Depends on the laxative.Osmotic laxatives can usually be used more frequently, even daily as all they do is add water to the stool. A lot of people here find daily magnesium supplements (the regular ones in the supplement aisle) can help keep things regular. Even at the USRDA of 400 mgs (what you should get every day anyway) they find that is enough to get extra water in the stool to keep it going. A full dose of Milk of Magnesia will be a higher dose of magnesium and every so often that is OK, but if you do magnesium regularly you want to stay under 1000 mgs a day. Prescription lactulose and miralax are osmotics as well and can be taken regularly and you don't have the getting too much magenisum issue.With Stimulatory Laxatives (Ex-lax, senna, cascara, aloe latex) we know that daily or near daily use over time can be a problem. Once or twice a month is probably fully in the safe zone. Once a week may be OK, but I would try to do that as the upper limit of what you use. If you find that it stops working, do not up the dose, but back off and use osmotic laxatives only for awhile until things seem to be back to the usual amount of constipation.K.