What is diarrhea? What causes it? How can you treat and manage diarrhea symptoms?. Explore the common causes, serious symptoms, and effective treatments for diarrhea.

What is Diarrhea?

Diarrhea is a common condition characterized by frequent, loose, and watery bowel movements. It is a common occurrence, with many people experiencing it a few times a year. Diarrhea is usually not a serious condition and can be caused by a variety of factors, including viral infections, food allergies, or underlying digestive disorders.

Common Causes of Diarrhea

There are several common causes of diarrhea, including:

• Viral infections: The most common cause of diarrhea is a viral infection, such as the “stomach flu” or “intestinal flu”.
• Bacterial infections: Certain bacteria, such as those that cause food poisoning, can also lead to diarrhea.
• Foodborne illnesses: Consuming contaminated or spoiled food can cause diarrhea as the body tries to expel the harmful substances.
• Medication side effects: Some medications, such as antibiotics, can disrupt the digestive system and lead to diarrhea.
• Underlying digestive disorders: Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, or ulcerative colitis can cause chronic or recurring diarrhea.
• Malabsorption: Difficulties in absorbing certain nutrients, such as lactose, can result in diarrhea.
• Stress and anxiety: Emotional stress and anxiety can also trigger or worsen diarrhea.

Symptoms of Diarrhea

The primary symptom of diarrhea is frequent, loose, and watery bowel movements. Other common symptoms of diarrhea include:

• Abdominal bloating and cramps
• Nausea and vomiting
• Urgent need to have a bowel movement
• Loss of appetite
• Dehydration (in severe cases)

Serious Symptoms of Diarrhea

While diarrhea is usually not a serious condition, in some cases, it can be a sign of a more severe underlying health problem. Seek immediate medical attention if you experience any of the following serious symptoms:

• Blood or mucus in the stool
• Severe abdominal pain or cramping
• Fever above 101°F (38.3°C)
• Persistent diarrhea lasting more than 2 days
• Severe dehydration, such as dark urine, dry mouth, or dizziness
• Diarrhea after returning from a foreign country

Diagnosing the Cause of Diarrhea

To determine the cause of diarrhea, your healthcare provider may perform the following tests:

• Medical history and physical examination
• Blood tests to check for underlying conditions
• Stool tests to identify the presence of bacteria, parasites, or other pathogens
• Endoscopic procedures, such as a colonoscopy, to examine the digestive tract

Treating Diarrhea

The treatment for diarrhea depends on the underlying cause and the severity of the symptoms. In mild cases, the following self-care measures may be effective:

• Staying hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids, such as water, broth, or electrolyte-rich drinks
• Avoiding dairy products, fatty, or spicy foods that may worsen diarrhea
• Taking over-the-counter anti-diarrheal medications, such as bismuth subsalicylate or loperamide
• Consuming probiotic-rich foods or supplements to help restore gut health

For more severe or persistent cases of diarrhea, prescription medications or additional medical treatment may be necessary. It’s important to consult with your healthcare provider to determine the appropriate treatment plan.

Managing Diarrhea Symptoms

In addition to treating the underlying cause of diarrhea, there are several ways to manage the symptoms and provide relief:

• Applying a soothing, over-the-counter cream or ointment to the affected rectal area to alleviate discomfort
• Taking a warm bath or sitz bath to soothe the rectal area
• Avoiding excessive wiping, which can further irritate the skin
• Drinking small, frequent sips of fluids to prevent dehydration
• Incorporating easy-to-digest, low-fiber foods into your diet, such as bananas, rice, applesauce, or toast

Diarrhea is a common and often temporary condition that can be effectively managed with the right approach. By understanding the causes, symptoms, and appropriate treatments, you can take steps to address diarrhea and minimize its impact on your daily life.

