GeriCare Sorbitol Solution, 16 Fl Oz

Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that can only partially be broken down by the human body. It passes through the stomach and into the small intestine, but as neither the stomach nor small intestine can absorb sugar alcohols, it simply passes through to the colon. After about half an hour, your stomach starts to feel a little heavy, but it takes around 1 - 2 hours for any major bloating to start, which is one 'side effect' that's unfortunately actually fairly important to the action of the laxative. Once the sorbitol is in your colon, it is broken down, but it's mostly the helpful bacteria in your colon eating the sorbitol at this point. This creates a massive amount of gas and changes the pH of your large intestine, drawing water into the bowel and stimulating it to move. Anywhere from 4 - 8 hours after you take sorbitol, a lot of that gas will start to come out, which might give you a few dry runs to the bathroom. Do not trust anything at this point. When the urge hits you, there won't really be any cramping, which is one major benefit of sugar alcohols. The major downside is that you probably have fifteen seconds from that point to get to a toilet. Make sure to drink water throughout the day after dosing yourself. Water is as important as sorbitol. Overall, a very fast-acting laxative that is suitable for a wide variety of medical purposes. Standard doses should be 35 - 50 ml. 75 ml - 120 ml is the 'full adult dose' and will cause a much quicker movement. 300 ml is colonoscopy prep, and the entire bottle, but you can do this. There is medical literature available.

That this product is not intended for oral administration.

I am a life long Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) patient. Chronic means long lasting & most frequently for the rest of one's life. Idiopathic means that medical sciences have not found the root cause of a disease. Constipation is infrequent and hard stool. I am on the maximum dose of Linzess which is the most effective CIC prescription medication for CIC since it came into the market in 2012 but it is not enough since my case is severe but not the worst type so I have to augment it with a Glycol which is a type of sugar with a type of alcohol ("Gly" for sugar & "ol" for alcohol) that does not get absorbed by the bowels and draws water from the bowel walls by osmotic pressure so the stool softens and it also stimulates bowel mobility. Gericare Sorbitol Solution is effective, it is not a prescription and Amazon provides a good and convenient deal as Amazon always does. Linzess & Sorbitol have improved my Quality Of Life (QOL) so they have made a difference.

Sweet

This can be used as an oral laxative or through the anus as an enema. The instructions on the bottle were not clear, I tried it as an enema and didn't get a lot of results, should not have diluted it as much. I did not try it as an oral laxative.