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AMERICANS ARE BUYING SO MANY LAXATIVES THAT IT’S CREATING A SHORTAGE
futurism.com ^ | September 09, 2023 | Staff

Posted on 09/25/2023 5:55:43 AM PDT by Red Badger

"IT'S CRAZY TO THINK THAT OUR COLLECTIVE BOWEL DYSFUNCTION PROBLEMS HAVE GOTTEN SO BAD THAT WE'RE LITERALLY RUNNING OUT OF STOOL SOFTENERS."

Laxatives are having a major cultural renaissance — so much so, in fact, that soaring demand for the drugs is reportedly causing a national shortage.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, the US is experiencing a scarcity of polyethylene glycol 3350, the pharmaceutical powering name-brand products like Miralax and Glycolax. As for why? It's complicated.

Per the report, there are several suspected culprits for the rising laxative demand. On the one hand, the American population is aging, and older adults are more likely to suffer from constipation than younger folks. The average American also doesn't consume nearly enough fiber, and elsewhere, the WSJ notes that "lingering physical and psychological effects of the pandemic" appear to be playing a role in the lax-revolution as well. While locked indoors, people exercised less, ate worse, and experienced high levels of stress — all of which can contribute to gastrointestinal issues, constipation included. And on the flip side, the end of the pandemic, which disrupted our newfound routines, sending many back into the office and reviving a flailing travel industry, may have caused its own wave of gastrointestinal problems as well.

"It's crazy to think that our collective bowel dysfunction problems have gotten so bad that we're literally running out of stool softeners," Dr. George Pavlou, head of the Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey, told the WSJ.

The growing laxative demand might also be linked to more concerning psychological trends. Per the report, some laxative buyers appear to be using the medicine as a de facto Ozempic. Of course, the two drugs are very different, and Ozempic is much more expensive than over-the-counter stool softeners. But various laxatives have been a staple of diet culture for decades now, despite the fact that they don't actually promote weight loss, and mostly just result in dehydration, mineral imbalances, and in some severe cases, internal organ damage, according to the National Eating Disorders Association — although that's not stopping people with disordered eating from trying them nonetheless.

"When people have an excessive bowel movement and they feel completely empty inside, that gets wrapped up in thinness and health," Eating disorder specialist Dr. Jenna DiLossi told the WSJ.

DiLossi told the newspaper that before the pandemic, her clients rarely reported turning to laxatives as a weight loss measure; now, however, at least "three to five" of new teen clients every week admit to taking laxatives as an attempted weight loss measure, often telling the doctor that they got the idea from TikTok.

"I had periods in my early 20s where I really struggled with disordered eating," 30-year-old Sophie Spiers, a fashion copywriter in Los Angeles, told the WSJ, "and it became tied to a mental thing of having to take my Miralax or I'm going to feel fat today." And though Spiers told the newspaper that she's learned to manage her reliance in a healthier way, she says she still takes Miralax every morning.

Laxatives aren't the only shelf item seeing a sales spark in recent months. Relatedly, the WSJ report notes that a growing number of consumers — young folks included — are reaching for passage-inducing fiber supplements, which doesn't exactly feel like a coincidence.

"The demand has changed," Jissan Cherian, a director of marketing at Haleon, the company that manufactures Benefiber, told the WSJ.

To be clear, laxatives and other stool-related supplements do have their medical place. But an unhealthy or unnecessary reliance can wreak havoc on the gastrointestinal system, and if you find yourself reaching for them on the daily — especially if you're a younger person — the eternal advice remains: talk to your doctor first, and as one expert told the WSJ, maybe up your fruit, vegetable, and whole grain intake before reaching for drugs at all. And if you're just looking for the feeling of an empty stomach? You might want to just skip the laxatives altogether.

More on weight loss trends: Scientist Behind Ozempic Warns That There's a "Price"


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine; Society
KEYWORDS: constipation; health; laxatives
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1 posted on 09/25/2023 5:55:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

If you watch TV commercials, you’ll notice that they ALL HAVE BROWN EYES TOO! I think there’s a connection there.