15 Common Causes and How To Treat It

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

• What Is Diarrhea?
• Diarrhea Causes
• Diarrhea Symptoms
• Serious Symptoms of Diarrhea
• When to See a Doctor for Diarrhea
• Diarrhea Diagnosis
• Treatment for Diarrhea
• Relief From Diarrhea Symptoms
• When Diarrhea Won’t Go Away
• More

When you have diarrhea, your bowel movements (or stools) are loose and watery. It’s common and usually not serious.

Many people get diarrhea a few times a year. It normally lasts 2 to 3 days. Some people get it more often. That could be because they have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or other conditions.

Usually, diarrhea happens because of a virus that gets into your gut. Some people call it “intestinal flu” or “stomach flu.”

Other causes include:

• Allergies to certain foods
• Diseases of the intestines (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
• Eating foods that upset the digestive system
• Infection by bacteria (the cause of most types of food poisoning) or other organisms
• Laxative abuse
• Running (Some people get “runner’s diarrhea” for reasons that aren’t clear. )
• Some cancers
• Surgery on your digestive system
• Trouble absorbing certain nutrients, also called “malabsorption”

Diarrhea may also follow constipation, especially for people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

You may have:

• Bloating in your belly
• Thin or loose stools
• Watery stools
• An urgent feeling that you need to have a bowel movement
• Nausea and throwing up

Most cases of diarrhea are nothing more than a brief inconvenience. But sometimes, they warn of a serious condition. Talk with your doctor if your child has diarrhea for more than 24 hours. If you have it for more than 3 days, make an appointment.

Also, be sure to let your doctor know about your diarrhea if you have cancer, or have had recent treatment for it.

More serious symptoms of diarrhea include:

• Blood or mucus in your stool
• Weight loss

If you have watery stools more than three times a day and you’re not drinking enough fluids, you could become dehydrated. That can be a serious problem if it’s not treated.

Call your doctor right away if you have:

• Blood in your diarrhea or black, tarry stools
• A fever that is high (above 101 F) or that lasts more than 24 hours
• Diarrhea lasting longer than 2 days
• Nausea or throwing up that prevents you from drinking liquids to replace lost fluids
• Severe pain in your belly (especially the right lower quadrant) or rear end
• Diarrhea after coming back from a foreign country

These can be warning signs of things like:

• Infection
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Pancreatitis
• Colon cancer

Also, call your doctor right away if you have diarrhea and any of these signs of dehydration:

• Dark urine
• Smaller than usual amounts of urine or, in a child, fewer wet diapers than usual
• Rapid heart rate
• Headaches
• Dry skin
• Crankiness
• Confusion

Your doctor will ask about your medical history and what medications you take, as well as what you’ve eaten or had to drink recently. They will give you a physical exam to look for signs of dehydration or belly pain.

Certain tests can help pinpoint the cause of your diarrhea, including:

• Blood tests to look for certain diseases or disorders
• Colonoscopy, in rare cases, in which your doctor looks inside your colon with a thin, flexible tube that holds a tiny camera and light. They can also use this device to take a small sample of tissue. Or your doctor might need to do only a sigmoidoscopy, which looks at just the lower colon.
• Stool tests to look for bacteria or parasites

If your case is mild, you may not need to take anything. Adults can take an over-the-counter medicine such as bismuth subsalicylate or loperamide, which you can get as liquids or tablets.

You also need to stay hydrated. You should drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of fluids each day. Choose electrolyte replacement drinks or soda without caffeine. Chicken broth (without the fat), tea with honey, and sports drinks are also good choices. Instead of drinking liquids with your meals, drink liquids between meals. Sip small amounts of fluids often. Liquid probiotics may also help.

Your rectal area may become sore because of all the bowel movements that diarrhea brings. You may have itching, burning, or pain when you go to the bathroom.

For relief, take a warm bath or sitz bath. Afterward, pat the area dry (don’t rub) with a clean, soft towel. You may also try using a hemorrhoid cream or petroleum jelly on the affected area. If this continues for several days, you should contact your doctor.

If you still have diarrhea after 4 weeks, then you have chronic diarrhea.

