Colace and Senna BAD drugs???

[looking_2_head_south]

Has anyone heard of this before? Recently one of the MD's who helps out, started D/C'ing colace and senna from every patient who had it profiled. Apparently he went to a conference recently, and colace and senna are now evil drugs that will do irreparable harm to anyone unfortunate enough to be on them. I have searched high and low, far and wide, and cannot come up with anything to support this argument. Every other dr. prescribes them, and none have said anything about them being harmful, or even potentially harmful when taken as prescribed. He never gave a valid reason for this, just that they are no longer good. They replaced them with miralax and amitiza for everyone.

[April, RN, BSN, RN]

They are no longer good, as in, they were OK before? I've never heard of senna and colace being terribly harmful as it seems this MD is making them out to be. We give it to almost everyone! I have heard that bowel meds can interfere with Coumadin, though.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

everyone on a narcotic is put on senna still where i work.....

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

um...check the price of mirilaz and amitiza....wow.

Never heard they were bad,

[BluegrassRN]

Makes you wonder what corporation sponsored the conference.

[pockunit, ADN, RN]

Yeah, I think the issue might be that the patent has run out on Colace and Senna, so they're available as generics and that IS bad if you're Big Pharma.

[leslie :-D]

Makes you wonder what corporation sponsored the conference.

sounds like the dr. is fixated on getting his kickback.

leslie

[shiccy]

Almost every trauma we get is put on Senna-S when taking PO b/c they are almost always on narcs and/or on bedrest (two hits for the ileus train)... Sometimes we enact a neuro-bowel routine (MOM on day 1, Ducolax day 2, Day 3 is bowel rest, repeat) if they haven't gone for a while and the docs are concerned.

On a side note, has anybody tried crushing these freaking things for a person that is getting everything per NGT? AFAIK they're not contraindicated for crushing, but holy heck! The Senna A&B (I think) come in liquid, but the S does *NOT*. Such a pain (and waste of 10 minutes at minimum)

As far as the "A" drug mentioned before, is that new? I've never even heard of it!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I just read something recently that was stating most of the categories of laxatives/softeners were starting to show evidence of increased nerve damage with long term use. That's about it besides the normal side effects that are warned about.

[kids]

Almost every trauma we get is put on Senna-S when taking PO b/c they are almost always on narcs and/or on bedrest (two hits for the ileus train)... Sometimes we enact a neuro-bowel routine (MOM on day 1, Ducolax day 2, Day 3 is bowel rest, repeat) if they haven't gone for a while and the docs are concerned.

On a side note, has anybody tried crushing these freaking things for a person that is getting everything per NGT? AFAIK they're not contraindicated for crushing, but holy heck! The Senna A&B (I think) come in liquid, but the S does *NOT*. Such a pain (and waste of 10 minutes at minimum)

As far as the "A" drug mentioned before, is that new? I've never even heard of it!

As I recall each tab of Senna S is 8.6mg senna & 50mg colace, ask the doc to prescribe the components so you can get both in liquid form.

And never heard either is 'bad'.

[erroridiot]

amitiza 60 pills = $244 to 333

[CompleteUnknown]

Not sure if this will help as I'm in Australia and the drug names are different. It's been the case for some time here that docs are encouraged to try prescribing plain coloxyl (comes in 120mg tabs) rather than coloxyl with senna (sounds like your senna-s as there is 50mg of coloxyl in these) as it is best practice to try softeners before stimulants, and as another poster mentioned, long term use of stimulants is not good for the bowel.

I work with the elderly and have seen this to be quite successful for many residents. Of course, some doctors and some residents think this is a load of rubbish and insist on what they have always prescribed/taken lol.

(Long time reader, recent joiner, and first time poster.)