Constipation occurs due to a violation of the process of spontaneous bowel cleansing. Ideally, it should occur daily and preferably in the morning. Minor deviations are allowed in the form of a stool delay of 12-15 hours. If cleansing has not occurred within two days, emergency measures should be taken. There are many drugs that can help with constipation. Most people prefer to do with natural laxatives, the effect of which is no worse than pharmacy drugs.
Causes of constipation
There are several factors that contribute to this unpleasant symptom.
- Lack of roughage containing fiber. It is recommended to consume as many raw foods that have not undergone heat treatment. It can be vegetable salads, fruits, juices with pulp and fruit desserts.
- One of the causes of constipation is often dysbiosis. It occurs as a result of taking antibiotics, food poisoning, an unbalanced diet, or a passion for alcoholic beverages or coffee. In order to get rid of this disease, drugs with bifidobacteria are used. And you should also use as much yogurt or kefir as possible to restore the microflora of the stomach.
- Due to the lack of physical activity, the muscles noticeably relax and the general tone of the body weakens. Sedentary work contributes especially to this. In addition to regular constipation, office workers often have hemorrhoids and prostatitis.
- After surgery on the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, constipation also often occurs. It can be both temporary and permanent depending on the disease.
- Sometimes it happens that a person eats healthy food, but due to the fact that he chews it poorly, it harms his stomach and provokes constipation.
- Dry food and lack of water adversely affect the condition of the intestines. The fact is that, absorbing liquid during the day in the form of drinks, tea or just water, a person stimulates the stomach, forcing the muscles to constantly move and keep themselves in good shape. In addition, dehydration makes feces hard and difficult to pass. Therefore, people who eat sandwiches should consume a lot more water than lovers of first courses.
Unfortunately, many deliberately delay the bowel movement. Sometimes this is a necessary step, if a person is at the post or his professional activity does not allow you to leave at the first request of the intestine. But most often people themselves try to regulate the work of the digestive tract, disrupting the natural process.
Drug treatment
There are many drugs that can help with constipation. Depending on the mechanism of their action, laxatives are divided into the following categories:
- Medicines that increase stool. These are osmotic agents: sodium and magnesium sulfates.
- Medicines such as Guttalax and dietary supplement Senna Leaves irritate the intestines and cause the urge to defecate. They are usually taken two hours after a meal.
- For chronic constipation, the use of prebiotics is recommended. They contain beneficial bacteria that, getting into the large intestine, begin to multiply actively and, over time, act on the receptors, stimulating muscle work.
- There are also drugs, the action of which is based on the gradual swelling of substances of plant origin with their subsequent withdrawal along with the slag that has accumulated in the rectum.
- If you want to soften the feces and provide them with a free exit, then you will need drugs based on vegetable oil. For example, castor or linseed oil have proven themselves in the fight against constipation. Take them based on the calculation of body weight. For example, if a person weighs 80 kilograms, then he will need 80 ml of castor oil or four tablespoons. With a weight of 90 kilograms, 5 tablespoons should be taken.
Many of the drugs in this category have their contraindications. For example, people with a stomach ulcer are not recommended to use such drugs in any form. Patients with cholecystitis or the presence of stones in the gallbladder are forbidden to use a laxative based on oils.
Extreme caution should be exercised in the treatment of children and pregnant women in the first and last trimester. Therefore, the best natural fast-acting laxative for them will be diet food. Women during pregnancy can be advised to consume as much bran or fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. And also exclude from the diet foods that can trigger constipation.
Herbal decoctions have a lot of contraindications during pregnancy and can negatively affect the state of health, so you need to use them after consulting a doctor.
Decoctions of herbs for constipation
Too many plants stimulate the work of the muscles of the stomach and large intestine. These are the best natural laxatives. For example, senna leaves and stems have been used since ancient times. This pretty yellow-flowered weed is applied as follows. A small amount of dry raw material is poured with water and white or black raisins are added. Boil for 10 minutes and apply it as soon as it cools. It is advisable to use a decoction of senna every two hours. The disadvantage of this treatment is that it can cause diarrhea or involuntary bowel movements. It is advisable to carry out the treatment on a weekend day or during vacation.
Boiled beets with vegetable oil
To prepare the product, you need white or red beets and a small amount of unrefined sunflower oil. The root crop is boiled in a peel, after which it is peeled and rubbed on a coarse grater. The resulting dish is poured with a large amount of sunflower vegetable oil. Beets are eaten completely. Within an hour, the remedy begins to act actively, causing the urge to defecate. This treatment has several advantages. The tool is extremely beneficial for the body, as beets are a unique source of rare minerals and vitamins. It contains substances that can fight oncology and prevent premature aging. No less useful is unrefined sunflower oil.
This dish with a natural laxative product is recommended to be used not only for constipation, but also to maintain immunity and cleanse the body.
