# Senna, Dulcolax



## StacyP (Jul 18, 2013)

Hi. So what I wanted to ask about is, is there any proof that Senna or Dulcolax can lead to addiction, or dependancy? I have IBS-C, and Linzess didnt really seem to help much. My doctor has urged, and warned me to get off senna, but as far as I can recall, there are no studies done proving that senna is habit forming. Can anyone confirm or deny that thats true or not, that its habit forming *Id like facts to back it up*. Also, why do you think some doctors and pharmacists say not to use it, others do. I have to take 1 1/2 dose of miralax for it to work. The doctor told me to be off senna but im facing problems still.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If you require all experts to agree on anything you will be disappointed. There is ALWAYS some level of disagreement.

This article in 2009 (which is pretty recent and may not be accepted by all people) seems to say there isn't a risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809429/

_"This analysis establishes that (1) there is no convincing evidence that the chronic use of senna has, as a consequence, a structural and/or functional alteration of the enteric nerves or the smooth intestinal muscle,"_

Senna and most of the other herbal laxatives will all stain the lining of the colon.

From this article What has happened to the cathartic colon? published in 1996 we find that there has not been any cases of cathartic colon in anyone who started taking laxatives after the year 1960. Prior to 1960 podophyllin was used as a stimulate laxative and long term use of that does seem to be a likely candidate for the older cases of cathartic colon.

But some people worry that every stimulatory laxative is going to cause something that seems to have only been caused by something that hasn't been on the market for a long time. You could argue that if one thing ever caused a problem there is always some tiny risk that something else could cause it. But that we don't see cathartic colon anymore, it seems unlikely that you would be the one person in all the world to get it.

However, you will never get complete agreement that it is OK to take senna, and I do think that there may be issues in people who use it for purging and take way over the maximum dose regularly. Still we don't see cathartic colon in them and how much of the damage is from years of disordered eating is hard to assess.


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## StacyP (Jul 18, 2013)

Thank you. Im trying to use senna as a last resort. Do you know if drinking it in tea form would make any diffrence or is it the same, no matter which way you take it?


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