diarrhea causes, medicine for diarrhea including ibs or the irritable bowel syndrome

Diarrhea causes significant suffering throughout the world and is common in ibs or the irritable bowel syndrome . Medicine for diarrhea (diarrhoea medicine) is readily available and this will be discussed in this article. Causes of diarrhea will also be discussed and ways in which you can try to stop diarrhea .

What is diarrhea?

Diarrhea is defined in various ways, but most of my patients define diarrhea as going to the toilet to open their bowels too frequently and/or producing loose to watery stools. Technically, the diagnosis of diarrhea is made if the stool weight is greater than 250g a day, although in practice this is rarely confirmed.

Diarrhea types

There are various diarrhea types which can be classified in many ways. I like to classify them into either acute or chronic diarrhea causes. Acute diarrhea (sudden onset and usually short-lived) is usually due to infection, drugs, diet indiscretion or an acute form of inflammatory bowel disease, although chronic diarrhea causes always have a beginning! Chronic diarrhea causes are numerous, but are commonly characterised as osmotic diarrhea (water pulled into the bowel due to hypertonic, non-absorbed substances in the bowel lumen), secretory diarrhea (where the bowel passes excessive secretions into the bowel in the form of fluids and salts or ‘electrolytes’, inflammatory diarrhea (due to damage to the bowel wall) and abnormal motility (the bowel moves by a process called peristalsis and this can be increased or decreased). Ibs diarrhea maybe part of abnormal motility, although it is really an entity in its own right!

Coloured diarrhea

Sufferers often define their diarrhea by color. Some complain of yellow diarrhea , green diarrhea and black diarrhea or maybe bloody diarrhea . For more information on what causes diarrhea like this, click on the links to reveal more.

What investigations are required for diarrhea?

Acute diarrhea is usually self-limiting and doesn’t usually require further investigation unless it either doesn’t settle or causes more extreme illness. Causes of diarrhea in chronic (continuing diarrhea) do need investigating and your doctor will be able to help you with this. The degree of investigation depends on your history, but you may require blood tests, a stool sample and referral to a gastroenterologist for further investigations such as colonoscopy , flexible Sigmoidoscopy , CT or barium enema .

Treatments for diarrhea

Treatments for diarrhea depend on the underlying cause. In acute diarrhea, by far the most important treatment is fluids to keep you hydrated and electrolytes (salts) and sugar to prevent further dehydration and its complications. Drinking at least 3L’s a day should be considered as loss of fluid is not only from the diarrhea, but also from sweating and a natural tendency not to drink so much! If the diarrhea cause is thought to be drug induced, withdrawal of the drug after discussion with your doctor should be considered. Treatment should always be directed at the underlying cause, but if this is not possible, as in ibs or irritable bowel syndrome , then trying to alleviate symptoms should be considered by using medicine for diarrhea (diarrhea). This is usually in the form of antidiarrheals (diarrhoea medicine) such as loperamide (Imodium) , Codeine Phosphate , Kaolin and Morphine, or more unusual treatments such as cholestyramine (Questran). Some people look at diet for diarrhea , including reducing dairy products, gluten free diets, low fat diets and many others to try to stop diarrhea .

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