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Diarrhea Causes, What Causes Diarrhea?Diarrhea is one of the causes significant suffering throughout the world and is also common to different illnesses ranging from gastroenteritis to IBS or the Irritable Bowel Syndrome to systemic illnesses. We look at what causes of diarrhea in more detail and ways of trying to help improve your symptoms. I’m also going to look at diarrhea medicines and which medicines really work. What causes 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 typesThere 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 (most drugs can cause diarrhea), diet indiscretions or an acute form of inflammatory bowel disease, although chronic diarrhea causes always have a beginning too! 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 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 may be part of abnormal motility , although it is really an entity in its own right! Coloured diarrheaSufferers 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) does 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 a colonoscopy procedure , flexible Sigmoidoscopy , CT colonography or barium enema . Again, click on the links for further information. Treatments for diarrheaMedicine for diarrhoea depends 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 . 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). These medicines do work to stop diarrhea, but should only be taken on discussion with your doctor, particularly if looking at using them in the longer term. With IBS, the diarrhea is usually a problem 1st thing in the morning and it is sometimes better to let it pass, rather than taking a drug. However, this is not always possible, so I usually suggest taking an antidiarrheal at bedtime. This often helps to reduce the morning frequency or severity that sometimes occurs. Some people also look at diet for diarrhea , including reducing dairy products, gluten free diets, low fat diets and many others to try to stop diarrhea and you can read more about this on the site. Feedback About Your Experience of Diarrhea To Help Others
Feedback about diarrhea and how you manage it to help other sufferers! By feeding back you are letting other sufferers know your experiences of diarrhea and also contributing to the IBS Help Online community. You may be helped from the comments from others too! To Return From Diarrhea Causes To IBS Symptoms Click Here To Return To The IBS Help Online Homepage Click Here |
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