VIDEO: Hilarious Laxative Prank

This guy was trying to make a joke and prank his girlfriend. We all have to admit it was pretty funny, but just as general info, abusing laxatives in never a good idea.

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According to Wikipedia, laxative (purgatives, aperients) are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation.

Laxatives vary based on how they work and the side effects they have. Certain stimulant, lubricant and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under certain circumstances. Sufficiently high doses of laxatives may cause diarrhea.

Some laxatives combine more than one active ingredient. Laxatives may be oral or suppository in form.

Bulk-forming laxatives, also known as roughage, are substances, such as fiber in food and hydrophilic agents in over-the-counter drugs, that add bulk and water to stools so that they can pass more easily through the intestines (lower part of the digestive tract).

For adults, a randomized controlled trial found PEG (MiraLax or GlycoLax) 17 grams once per day to be superior to tegaserod at 6 mg twice per day. A randomized controlled trial found greater improvement from two sachets (26 grams) of PEG versus two sachets (20 grams) of lactulose.

17 grams per day of PEG has been effective and safe in a randomized controlled trial for six months. Another randomized controlled trial found no difference between sorbitol and lactulose.

For children, PEG was found to be more effective than lactulose.

Some of the less significant adverse effects of laxative abuse include dehydration, hypotension, tachycardia, postural dizziness and syncope; however, laxative abuse can lead to potentially fatal acid-base and electrolyte imbalances.

For example, severe hypokalaemia has been associated with distal renal tubular acidosis from laxative abuse. Metabolic alkalosis is the most common acid-base imbalance observed. Other significant adverse effects include rhabdomyolysis, steatorrhoea, inflammation and ulceration of colonic mucosa, pancreatitis, renal failure, factitious diarrhea and other problems.

Although patients with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa frequently abuse laxatives in an attempt to lose weight, laxatives act to speed up the transit of feces through the large intestine, which occurs subsequent to the absorption of nutrients in the small intestine.

Thus, studies of laxative abuse have found that effects on body weight reflect primarily temporary losses of body water rather than energy (calorie) loss.

Physicians warn against the chronic use of stimulant laxatives due to concern that chronic use causes the colonic tissues to get worn out over time and not be able to expel feces due to long-term overstimulation. A common finding in patients having used stimulant laxatives is a brown pigment deposited in the intestinal tissue, known as melanosis coli.

Laxatives, then called physicks or purgatives, were used extensively in pre-modern medicine to treat a wide range of conditions for which they are now generally regarded as ineffective in modern evidence-based medicine.

Likewise, laxatives (often termed colon cleanses) continue to be promoted by practitioners of alternative medicine for a range of conditions, including conditions that are not medically recognized, e.g. mucoid plaque.