Vegetable and fruit juices
This is not about purchased store juices, but cooked at home. If there is no juicer, then you can twist the pieces of peeled vegetables or fruits through a meat grinder and squeeze the juice with a gauze cloth. Vegetable drinks work much better than fruit drinks. Vegetables such as pumpkin, beets and carrots are especially notable. Of the fruits, plums, peaches and pears have the best properties. They can be attributed to natural laxatives for children. They act amazingly on the children's body.
A small amount of vegetable oil is added to freshly made juice. It not only gives the juice an additional laxative effect, but also contributes to better absorption of vitamins and minerals. The drink is stored in the refrigerator for no more than 24 hours.
Grape and Apple Vinegar
This favorite product of aristocratic nobility was previously used to lose weight and make skin pale. It makes an excellent natural laxative for bowel cleansing. Apply it as follows. Daily in the morning on an empty stomach they drink vinegar mixed with a small amount of warm boiled water. As a rule, after half an hour, a person has a desire to visit the toilet. Thanks to vinegar, you can cleanse your stomach well by removing the remnants of hard to digest food. People who used this remedy noticed that mucus with sufficiently large pieces of food comes out with feces.
Milk serum
Fasted cold whey acts as an excellent natural laxative. It is recommended to regularly use this product throughout the day. Serum helps to restore the beneficial microflora of the stomach and fights against manifestations of dysbiosis. Thus, you can not only cure constipation, but also get rid of the causes of its occurrence. Serum contains calcium, vitamin A and a small amount of vitamin E.
Melon and Watermelon
This natural laxative for constipation also contributes to the outflow of bile and cleansing the liver. It is extremely important to use it correctly. Pumpkin is not recommended to be combined with other products or used as a dessert after a meal. This gourd should be eaten only in between meals, which should be at least 1 hour.
It cleans the stomach and watermelon well. For the best effect, experts advise when eating watermelon not to chew the pulp to the end, but to swallow it in small pieces. Thus, the cleansing effect is noticeably accelerated. The action that the watermelon has is unique. Unlike other laxative products, it does not cause indigestion or diarrhea in case of overdose. It sufficiently dilutes the stool and easily removes them from the rectum, without causing spasms from sharp muscle contractions.
Radish or radish
Another herbal product that causes an act of defecation when taken inside. It also refers to natural laxatives. One large radish is peeled and rubbed on a fine grater. Next, juice is filtered through gauze and added to a glass of warm water. In the prepared composition, you need to enter one spoon of natural honey or aloe juice. You should drink in small sips and slowly. If after the first time the urge did not appear, then the procedure is repeated again.
Honey and aloe also have laxative properties, so their use as part of this tool is justified. Thanks to these products, it becomes possible to improve the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. After all, often people suffering from chronic constipation have diseases that affect the mucous membrane of the stomach or rectum. Due to constipation, the walls of the digestive tract are often inflamed. Feces tend to decompose and poison the body with toxins. As a rule, the organs of the digestive tract are the first to suffer.
Gooseberry or currant tincture
Many people prefer to take tinctures, considering them the most effective means among all natural laxatives. This is difficult to argue, because thanks to alcohol, the active components, indeed, penetrate much better through the walls of the stomach into the blood and then spread throughout the body, providing a therapeutic effect. The tincture is prepared as follows: two glasses of ripe berries are poured with four glasses of diluted alcohol or vodka and left to brew for two days. After that, the composition is filtered through cheesecloth and stored in a cool place. No more than 20 ml of a natural laxative for chronic constipation is used both before and after meals.
A decoction of needles
This composition has a lot of contraindications, therefore, before using it, you should consult your doctor. It is not recommended to use coniferous decoction for diseases of the kidneys and gall bladder. To prepare the medicine, you need shoots of spruce or pine, collected in the spring. They are poured with cold water and after 2 hours put on a slow fire. Boil the broth for at least 50 minutes. This natural fast-acting laxative is consumed in small amounts and not more than three times a day.
Feedback from users and doctors
On the Internet, you can often find various reviews about natural laxatives. Doctors treat such treatment favorably and often recommend some formulations themselves. For example, the broth of senna grass proved to be excellent. This is a fairly powerful tool that can relieve chronic constipation and normalize the work of the stomach. Most often, you can find tips on nutrition and the use of certain foods to normalize stool.
People are also advised to use cabbage and prunes. These products are natural quick-acting laxatives. They can be combined in one dish and prepare a delicious salad with raisins and vegetable oil. Raisins, like prunes, quickly relieve the intestines of feces.
Also, many herbs have a similar effect and are a natural laxative. Doctors remind that, in addition to senna, help will be provided by a pharmacy chamomile, plantain inflorescences, dandelion and buckthorn. It is advisable to drink tea from herbs before bedtime, so that the next morning begin your day with an empty stomach.