The Promise of MiraLAX: Modern Medicine’s Poison Apple

Meeting a father whose son was injured by MiraLAX and hearing his story impacted me in ways I never expected. Of course, it shocked me to hear about so many children being injured by a common over-the-counter laxative, but his story also helped bring clarity to a philosophical issue that had troubled me for years.

As with many people, my eyes were opened by the events surrounding the novel disease that kicked off this decade. While some people began questioning certain institutions and industries for the first time, my new awakenings were a little different.

I had already been questioning those same entities for over a decade with my research on birth control. As a women’s health advocate speaking out on the dangers of these powerful drugs, one of the things I loved most about the fight was its unification of voices from across the political spectrum. I had made many friends, both liberal and conservative, on this journey.

As someone who was already very skeptical of all things medical, it didn’t take long for me to begin questioning the protocols put in place in response to this new disease. (If your opinion about those events is completely opposite of mine, I beg you to keep reading because this is not about who was right or wrong in that situation).

By the time the announcement came that an injectable antidote was being developed at warp-speed, I was shocked at the lack of pushback. In medicine, establishing a safety track record is a marathon, not a sprint. You cannot simply shorten the track and expect reliable results. 

So when I questioned the wisdom of the fast-tracked jabby-jabs, it caught me off guard that some of my liberal friends got upset. They, rather bluntly, suggested I should stick to talking about birth control. These were the same people with whom I had previously had several conversations about how evil this industry is. Some of them had lost daughters to blood clots because of these very same companies.

I didn’t understand how someone could so clearly see that an industry is putting profits ahead of safety with one product but still be willing to completely trust those same companies and government agencies in the development of another product – especially one where dubious changes to the development protocol put the product’s safety into question from the outset.

The Problem with Compartments

This opened my eyes to a problem I hadn’t previously considered. Several large groups exist which focus on raising awareness related to particular drugs and their respective side effects. The passionate members of each group usually get involved either because they or someone very close to them was injured by said drug. Various groups are dedicated to injuries related to everything from acne drugs to SSRIs and from statins to birth control.

Their memberships can number in the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, but, as passionate as they are, they are also segregated and compartmentalized from all the other groups. Meanwhile, Big Pharma is organized and well-funded in their defense against these disjointed advocacy groups.

I have long thought that many of the injuries caused by drugs or faulty practices often fall through the cracks because of specialization and compartmentalization that seems to define Western medicine. Ironically, we, as advocates, may not be as efficient at raising awareness as we could be because we, too, are overly compartmentalized.

What if we found a way to be more unified in our pushback against the drug companies?

I’m not sure exactly what that might look like, but I feel more confident in its feasibility after speaking with Mike Koehler.

An Oft Repeated Error

When Mike’s son, Bradley, reached third grade, it was like someone flipped a light switch. He went from a student whose teachers loved him to a complete nightmare. Seemingly overnight, Bradley’s emotions filled with rage. He began punching other students and acting out in ways that found him facing constant discipline at school, and at home.

As first time parents, Mike and his wife were at a loss. They began questioning their parenting skills. Maybe they weren’t fit to be parents. Maybe Bradley was just really late at going through his terrible twos. Maybe something happened to him that he was having trouble processing… But, when he started suffering seizures, they knew this was something more than just behavioral issues.

Eventually, they pieced together the events that led to Bradley’s change. He had been dealing with bouts of constipation, and their pediatrician recommended he start taking a little MiraLAX each day. This is a pretty common and seemingly innocuous recommendation from pediatricians, but the Koehlers were certain this is where their problems began.

Mike soon found a large group of other parents whose children had suffered serious neurological injuries at the hands of MiraLAX. He heard many stories similar to his and some that were much worse, including suicides and a 14-year old who killed his father.

He didn’t know it at the time, but MiraLAX had been approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for adults over 17, with the stipulation that it not be taken for longer than two weeks. Also, because we all tend to trust that our pediatrician would not recommend something if it was dangerous, Mike had not looked into the key ingredient in MiraLAX.

But, we will get to that in a moment.

Outside the Box

As is so often the case when a pharmaceutical product injures someone, the Koehlers had trouble finding a doctor who could or would help them. In fact, several doctors gaslighted them and acted like these parents simply didn’t want to admit their child was a troublemaker. 

In their frustration, the Koehlers continued digging and found another group of parents dealing with a very similar issue – not related to MiraLAX.

