House (TV Show) diagnosed my mother or Gum is a Laxative?!

Fans of the show House, have you ever been watching and thought, "oh hey that sounds familiar."

My husband just recently started watching House. He started with the first episode and is now into Season 2. We were watching one episode and a "patient" had very similar symptoms/problems as my mother.

The patient stated that he thought maybe he should start smoking again as his problems with his bowels didn't start until after he quit smoking. He was experiencing severe diarrhea several times a day.

House asked him how many packs he used. Then clarified that he meant gum. The man was chewing around 7-8 packs of sugar free gum a day.

House informed the patient that he was "poisoning" himself. He said that the artificial sweetener in the gum, Sorbitol, acts as a laxative! (Which I looked up and it's true. Chewing 15+ peice a day can cause diarrhea, gas, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, and fructose mal-absorption- which can cause depression and eye pain).

At a recent appointment with the doctor, my mother mentioned her problem with diarrhea. She has diarrhea sometimes more then 3-4 times a day. There is hardly a day that goes by that she doesn't have this problem.

The doctor really wasn't sure what was causing it. Well guess what? My mother is also an ex-smoker who chews a good 60-80 pieces of sugar free Eclipse gum a day!

Who knew? Maybe this isn't all of her problem, but I sure bet it isn't helping. Thanks House! haha.