To figure out the cause, your doctor will want to know your symptoms and medical history. You’ll get the most out of your appointment if you can tell them:

• How long you’ve had diarrhea
• Whether your diarrhea comes and goes, or is continuous
• If you think certain foods and situations make things better or worse
• If your stool looks bloody, oily, fatty, or watery
• Other symptoms you have and how long you’ve had them
• If you have a family history of chronic diarrhea
• Places you’ve traveled to recently
• Unusual foods you’ve tried in the last little while
• Any medication or supplements you’re taking
• If you’ve lost a lot of weight

Top Picks

15 Common Causes and How To Treat It

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

• What Is Diarrhea?
• Diarrhea Causes
• Diarrhea Symptoms
• Serious Symptoms of Diarrhea
• When to See a Doctor for Diarrhea
• Diarrhea Diagnosis
• Treatment for Diarrhea
• Relief From Diarrhea Symptoms
• When Diarrhea Won’t Go Away
• More

When you have diarrhea, your bowel movements (or stools) are loose and watery. It’s common and usually not serious.

Many people get diarrhea a few times a year. It normally lasts 2 to 3 days. Some people get it more often. That could be because they have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or other conditions.

Usually, diarrhea happens because of a virus that gets into your gut. Some people call it “intestinal flu” or “stomach flu.”

Other causes include:

• Allergies to certain foods
• Diseases of the intestines (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
• Eating foods that upset the digestive system
• Infection by bacteria (the cause of most types of food poisoning) or other organisms
• Laxative abuse
• Running (Some people get “runner’s diarrhea” for reasons that aren’t clear.)
• Some cancers
• Surgery on your digestive system
• Trouble absorbing certain nutrients, also called “malabsorption”

Diarrhea may also follow constipation, especially for people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

You may have:

• Bloating in your belly
• Thin or loose stools
• Watery stools
• An urgent feeling that you need to have a bowel movement
• Nausea and throwing up

Most cases of diarrhea are nothing more than a brief inconvenience. But sometimes, they warn of a serious condition. Talk with your doctor if your child has diarrhea for more than 24 hours. If you have it for more than 3 days, make an appointment.

Also, be sure to let your doctor know about your diarrhea if you have cancer, or have had recent treatment for it.

More serious symptoms of diarrhea include:

• Blood or mucus in your stool
• Weight loss

If you have watery stools more than three times a day and you’re not drinking enough fluids, you could become dehydrated. That can be a serious problem if it’s not treated.

Call your doctor right away if you have:

• Blood in your diarrhea or black, tarry stools
• A fever that is high (above 101 F) or that lasts more than 24 hours
• Diarrhea lasting longer than 2 days
• Nausea or throwing up that prevents you from drinking liquids to replace lost fluids
• Severe pain in your belly (especially the right lower quadrant) or rear end
• Diarrhea after coming back from a foreign country

These can be warning signs of things like:

• Infection
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Pancreatitis
• Colon cancer

Also, call your doctor right away if you have diarrhea and any of these signs of dehydration:

• Dark urine
• Smaller than usual amounts of urine or, in a child, fewer wet diapers than usual
• Rapid heart rate
• Headaches
• Dry skin
• Crankiness
• Confusion

Your doctor will ask about your medical history and what medications you take, as well as what you’ve eaten or had to drink recently. They will give you a physical exam to look for signs of dehydration or belly pain.

Certain tests can help pinpoint the cause of your diarrhea, including:

• Blood tests to look for certain diseases or disorders
• Colonoscopy, in rare cases, in which your doctor looks inside your colon with a thin, flexible tube that holds a tiny camera and light. They can also use this device to take a small sample of tissue. Or your doctor might need to do only a sigmoidoscopy, which looks at just the lower colon.
• Stool tests to look for bacteria or parasites

If your case is mild, you may not need to take anything. Adults can take an over-the-counter medicine such as bismuth subsalicylate or loperamide, which you can get as liquids or tablets.

