I just read this, and am interested in finding out more about these herbs, they were recommended by my Alt. Med Dr. I see this post was from almost a month ago. Would you mind emailing me so I can ask you some questions? Thank you!

Thanks for replying. The very first phase my Alternative Med (Chiro/Chinese Med) Dr. wanted me to do was colon cleansing, and in particular working at getting the mucoid layer expelled. He put me on Cascara Plus, which is
150 mg Cascara sagrade
50 mg Chinese Rhubarb root
50 mg Plum fruit
50 mg Senna leaf
50mg Triphala (blend of Armia fruit, belleric Myrobalan fruit and myrobalan fruit
25 mg barberry root bark
25 mg caraway seed
25 mg dandelion root
25 mg fenugreek seed

One capsule at bedtime.
It has worked as you said-- about 30 minutes after eating, the "urge" hits.
I was on it before starting on the Barefoot Herbalist dewormer- and the first week of being on the wormer, I don't know if it was the mucoid layer, or an intestinal tape worm, but I expelled something black, about 1 ft 1/2 long- looked like balls, with thread attaching them. And I have definetly had the hard, rubbery, black that I'm for positive is the mucoid layer.

I have read of people that are doing a parasite cleanse, and are constipated, and the amount of parasites I have expelled (liver flukes especially) I can't imagine what toxins that must cause if they are impacted in the bowel!

My father has had trouble with constipation to the point of having to call an ambulance for himself (lives by himself), for a bowel impaction. He also started on the Cascara plus about 2 weeks ago, and has been amazed that he has lost 10#! And, he's already passing what he's sure is mucoid layer, and he feels much better already! He's just started the deworming now too.

I've been happy with the success I've had with it, and am not concerned about dependency, I've used it to help clean out the colon, and get the bowels moving several times a day, and along with that we've started raw vegetable juicing, and I have been very careful about what I eat in trying to get my liver healed from the parasites, and bad congestion ( Liver Flushes etc). For 10 weeks I totally cut out dairy, red meat, preservatives ( nitrates ), and still have no refined sugar- I've added a very small amount of dairy and meat back, but I raised a large garden and ate out of it all summer. I've also been on Premier Labs nano liver and gall bladder detox (also by the Alt. Med Dr) and Okra Pepsin. It's still going to take time to heal, I've been ill with my liver for 2 years before I discovered how bad the parasites have been.

I now know what bowels are supposed to work like, and feel much better for what it's done for me in helping to get things cleaned out. I now know that as long as the bowel is not cleaning things out properly, the liver is having to filter, and refilter alot of toxins, plus if there are eggs/parasites, a bowel that is functioning several times a day is going to help keep them flushing out.

I'm not afraid of using the cascara/senna; it's been a wonderful tool for me to help get me on track for healing my liver. I don't plan on using it full time- but it's definetly helped cleans the colon of alot of build up stuff that I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten out otherwise. My Alt. Med Dr. had wanted me on it 2 months, and it was at about 5 weeks that I started seeing the mucoid layer.

Yes, the castor oil packs have really been a blessing for the raw spots in my abdomen caused by the parasites.

Thanks for getting back to me!

After writing what I just did, I forgot to get to the question I was going to ask concerning my 76 yr old father, and 80 yr old mother in law. The Cascara plus has already been a great help to my father, in just 2 weeks. And, I want to clarify that the bowel movements with the Cascara plus have not been diarrhea, but from what my Alternative medicine Dr. and other's on Cure zone have said, bowels that are functioning properly should work several times a day- and should have that "urge" hit the bowels about 1/2 an hour after putting food in the stomach.

I'm sure in reading the information on the Barefoot Herbalist's site, that he doesn't feel that cascara, as you said, used properly is a concern for a longer period of time.

If my 76 year old father is, for the first time in his life, able to have "easy" bowel movements where there is no straining, and is, again, for the first time in his life able to have all that built up stuff moved out of his bowel, and continuing to keep moving out of his bowel..wouldn't it be better for him to keep using the Cascara, even if it's for a longer period of time?

My 80 year old mother-in-law has constipation to the point of bleeding, and I'm going to share with her what success my father has had, and although I had what I considered "regular" bowel movements prior to the herbs, how it's helped me as well.

If I'm reading your post right, you don't have a concern about the invalid being on it for a longer term? I'm thinking it's better to have things moving on out!

I just thought of one more question.
My 50 year old brother has seen the success my father has been having with the cascara plus, and because of an ever growing belly that he can't seem to "diet" away, he also wanted to start the colon cleansing. I had also forgot to mention that the Alt. Med Dr. has had me also taking a product called Fiber Fusion, which contains Psyllium etc at bedtime.

The Cascara Plus was a product I got from the Alt. Med Dr. and it contains the senna, along with other herbs...however, unless the Dr. has more on hand, I tried to find the product by the company name on the internet, and I'm not sure they are making it anymore.

My brother just bought a bottle of the plain Cascara...and is taking psyllium. But, if his goal is to also get the colon cleansed of the mucoid layer and build up, should he also be taking some Senna? Or would just the Cascara and psyllium work to do that? Same question if I'm no longer to get the Cascara Plus for my mother-in-law, if she's been as plugged up as she has been for so many years (to the point of "fissures" or cracks, and bleeding from straining- does she also need both senna and cascara- and psyllium? All she does right now is prune juice.

My brother is also going to start the deworming after he's been doing this for several weeks.

Thanks for your patience in answering the questions I keep thinking of...sorry to drag it on.