Pharmaceutics is developing. Pharmaceutical companies produce new drugs based on advanced research, and the old ones sink into oblivion. Not long ago, Soviet women who needed to lose weight urgently were familiar with Glauber salt, which could be purchased for mere pennies at any drugstore. Today, pharmacists shrug their shoulders after such a request. The fact is that the only place you can find this product these days is a veterinary drugstore. This is because its more successful counterpart, magnesium sulfate, has squeezed it out of the market. There is, however, a difference between these laxatives.
Brief Description
Full chemical name: sodium sulfate decahydrate crystal.
Other names:
- Sal glauberi;
- Siberian salt;
- mirabilite;
- sodium sulfate;
- gujir.
Chemical formula: Na2SO4 · 10H2O
Release form: coarse-crystalline powder of white color.
Description:
- large transparent crystals;
- crystals are geometrically shaped like prisms;
- taste is bitter and salty;
- odor is absent;
- quickly melts in the mouth, instantly dissolves in water;
- does not burn;
- weathers upon prolonged exposure to air and upon heating, losing mass;
- after complete weathering, becomes simple sodium sulfate.
Primary purpose: laxative.
Method of administration: oral, after dissolving in water.
Pharmacokinetics: not absorbed in the intestines.
Sources:
- it is a mineral extracted in Canada, Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Western Siberia;
- seawater;
- mineral waters of the resorts of Karlovy Vary, Marienbad (Czech Republic);
- plaque and crusts on deposits of rock salt and gypsum.
From history: first discovered in the winter of 1626 by German alchemist, chemist, pharmacist, and physician Johann Rudolf Glauber in the composition of mineral waters.
Origin of the name. Glauber named the substance he discovered mirabilite, since “mirabile” is translated from Latin as “wonderful”. After all, this salt cured him of typhus when he was in extremely grave condition.
Problem
In medicine and veterinary medicine, Glauber salt is used as an effective quick-acting laxative. No wonder it is so popular for weight loss. The problem is that not long ago it was removed from the register of medicinal products for humans and was left only as a veterinary product.
Therefore, the main question for many who want to get rid of excess weight with the help of mirabilite is the following: is it possible to drink a solution of the powder sold in veterinary drugstores and clinics for people.
Many sources claim that Glauber salt prescribed to patients by doctors in the Soviet Union as a laxative is no different from the one currently used in veterinary medicine. On the one hand, it is true that both drugs are made in the form of pure powder, without impurities. On the other hand, one must keep in mind that the requirements for drugs intended for treating humans and animals are different.
Glauber’s salt
Today, no doctor will officially prescribe this drug for the treatment of their patients. Although there are numerous positive feedback on weight loss with its help. Therefore, when deciding to lose weight in this way, one should keep in mind that all responsibility for the consequences will have to be taken upon oneself. Are you ready to drink a drug with the following labels on the package: “For veterinary use”, “For animals”, “Animal health product”?
You can use other laxative drugs that are functional analogues but approved by traditional medicine, such as magnesium sulfate, for weight loss with the same success. Yes, mirabilite acts quicker but it also acts more aggressively on the intestinal walls and has many more side effects.
Moreover, one should not order bright jars with the label “Glauber’s salt for humans” or “Glauber’s salt for weight loss” etc. from questionable Internet resources. This is a fraud.
Effect
Health benefits:
- helps with constipation;
- improves digestion;
- normalizes metabolism;
- stimulates bile production;
- alleviates symptoms in case of poisoning;
- blocks toxic substances that have entered the digestive tract with food, thus preventing them from being absorbed into the bloodstream.
The main indications for administering Glauber salt in Soviet medicine were constipation and severe poisoning.
Effect when losing weight:
- activates intestinal peristalsis, having a laxative effect;
- this frees the digestive tract from stagnant feces;
- binds with toxic substances in the stomach and removes them from the body;
- improves lymph flow;
- removes excess fluid, possessing diuretic properties (not as strong as laxatives);
- cleanses the body.
Mirabilite promotes weight loss by removing feces, toxins, waste products, and other pollutants, as well as excess fluid. However, fat deposits do not go away anywhere.
It is interesting. Paustovsky’s novel “Kara-Bugaz” tells about the extraction of Glauber salt in Turkmenistan. After its publication, colleagues started calling the author “the mirabilite of our literature”.
Possible Side Effects
It is generally recommended to have a medical checkup and get advice from a doctor and nutritionist before losing weight with any medication. However, such advice is absolutely useless in the case of Glauber salt: no professional doctor will prescribe a veterinary drug to a person. Therefore, when deciding on such an extreme way of losing weight, one will have to rely only on oneself. At the very least, one should familiarize themselves with contraindications and side effects.
Contraindications:
- individual hypersensitivity;
- avitaminosis;
- anemia;
- dehydration;
- serious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, any intestinal disorders (especially diarrhea);
- cholecystitis;
- exacerbation of any chronic diseases;
- pregnancy, lactation;
- childhood and old age.
Side effects:
- dehydration;
- deficiency of minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients, which, due to mirabilite, are not absorbed by the body and are actively excreted from it, as soon as they enter the digestive tract;
- prolonged, uncontrolled diarrhea;
- vomiting (a rare case, but possible);
- deterioration of health;
- excessive pallor of the skin;
- bags and bruises under the eyes;
- weakness, lethargy, drowsiness;
- sudden mood swings, irritability;
- allergic reaction.
