I was experimenting with osmotic laxatives recently. Laxido seemed to work 'perfectly', but Dulcobalance made me even more ADHD, agitated, and even constipated (with any stools being of a small amount and messy).
Here are the listed ingredients for both products :
laxido ingredients : 13.125g Macrogol 3350 ... and 350.7mg Sodium chloride, 178.5mg Sodium
hydrogen carbonate and 46.6mg Potassium chloride
dulcobalance ingredients : 10g of macrogol 4000 ... and saccharin sodium, and the orange-grapefruit flavour which contains orange and grapefruit oils, concentrated orange juice, citral, acetaldehyde, linalol, ethyl butyrate, alpha terpineol, octanal, beta and gamma hexenol, maltodextrin, gum arabic, sorbitol (E420)
I have 3 possible theories why dulobalance may have been problematic :
1. Sulfur dioxide included : This may have been the issue. Perhaps the sulfur was feeding sulfur producing bacteria or some other microbe. It says in the leaflet that some are allergic to sulfur though I do not think I am.
2. Grapefruit oils included : compounds in grapefruit are known to inhibit the CYP3A4 enzyme present in the gut of humans. This has a similar function to the FMO3 enzyme (but much more relatively 'important'). Perhaps if my gut CYP3A4 was inhibited it caused a toxic buildup. I suspect this may have been the most likely cause.
3. The size of the macrogol : The macrogol is the basic ingredient that causes osmotic laxatives to induce water into the bowel. I don't know enough to know if the different size could be an issue.
4. Lack of electrolytes : Laxido seems to add balanced electrolytes to the sachet whereas Dulcobalance doesn't add the same mix.
5. Sorbitol : Dulcobalance adds sorbitol which may have fed bacteria in the gut in a certain way when mixed with macrogol.
So in hindsight, I would say Laxido worked the way I expected and Dulcobalance was a disaster. Osmotic laxatives are only meant as a short-term answer to constipation and may cause serious problems if taken long-term (e.g. severe reaction to electrolyte imbalance such as seizure). That said, I wouldn't mind taken much smaller doses of Laxido to make my stool always soft. It was so easy with Laxido.
Bad reaction I had to Dulcobalance : watery itchy eyes, agitated, poor sleep, constipation, infrequent small messy stools, some flatulence, increased tenseness.
