Case introduction: Ms. Liu, 35 years old, corporate executives, constipation history of 10 years, 3 years ago began to take drugs and a variety of laxative tea to assist in defecation, during the period of constantly changing the type of drugs, increase the dose to ensure the effectiveness of the drug. Due to the ultimate inability to defecate on their own and the drugs are ineffective in Shenyang City Anal and Intestinal Hospital Constipation Treatment Center. Diagnosis: 1, laxative enteropathy; 2, colorectal melanosis; 3, colonic polyps. Constipation is an extremely common problem, people will encounter this problem more or less in their life. Therefore, laxatives have become a common medication that everyone, especially women, is familiar with! How is constipation medically defined? Constipation is actually an umbrella term for a series of symptoms, which can be described as “small number of spontaneous bowel movements without the intervention of medication, small volume, dry feces, laborious defecation, and impurity”. Behind this symptom there are many diseases. Functional diseases such as hypodynamic colon (functional constipation), pelvic floor spasm (functional defecation disorders), spastic colon (irritable bowel syndrome – constipation type), etc. Organic diseases such as colorectal cancer and congenital megacolon. In addition to the above two categories, in recent years, we have found in the outpatient clinic, a part of the constipation patient’s condition is particularly stubborn, however, the cause of these patients is to take too much laxative drugs or “health care products”, this type of patients we diagnosed as – laxative type This kind of patients we diagnose as laxative type of intestinal disease. According to the constipation treatment center of Shenyang City Anal and Intestinal Hospital outpatient statistics, about 30% of the patients before consultation with the existence of laxative abuse, or long-term consumption of laxative ingredients containing “health care products” “laxative tea” experience, of which about one-third of the patients formed a dependence on the laxatives! About one-third of these patients developed a dependence on laxatives! The result of dependence, as in the previous case of Ms. Liu, the long-term application of drugs on the drug dependence, all need to defecate must first take medication, laxatives make people happy and make people worry – happy is that the laxatives can help them defecate, enjoy the smoothness of defecation; worry is that away from the laxative, no longer able to defecate on their own! Eventually, the large amount of medication caused serious damage to the colon and medical help had to be sought! What exactly are the laxatives that cause constipated patients to suffer so much that they can’t stop taking them? Laxatives can be categorized into four types, and the laxatives mentioned in the article “make people happy and make people sad” belong to one of them – stimulant laxatives, the remaining three are – osmotic laxatives, volumetric laxatives and lubricants. The other three are – osmotic laxatives, volumetric laxatives and lubricating laxatives. Stimulant laxatives are mainly composed of anthraquinones, which have a strong promotion of intestinal peristalsis and secretion, but when taken in large quantities will damage the intestinal peristalsis and secretion! Representative drugs of stimulating laxatives: senna, fruit guide tablets, aloe vera. Colon long-term in anthraquinone substances under the stimulation of the colon itself power constantly declining, intestinal mucosa visible pigmentation (colorectal melanosis), so the formation of the medicine on the defecation, do not take the medicine more constipation of the vicious circle, when serious, can promote the occurrence of colorectal cancer. So how should this class of drugs be appropriately applied? We advocate that they should be applied acutely rather than for a long period of time! Abuse of stimulant laxatives is partly due to the patient’s lack of common sense in drug application, and partly due to convenience! If constipation occurs, how should we respond correctly? First of all, should be adjusted from the aspect of living habits, such as eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, drink more water, and actively see the physical exercise; secondly, you can use some drugs as an emergency measure, if the drug can not be relieved need to consult a doctor, middle-aged and elderly people and children constipation, we do not recommend using their own drugs, because the constipation of patients in this age group is very likely to be accompanied by organic diseases, self-laxative has a higher risk! It is recommended to go to the hospital for consultation! Secondly, when constipation is accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever, blood in the stool, and weight loss, urgent medical attention is needed! Finally, the long-term application of stimulant laxatives not only causes serious damage to the intestinal tract, but can also cause memory loss, psychological disorders, anal disorders, malnutrition and other diseases. If you have formed a dependence on laxatives, you need to go to a regular constipation treatment hospital to receive systematic alternative treatment, to restore the peristaltic function of the colon itself, from the new back to “their own bowel movements” of life!