You also need to stay hydrated. You should drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of fluids each day. Choose electrolyte replacement drinks or soda without caffeine. Chicken broth (without the fat), tea with honey, and sports drinks are also good choices. Instead of drinking liquids with your meals, drink liquids between meals. Sip small amounts of fluids often. Liquid probiotics may also help.

Your rectal area may become sore because of all the bowel movements that diarrhea brings. You may have itching, burning, or pain when you go to the bathroom.

For relief, take a warm bath or sitz bath. Afterward, pat the area dry (don’t rub) with a clean, soft towel. You may also try using a hemorrhoid cream or petroleum jelly on the affected area. If this continues for several days, you should contact your doctor.

If you still have diarrhea after 4 weeks, then you have chronic diarrhea.

To figure out the cause, your doctor will want to know your symptoms and medical history. You’ll get the most out of your appointment if you can tell them:

• How long you’ve had diarrhea
• Whether your diarrhea comes and goes, or is continuous
• If you think certain foods and situations make things better or worse
• If your stool looks bloody, oily, fatty, or watery
• Other symptoms you have and how long you’ve had them
• If you have a family history of chronic diarrhea
• Places you’ve traveled to recently
• Unusual foods you’ve tried in the last little while
• Any medication or supplements you’re taking
• If you’ve lost a lot of weight

Top Picks

Water diarrhea – causes and treatment of watery diarrhea

Co-author, editor and medical expert – Klimovich Elina Valerievna.

Editor and medical expert – Harutyunyan Mariam Harutyunovna.

Number of views: 1,308,183

Date last updated: 2 Contents:

How water is absorbed in the intestines
Causes of secretory diarrhea
What to do if the diarrhea is watery?

Diarrhea can have different causes, but is always accompanied by changes in intestinal absorption of water and electrolytes. And with secretory diarrhea, this process is not only disrupted, but is replaced by active transport of electrolytes into the intestinal lumen and, after them, water. The osmolar pressure of the intestinal contents becomes lower than the osmolar pressure of the blood plasma. This supports the diffusion of water into the intestinal lumen and is fraught with rapid dehydration due to the development of diarrhea with water. At the same time, the stool is liquid, plentiful (more than 1 liter), defecation is painless, and fasting practically does not change the nature and quantity of bowel movements. If secretory diarrhea is accompanied by malabsorption of bile acids or a decrease in the contractile function of the gallbladder, the watery stool becomes bright yellow or greenish in color. This is called hologenic diarrhea.

How water is absorbed in the intestines

Every day a person consumes about 2 liters of water. It is found not only in drinks, but also in all the foods eaten. In addition, fluid enters the lumen of the digestive tract as part of the digestive secrets. And about 7 liters are released per day! This includes 1.5 liters of saliva and pancreatic juice, 2.5 liters of gastric juice, half a liter of bile and a liter of intestinal secretions. Total enters the intestinal lumen daily up to 9liters of water, and only 100-200 ml (that is, about 2%) of this volume is excreted with feces. The walls of the small intestine absorb up to 80% of all liquid, and 90% of the remaining amount is absorbed in the large intestine.

In this case, water is absorbed secondarily and passively, following the active transport of electrolytes through the walls of the digestive tract. Sodium ions play the most important role in this process, but potassium and chlorine also take an active part. All these electrolytes enter the intestine with food and digestive juices and are actively absorbed. At the same time, the final absorption of water and absorption up to 90% sodium occurs in the large intestine. As a result, rather dense fecal masses are normally formed here.

Causes of secretory diarrhea

Exogenous

• Drugs. Some medications cause watery diarrhea. They increase the osmotic pressure inside the intestine or change the transport of ions in the intestinal wall. Watery diarrhea often occurs when taking laxatives, diuretics, drugs for the treatment of bronchial asthma and thyroid diseases. Cholinergic drugs have a great influence. These include certain myasthenic, cardiotonic, and antihypertensive agents, as well as antidepressants and agents for the treatment of dementia.
• Toxins. Secretory diarrhea can occur against the background of poisoning with fungi, arsenic, organophosphorus compounds, insecticides, alcohol and a number of other drugs.
• Viral and bacterial infections . A number of infections cause watery diarrhea due to exposure to the pathogens themselves and their toxins. These are cholera, yersiniosis, some strains of Escherichia coli and staphylococci that produce enterotoxins.

