Osmotic laxatives

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Dumb question...I'm prescribing a lot of inpatient bowel regimens right now and have a question that I guess never really came up in med school or internship. I understand the basic principles of different bowel meds (bulk forming, emollient, osmotic, stimulant, etc).

What is the real difference between milk of magnesia and mag citrate? In my limited tenure it seems mag citrate is a bit more powerful but I didn't know if there was anything other than that.

 

[zenman]

Crap. For a minute there I thought you said, "Obama laxative." 😀