Senna is a stimulant laxative made from the senna plant; its active ingredients are sennosides. It is sold over the counter with a Drug Facts label, as Senokot and store-brand tablets, to relieve occasional constipation.
Also known as: sennosides, Senokot, standardized senna concentrate.
Regular-strength senna tablets contain 8.6 mg of sennosides. Maximum-strength tablets contain 25 mg.
The regular-strength (8.6 mg) Drug Facts label says senna relieves occasional constipation and generally produces a bowel movement in 6 to 12 hours. It is taken preferably at bedtime. For adults and children 12 and older the label gives a starting dose of 2 tablets once a day and a maximum of 4 tablets twice a day; children 6 to under 12 start at 1 tablet once a day (maximum 2 tablets twice a day), children 2 to under 6 at half a tablet once a day (maximum 1 tablet twice a day), and under 2 years ask a doctor.
The labels say not to use laxatives for more than 1 week unless a doctor says so, to ask a doctor first with stomach pain, nausea, vomiting or a change in bowel habits lasting over 2 weeks, and to stop and ask a doctor if there is rectal bleeding or no bowel movement, which may signal a serious condition. The maximum-strength label adds that laxatives may affect how other drugs work, so it is taken 2 or more hours before or after other medicines.
In a 28-day trial in 90 adults with chronic constipation (Morishita 2021), overall symptoms improved in 69% of people on senna, 68% on magnesium oxide and 12% on placebo, with no severe treatment-related side effects. If you are dealing with constipation on a GLP-1 medicine, see constipation on GLP-1 medicines.
The Drug Facts labels give no half-life or time to peak. They say senna generally produces a bowel movement within 6 to 12 hours.
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