The children in this group experienced immediate changes to their personalities, just like Bradley. And, just like the Koehlers, their parents didn’t have much luck finding answers — until Dr. Susan Swedo found a connection. She discovered that all of these children had suffered from a streptococcal infection prior to developing these severe neurological issues and deduced that the auto antibodies resulting from the disease had triggered what she began calling Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS).

Upon discovering PANDAS, the Koehlers saw enough similarities with their son’s symptoms to glean their first ray of hope since his episodes started. Armed with new information, they worked to help repopulate his gut bacteria and began to see progress almost immediately.

As Mike shared their story with me and began telling me about the PANDAS-like symptoms, he recommended I watch a documentary on PANDAS, entitled My Kid Is Not Crazy.

This struck me as unusual. You don’t often hear an advocate for a particular cause (myself included) steering you toward another cause – even if the two causes are very similar.

Healing Derailment

Bradley continued to improve. Many of his symptoms disappeared as they managed to restore his gut health. 

However, he found himself in the hospital for another issue that January. The medical team cleansed his bowels with a product called, GoLYTELY, which is most commonly used to cleanse the colon prior to scoping.

What the Koehlers didn’t realize is that the active ingredient in GoLYTELY is polyethylene glycol (PEG), the same active ingredient as MiraLAX. Bradley’s body responded violently. He suffered more than 20 seizures over the next five days. Clearly, PEG played a major role in Bradley’s troubles.

As Mike described the seizures to me, we found ourselves on another tangent. He said the seizures were similar to those of an epileptic. Then, he explained that research has shown that there is a link between deteriorated gut microbiome, short chain fatty acids, and childhood epilepsy.

Once again, here is the MiraLAX advocate diverting attention to similarities with another group, those with childhood epilepsy. These tangents ultimately proved to be beneficial because they helped Mike see the underlying connection to the gut microbiome. They may not have given him a final solution for his son, but they gave him guidance for his continued sleuthing.

The PEG Problem

It seems almost absurd that a bottle of MiraLAX is pure polyethylene glycol (PEG 3350). Even if you’ve never heard of it, that chemical compound may sound familiar. That’s because ethylene glycol (EG) is the main ingredient in antifreeze. Sincerely, how does one get something like this approved as a drug for human consumption.

In my mind’s eye, I picture Billy Crystal as Miracle Max in Princess Bride presenting findings to the FDA, but instead of saying, “He’s only mostly dead,” Max says, “It’s only mostly poison. There’s a big difference between mostly poison and all poison.”

Of course, everyone knows that EG is poisonous. You freak out if your dogs get near it after antifreeze drips onto the garage floor. Its consumption (by dogs or humans) increases acid levels in the bloodstream, which ultimately leads to organ failure – specifically the liver, kidneys, lungs, and brain – and often results in death.

However, when Big Industry polymerizes this highly toxic main ingredient of antifreeze into a new molecular chain, they tell us it results in a new compound that is “non-toxic, colorless, inert, odorless, non-volatile…” and highly soluble. 

During the process, they can influence the molecular weight of the polymerized compound by manipulating the length of the chain. The differing weights have slightly different characteristics and are identified by the subsequent number that reflects their molecular weight. For example, I mentioned earlier that MiraLAX is pure PEG 3350, and, for now, that is where we will keep our focus.

Chronic Constipation in Kids

While a lot of the medical affirmation that the Koehlers found early in their research was still considered controversial (PANDAS) or even quackery by the establishment, the first ‘mainstream’ resource they found that directly supported their concern about MiraLAX’s effect on their son came from Dr. Kent Williams at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Where did they find him? He was interviewed for a front page article in the New York Times, which finally scrutinized the wisdom of using MiraLAX for children.

Dr. Williams specializes in gastrointestinal issues among children with autism (Another beneficial tangent). Children diagnosed with autism tend to suffer from severe, sometimes chronic, constipation. Consequently, many of these patients find themselves also taking MiraLAX chronically at the suggestion of their doctor.

Here is what Dr. Williams told the Times:

“‘Every pediatric GI physician, I would guarantee you, has told a family this is a safe product,’ … Now, he worries, ‘it may not be true.’”

The article went on to explain that the FDA had never approved longterm use of PEG 3350 in anyone. Furthermore, it was never approved for pediatric use, period. As a result, there was very little scientific data to examine its effect on children.

However, the good news was that “the agency (FDA) awarded nearly $325,000 to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to study whether PEG 3350 might be absorbed by the very young and whether use of the laxatives is linked to development of psychiatric problems.”

