Have used Bisacodyl 5 mg for constipation and wondering how it compares to sennosides 25 mg
Senna-Lax - What is the Difference in Sennosides and Bisacodyl?
Question posted by Jeffswife on 5 March 2011
Last updated on 10 June 2019 by Bradleybillingsley
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4 Answers
Official Answer
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Nov 2, 2020.
Senna-Lax contains the active ingredient Sennosides which is a stimulant laxative. It works by irritating bowel tissues, resulting in bowel movements.
Bisacodyl is a laxative that stimulates bowel movements. It is used to treat constipation or to empty the bowels before surgery, colonoscopy, x-rays, or other intestinal medical procedure.
They both work to relieve constipation but their modes of action are slightly different.
Bradleybillingsley
10 June 2019
I believe senna-lax is a little bit stronger.
Blueyedcat
6 Jan 2018
My doctor, a Gastrointologist and my pharmist suggested to never use laxitives with senna or bisacodyl, they stain the inside of colon
GuccizBud
11 Oct 2016
For me, these two may be thought of as being essentially the same drug, but in two different strengths, as they both work via similar mechanisms but bisacodyl is considerably stronger — by a factor of 5× in my estimation.
I tend to see them the way I view two benzodiazepines : diazepam (Valium®) and alprazolam (Xanax®). Both those also work via the same mechanism of action more or less, but alprazolam is considerably stronger (in this case 10×) so the user can take 10mg diazepam or 1mg alprazolam and have similar effects. In this example there are in fact other differences to consider, such as each drug's half-life, but I'm referring only to strength.
So you can take let's say 50mg of sennosides or 10mg of bisacodyl and the strengths will be similar. But, that said, for me bisacodyl has an added benefit, in that it is "more certain". Put another way, I have never needed to take a second, smaller dose of bisacodyl several hours after the first because of the first dose not delivering (so to speak), whereas I have indeed needed to do that with sennosides a few times.
Not everyone is the same of course, but let me say this... if someone who didn't know anything about this stuff were to ask me for a recommendation, I'd just straight up tell them to take 10mg bisacodyl, wouldn't really need to mention the senna.
GuccizBud
12 Oct 2016
Too late to edit, so I'll add this as a comment.
One thing about bisacodyl I forgot to mention is that it acts only on the colon, essentially. That means if you take it in pill form it has to go through almost the whole digestive tract and get to the colon before it produces the desired effect, which for the average person takes 8 or 9 hours.
That much is to be expected with these medications, but in the case of bisacodyl you may feel nothing at all — zero — until it gets there, and this can fool you into thinking it didn't work and tempt you to take more before it's had a chance to take effect … don't ! Even if you don't feel anything at all after 7 hours, just wait and it *will* work.
Also, when it does finally work, it does so rather suddenly, so you want to time it so that you're preferably at home and relaxing 8 or 9 hours after you take it. Like you wouldn't take it at 7pm unless you want to wake up around 4am to go to the bathroom, and you wouldn't take it as you go to bed at 1am let's say unless you want to be VERY uncomfortable in your meeting at 10am the next day. Rather, if 10pm let's say is a good time to go because you're at home and not particularly busy, then take it at 1 or 2pm to make that happen.
Related topics
senna lax, constipation, bisacodyl
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