn’t exactly the highlight story I dreamed of telling one day. It’s not that talking about laxative abuse is a door I’ve intentionally kept shut — it’s just that what’s behind the door I’ve really only acknowledged in passing.

Laxative Abuse: Taking a New Tack

Laxative abuse carries significant medical risk. For low-weight patients with AN, this can mean hypotension and osteopenia, and may range all the way to life-threatening arrhythmias. Effective treatment for adults with AN is challenging, perhaps particularly for those with binge-purge subtype AN (AN-BP).

Laxative Abuse; It Can Kill - And It Doesn't Work

Laxatives become very dangerous if used with regularity – and since these drugs do not really aid in weight loss, their use becomes a senseless possible tragedy.

Look Out for Laxative Abuse: How Do You Know When It’s Too Much?

Unfortunately, not all who turn to laxative products do so for medically necessary reasons.

The Truth About Laxative Abuse

Laxative abuse is a behavior seldom discussed, but highly addictive and dangerous. It's both difficult to monitor and shameful to disclose.

Resources

NEDA

Although laxatives artificially stimulate the large intestine to empty, the “weight loss” caused by a laxative-induced bowel movement contains little actual food, fat, or calories. Instead, laxative abuse causes the loss of water, minerals, electrolytes, and indigestible fiber and wastes from the colon. This “water weight” returns as soon as the individual drinks any fluids and the body re-hydrates.