Endogenous

• Hereditary diseases. There is a congenital secretory pathology (chloridorrhoea, sodium diarrhea), the cause of which lies in the mutation of the genes of intestinal wall transport proteins. The disease manifests itself in a child from birth.
• Hormone-producing tumors. Pathological secretion of ions and water in the intestine can be promoted by some tumors – medullary thyroid carcinoma, VIPoma, gastrinoma, mastocytoma and others.
• Bile salts. Ingestion of non-adsorbed bile acids and free long-chain fatty acids into the large intestine leads to the secretion of water into the intestinal lumen. The reason for this is a violation of the absorption of bile acids in diseases (for example, in Crohn’s disease) or due to a decrease in the absorption area. This happens after resection of more than 100 cm of the ileum.

What if the diarrhea is watery?

Loperamide (active ingredient IMODIUM ^® Express) binds to opiate receptors in the intestinal wall, inhibits the local production of acetylcholine, calmodulin and prostaglandins. Calcium channels are also blocked, the permeability of plasma membranes decreases and the activity of intestinal motility decreases. As a result, the secretion of water into the intestinal lumen is significantly reduced, and its absorption is enhanced. Therefore, IMODIUM ^® Express can be used in the complex treatment of secretory diarrhea (water diarrhea).

The information in this article is for reference only and does not replace professional medical advice. For diagnosis and treatment, contact a qualified specialist.

“Imodium is contraindicated for use in children under 6 years of age.”

See also:

• Bear disease

“Not everything is a poop as it is painted”: in Krasnoyarsk, pawnbrokers disguised drugs as dog excrement

Komsomolskaya Pravda

Search results

found pockets full of products from the “skillful hands” circle

During a personal search, 19 packages containing 45. 5 grams of a drug were seized from one of the detainees. We noticed two guys, the policemen have trained eyes – they don’t just walk around. They shouted – the guys immediately lost their nerves, rushed to run. But they didn’t get far.

And then almost a joke happened. During the search (there are already grounds) they both found pockets full of … dog poop. Moreover, they laid them out in the forest. For what??? This is accepted, sorry, well, at least clean it up. However, the intrigue did not last long. From afar in the forest – poop is like poop, but upon closer inspection they do not smell of anything, and indeed … of the wrong “production”. At home, the detainees found answers to all questions. There was a whole circle of “skillful hands.” Plasticine, clay, and – drugs that were masked in such a non-trivial way, in order to then make “bookmarks”. One creative is 18, the other is 19:

Photo: Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnoyarsk Territory

– During a body search, 19 packages containing 45. 5 grams of a drug were confiscated from one of the detainees. And at home they found electronic scales, polymer bags in which prohibited substances were packed, and material for a kind of “disguise,” confirm the information in the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs.

By the way, the drug traffickers were “outrageous” not only in the local forest:

– Also in different districts of the city police officers found another 14 packages of drugs prepared for sale.

Photo: Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnoyarsk Territory

In general, the story, of course, is not funny, like everything that can be connected with drugs: both under the article “Illegal production, sale or shipment of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues” face up to 20 years in prison.

In Krasnoyarsk, pawnbrokers disguised drugs as dog excrement

SEE ALSO:

Pawnbrokers from Zheleznogorsk mastered modeling to disguise drugs as dog excrement

Zheleznogorsk pawnbrokers decided to come up with a new way to deliver drugs – they mastered modeling and began to disguise drugs as dog excrement. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during a personal search, 19 packages containing 45.5 grams of a drug were seized from one of the guys. (More)

Read also

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