2 posted on 09/25/2023 5:58:21 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("Try That In A Small Town" - Jason Aldean rules!)
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To: Red Badger

Poor Americans, they have had so much crap and so many lies shoved up their behinds over the last few years they need laxatives to clean it out.

Every time you strain think of that as cleansing out a globalist lie.


3 posted on 09/25/2023 6:00:01 AM PDT by dforest
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To: Red Badger

Fiber and Magnesium are your friends, America.


4 posted on 09/25/2023 6:04:08 AM PDT by CommieCutter
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To: Red Badger

If I’m not mistaken, people can build up a resistance to laxatives. I don’t know this to be true, but I thought I read it. If it is true, it means that people who regularly take laxatives will be dependent on them. They will need to continue them or even increase them just to move bowels.


5 posted on 09/25/2023 6:04:22 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: Red Badger

I guess this gives a whole new meaning and context to that often used quote, “You’re full of s**t!”


6 posted on 09/25/2023 6:05:50 AM PDT by dowcaet
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To: z3n

That is correct.

Misuse of laxatives eventually shuts down the body’s own elimination system to the point where laxative are required for it to work................


7 posted on 09/25/2023 6:06:43 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger
AMERICANS ARE BUYING SO MANY LAXATIVES THAT IT’S CREATING A SHORTAGE

No sh!t...

8 posted on 09/25/2023 6:08:34 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=008BPUdQ1XA


9 posted on 09/25/2023 6:09:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger
Sounds like a big problem.


10 posted on 09/25/2023 6:10:36 AM PDT by Bounced2X (Boomer - I survived childhood with no bike helmet.)
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To: Red Badger

opiods...there’s a lot of older folks hooked on pain pills.


11 posted on 09/25/2023 6:11:51 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: Red Badger

It because about half the country is full of sh!t.


12 posted on 09/25/2023 6:13:35 AM PDT by euram (allALL)
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To: Red Badger

Laxitive manufacturers are probably owned by Big Cheese so they get you coming and going ala The Fauci Model.


13 posted on 09/25/2023 6:13:54 AM PDT by Manic_Episode (A government of the government, by the government, for the government)
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To: Red Badger

It is all O’Biden’s fault. They have lied so much, the nation is full of shit.


14 posted on 09/25/2023 6:13:57 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Texas is not about where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind and Attitude.)
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To: Red Badger

Think this article is off base. The issue is opioid abuse, all different varieties. Opioids is well known for causing constipation. Fifty plus years ago, an opioid variety was prescribed to stop diarrhea.


15 posted on 09/25/2023 6:14:13 AM PDT by rigelkentaurus
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To: DouglasKC

Doctors are afraid to prescribe opioids of any kind for fear of the DEA coming down upon their necks.

My wife has nerve pain in her neck from an auto accident where her vehicle was rear ended at a stop-light. The only thing that relieves her pain is an opioid, but the doctors will not prescribe it.................


16 posted on 09/25/2023 6:16:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: rigelkentaurus

Yep. It’s easy to naturally do this but you need help if you are doing a variety of pills
https://www.news-medical.net/health/Drugs-that-Cause-Constipation.aspx


17 posted on 09/25/2023 6:17:48 AM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
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To: z3n

From link:

Over time, excessive laxative use can make constipation worse rather than better. This is because laxatives “overwork” the digestive tract, gradually reducing muscle tone and nerve signaling. This can start to slow (rather than speed) digestive muscle contractions.14

People who abuse laxatives can also develop a tolerance to the medications, leading them to need higher and higher doses to have a bowel movement. This is known as a laxative dependency (a.k.a. “laxative addiction”).12

https://www.verywellhealth.com/excessive-laxative-use-5219453


18 posted on 09/25/2023 6:20:38 AM PDT by Qiviut (To the living, we owe respect. To the dead, we owe the truth (Voltaire) $hot $hills: Sod Off)
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To: Red Badger
"CREATING A SHORTAGE"

Shouldn't that be "shittage"?

19 posted on 09/25/2023 6:21:00 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: z3n

Two words: Castor oil


20 posted on 09/25/2023 6:21:37 AM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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