12 Reasons You're Miserably Constipated - Constipation Relief

Too many laxatives

Laxatives stimulate bowel activity, but relying on them too much can lead to more constipation. Over time, the nerve cells that release the necessary chemicals for your colon to do its thing end up depleted. This leads to your bod needing higher and higher doses of laxatives to do the trick—until eventually, they don't work at all. "More of a problem is that when they stop working, the other simple measures that we might try have less chance of working as well because those stimulatory neurons are now dead," says gastroenterologist Pradeep Kumar, M.D, who suggests ditching the laxatives for a fiber supplement and/or Miralax, which is safe for long-term use.