"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Vibrating pill might help with constipation

February 9, 2023 – A brand new vibration pill proven to assist with constipation is now available.

The drug-free solution is designed for every day use. In one study, the pill resulted in at the very least one extra bowel movement per week in 41% of participants, compared with at the very least one extra bowel movement in 23% of participants taking a placebo pill.

Vibrant was approved by the FDA in August but is simply now available to doctors with a prescription, the corporate announced Wednesday.

Because Vibrant just isn’t a drug, the FDA considers it a Class 2 medical device, the identical class as contact lenses.

Here's how it really works: Before going to bed, the pill is placed in a capsule to activate it after which swallowed. It travels through the digestive tract and reaches the big intestine about 14 hours later.

“Then it’s time to get to work,” the corporate explained in a Press release“After ingestion, it is active for about two hours, then goes silent for about six hours, and then is activated again for another two hours.”

“It emits light vibrations for 3 seconds on, 3 seconds off,” Cathy Collis, chief industrial officer of Israel-based Vibrant Gastro, said in a press release.

The vibrations help trigger peristalsis, the wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the gastrointestinal tract, the corporate said. peristalsis is a reason behind constipationwhich, based on the Cleveland Clinic, is defined as fewer than three bowel movements per week.

About 2.5 million people go to the doctor every year for constipation. The pills are manufactured from a fabric the corporate describes as “medically grade” and which can also be used to make gastroenterology cameras.

Most people within the study didn’t report feeling the pill inside them.

“A minority could feel it,” said Dr. Eamonn Quigley, chief of gastroenterology at Houston Methodist Hospital, in a press release. “None of them found it unpleasant. And none of them stopped taking it because of it.”

Quigley helped test the capsules and, based on Vibrant, has no financial interest in the corporate.

The pills don’t dissolve in an individual's body. Rather, “the person's body excretes them after they have done their job and they are flushed away,” the corporate said.