This video is from the WebMD
Video Archive

You are in the WebMD Content Archive for WebMD Video.

WebMD archives all video content after 48 months to ensure our readers can easily find the most timely content.

To locate the most current information on this topic, please use our search box

Douglas A. Drossman, MD:

When it becomes more chronic, we need to evaluate it and make sure there's nothing else causing that. This might involve a colonoscopy or some blood tests. Being sure that there are no medications that they are taking that could be treated. And so once that's in place, if the constipation becomes more severe, we start to look at various types of treatments. The kinds of things that we've used could be PEG solution, which increases the fluid content of the bowel and moves things along. We've used something called lupiprostone, uh which activates the chloride secretion in the bowel and makes the bowel more liquid and activates it. And there are other types of agents that could be used.