Study co-investigator, Dr. Ritu Verma added, “It’s a medicine that helps a fair number of children. We want to be sure it’s not harming them.”

The only problem is that the article came out in 2015 and, nearly a decade later, MiraLAX families still have no answers. Dr. Verma no longer practices at CHOP. And, after years of dubious changes to the study’s timeline, the most recent update shows that the study started in September 2022 and completed in May 2024.

The findings should be interesting when and if they are published.

Mounting Evidence

It’s worth noting that in the FDA’s original brief to researchers they disclosed that they had sampled eight batches of MiraLAX and found small amounts of the toxins, EG and diethylene glycol (DEG) in all of them. Yet, pediatric gastroenterologists continue to this day, only half-jokingly, referring to it as “Vitamin M.”

While science and government agencies drag their feet, PEGs, along with their toxic byproducts, continue injuring children (and adults). Whether or not anyone funds the science to support it, parents like the Koehlers know the dangers inherent in these products, as do doctors like Kent Williams MD, who have seen the tragic consequences.

The Koehlers and their son will spend a lifetime reading labels diligently. Remember, PEG comes in a multitude of molecular weights and can be found in all sorts of commonly used products like shaving cream, deodorant, toothpaste, lipstick, bubble bath, baby shampoo, and baby wipes.

Bad Burns

Obviously, conducting the study and sharing the results lacks any urgency among the powers that be, and while we wait to see the findings, they will continue feeding us the narrative that PEGs are non-toxic, non-volatile, and inert. However, to do this, they must also continue to ignore the warning signs that have been coming from good doctors like Dr. Williams, and, previously, from Dr. David Bruns.

In 1982, the promise of PEGs sounded like a perfect vehicle for a new cream to treat badly burned patients. The theory was that the cream would penetrate deep into the burn wounds to deliver antimicrobials and reduce the risk of infection. Dr. Bruns witnessed three patients die from this cream, and he raised the red flag.

He began to suspect PEG after eliminating other potential sources of toxicity in these patients. They had ultimately died from kidney failure, and autopsies confirmed they all had EG in their blood stream. But, their deaths could be attributed to more than just EG poisoning. Dr. Bruns and his team discovered a high ‘calcium gap,’ which they identified as more of a signature related to PEG. Essentially, the dicarboxylic acid metabolites of PEG pulled calcium from their bones, overloading the kidneys with calcium and causing failure. This outcome replicated what had happened to rabbits involved in PEG animal studies.

The dangers of PEG are not limited to children, and they are not limited to those who use it as a laxative. Its danger is not simply from EG and DEG as contaminants, although they also pose a threat. PEG is being used in products we ingest, rub on our skin, and inhale from our surroundings. They are ubiquitous. Perhaps that is what inspired Mike to be so open-minded in his research.

In the end, his perseverance and open-mindedness paid dividends for his son, who recovered and is now doing well.

Oh, and just to drive home how ubiquitous they are, that fast tracked jabby-jab that triggered my philosophical crisis also contains PEG.

One Final Tangent

I first spoke with Mike several months ago and have been contemplating how I could incorporate his keen awareness of ‘tangents’ into the work I am doing. My research does not need to focus solely on birth control. Many young women start birth control to try and control their acne. So, who knows what I could discover by diving deeper into the issues surrounding Accutane.

Or, I could stick with birth control but dig deeper into the reprehensible practice of prescribing it as a supposed treatment for menopause. 

In short, I am challenging myself and would like to challenge other advocates who are pushing back against the medical machine to be more open-minded and less compartmentalized.

As further inspiration, I recently received an email from Mike. It was a short and sweet ‘hey, I saw this and thought of you’ email. He shared a paper that explored how PEG hypersensitivity is usually triggered by molecular weights of 3350 or higher. Aside from laxatives, one of the top drugs triggering severe allergic reactions is depo-methylprednisolone (DMPA), the injectable birth control. By the way, DMPAs, like Depo-Provera, also carry a black box warning over-and-above other forms of birth control because of its effect on bone mineral density… Hmm.

I can think of no better example to demonstrate why it is important to break down the barriers between our compartments. Mike is fighting a completely different battle with the drug companies than I am, but when he stumbled across an important morsel of information related to birth control, he knew he had a comrade who could find it useful.

Simply by making connections with other advocates and learning about their causes, we can build a network that makes each of us stronger in our individual battles.

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