MiraLAX, A Dangerous Drug For Kids

Doctors will tell you it’s safe, but MiraLAX is a dangerous drug for kids.

There are over 85,000 members of a Facebook group of parents against MiraLAX. They will tell you this over-the-counter drug harmed their children.

One such parent is Mike Koehler.

Koehler lives in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Fifty-three years old, he runs a staffing company. For nearly a decade, Koehler has studied how MiraLAX is a dangerous drug for kids.

The MiraLAX journey began

At age four, Koehler’s son Bradley started wetting the bed. So, Koehler took Bradley to a urologist.

It turned out that Bradley was severely constipated.

Moreover, the impacted stool was putting pressure on his bladder, causing Bradley to wet the bed.

The urologist recommended Bradley begin taking MiraLAX

MiraLAX, a dangerous drug for kids

MiraLAX is a laxative. It helps relieve constipation by increasing water in the intestines, stimulating bowel movements.

But what the doctor didn’t tell the Koehlers is that the drug is not safe when used for chronic constipation.

Or that the FDA never approved it for use in children.

In fact, the FDA approved MiraLAX only for people who are 17 years of age and older.

Using it for treating chronic constipation is off-label. The manufacturers do not recommend this. They also do not recommend it for kids. The manufacturers know that MiraLAX is a dangerous drug for kids.

Yet, supervised by a urologist, Bradley took MiraLAX for almost five years.

As a result, he suffered from seizures, psychotic and uncontrollable behavior, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Doctors also diagnosed him with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Bradley had been a normal child who was developing typically.

However, after taking MiraLAX continuously, he became out of control.

The pieces of the puzzle came together for the Koehlers after they read a New York Times article on January 6, 2015.

The article, “Scrutiny for Laxatives as a Childhood Remedy,” enumerated the FDA’s myriad safety concerns about MiraLAX’s sole ingredient, polyethylene glycol 3350 or PEG 3350.

Given to children as young as six months old, mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 also contain polyethylene glycol.

Many safety concerns about polyethylene glycol:

1. The FDA never tested whether PEG could be absorbed into a child’s intestines
2. PEG can be tainted during the manufacturing process with known toxins, including ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol
3. There were reports that MiraLAX caused tremors in children
4. Parents also reported that their children suffered from tics after taking MiraLAX
5. In addition, some families said their kids started having obsessive-compulsive behavior and other psychiatric disorders after taking it

By what mechanism of action is MiraLAX a dangerous drug for kids?

This is not yet clear.

However, we know that PEG is a long-chain polymer of ethylene oxide.

And that several toxic chemicals, byproducts of the manufacturing process used to make pharmaceutical-grade PEG 3350, can harm human health.

Scientists have also found that PEG exposure destroys beneficial gut bacteria which, in turn, can damage the gut and the brain.

Stanford scientists discovered that exposure to PEG caused a loss of beneficial bacteria in the gut in just three days in 2018.

Three years later, Ohio-based researchers published a peer-reviewed article showing that PEG alters the microbiome in rodents.

We also know that PEG 3350 exposure leads to a reduction in bile salts in laboratory rats, in addition to destroying beneficial bacteria.

This suggests PEG 3350 causes liver damage.

Concerns from day 1

MiraLAX became widely available as an over-the-counter drug in 2006.

That year, FDA clinical reviewer, Dr. Karen Feibus, M.D., documented her contention that MiraLAX is a dangerous drug for kids.

“PEG inhibited most of the metabolic activities of the fecal flora, and this was evidenced by decreases in total short chain fatty acids, butyrate, acetate and fecal bacteria mass,” she wrote.

Aside from its toxicity, there is another strike against MiraLAX. Using laxatives to fix constipation doesn’t address the root causes of the problem.

“This product is being abused in terms of its use as a laxative in children,” retired nurse practitioner Lyn Redwood, who has been a health care provider for over three decades, told me.

“There are so many other ways to address … constipation. By giving these children a laxative, doctors are avoiding identifying and treating the root cause of the constipation and just treating the symptoms,” Redwood said.

Related articles:

Do mRNA Vaccines Have a Polyethylene Glycol Problem?
MiraLax is Not a Miracle Drug. Far From It.
3 Words You Should Never Say to Someone Who’s Sick

About Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an investigative journalist, book author, and Fulbright awardee. She is the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family, co-author (with Paul Thomas, M.D.) of The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, and The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.