Things that stop diarrhea: Dos and Don’ts for Quick Relief of Diarrhea
Dos and Don’ts for Quick Relief of Diarrhea
If you’re suffering from diarrhea, a condition that can be caused by bacteria, viruses, medication, foods, or various digestive disorders, there are things to do — and not do — so you can feel better fast.
Diarrhea is defined as having three or more loose, watery stools a day. It’s unpleasant and can also be dangerous if left untreated. So if you have it, it’s a good bet you’ll want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
“The thing we worry about most is dehydration,” says Lisa Ganjhu, DO, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City.
Signs of dehydration include:
- Thirst
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Dark-colored urine or less urine than normal
- Dry skin
- A decrease in skin turgor, the elasticity of the skin
When you lose more water than you take in, as is the case when you have diarrhea, you also lose essential electrolytes — important minerals that are found in blood, urine, tissues, and other body fluids, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Although dehydration is the biggest worry with diarrhea, it’s not the only one. If diarrhea is severe and persists beyond a few days, complications, including kidney and urinary problems, can arise, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It could also be a symptom of a more serious condition, like Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or a sign of a more severe infection.
Follow these dos and don’ts for managing this condition so you can feel better as fast as possible.
What to Do About Fluids When You Have Diarrhea
Do drink plenty of fluids. A good rule of thumb is to drink at least 1 cup of liquid every time you have a loose bowel movement. Water, Pedialyte, fruit juices, caffeine-free soda, and salty broths are some good choices. According to the Cleveland Clinic, salt helps slow down the fluid loss, and sugar will help your body absorb the salt.
Don’t consume beverages at extreme temperatures. Consume all liquids at room temperature, or slightly warmed, advises Dr.
Ganjhu. “Anything too hot or too cold can cause nausea.”
Do drink herbal tea. There is some research to suggest that products containing certain combinations of herbs may help an upset stomach. One research review cited the potential favorable effects of drinking a chamomile preparation that is combined with other herbs in treating diarrhea.
Don’t consume caffeine, alcohol, or certain sodas. Caffeine and alcohol can irritate the digestive tract and worsen diarrhea, according to the U.S. Library of Medicine. Sodas containing high-fructose corn syrup can also cause trouble when you have an upset stomach. According to a study published in the journal Healthcare, large amounts of fructose can lead to gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
Dilute your water with fruit juice. Water can sometimes be nauseating when you have diarrhea. Ganjhu recommends diluting it with fruit juice, like cranberry or apple juice, to make it easier to tolerate.
What to Do About Nutrition When You Have Diarrhea
Do stick with bland foods. One tried-and-true diet for diarrhea is the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. Low in fiber, bland, and starchy, these foods can help replace lost nutrients and firm up your stools. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), you can also try boiled potatoes, crackers, or cooked carrots.
Do eat small meals. Too much food will stimulate your gastrointestinal tract to move even more, says Ganjhu, and possibly worsen the diarrhea. Eating five or six small meals, rather than three large ones, can give your intestines a chance to digest the food more easily.
Don’t eat fried food. Prepare foods like beef, pork, chicken, fish, or turkey by baking or broiling, not frying, which can worsen diarrhea. Cooked eggs are okay, too, according to MedlinePlus.
Do eat when hunger strikes. Listen to your body and don’t force yourself to eat, which can worsen symptoms.
Trust your body to tell you when — and how much — it can tolerate, notes Ganjhu.
Don’t eat fruits and vegetables that cause gas. Eating gassy food when you have diarrhea can increase intestinal gas and should be avoided. This includes fruits and vegetables like beans, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and leafy greens and sweet foods like cookies or cakes, per the Mayo Clinic.
Lifestyle Dos and Don’ts When You Have Diarrhea
Along with knowing what to eat and drink when you’re dealing with gastrointestinal woes, it’s also important to be mindful of other everyday habits to help you deal with diarrhea.
Do wash your hands. Since diarrhea can sometimes be transmitted by person-to-person contact or from contaminated hands, washing your hands after using the bathroom and before you eat or prepare food can help block possible diarrhea-causing pathogens. Handwashing can reduce episodes of diarrhea by about 30 percent, according to the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services. To wash properly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wetting your hands, then applying soap and rubbing them together for at least 20 seconds. Make sure to include the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Rinse with clean, running water and dry thoroughly. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol can work, too.
Do know when to call the doctor. Mayo Clinic advises to seek medical help if you have any of the following symptoms:
- Your diarrhea lasts more than two days.
- You experience severe abdominal pain or pain in your rectum.
- You’re dehydrated or exceptionally weak.
- You have a fever of 102 degrees F or higher.
- Your stools are bloody or black and tar-like.
Do consider medication. Over-the-counter (OTC) medicine containing bismuth subsalicylate (like Pepto-Bismol or Kaopectate) can help reduce intestinal inflammation and kill diarrhea-causing organisms.
(Note that bismuth products can cause dark or black stools that look like blood.) Although loperamide (Imodium), another OTC antidiarrheal medication, is sometimes recommended, Ganjhu advises against it. “This is an anti-mobility, meaning that it stops your gastrointestinal tract from moving. Although it can slow down the diarrhea, it’s better instead for it to come out,” she says. “It’s your body’s way of ridding itself of any toxins.”
Don’t exercise. Strenuous exercise has the potential to cause dehydration, stomach distress, nausea, and heartburn, which can worsen your symptoms. It’s wise to avoid it until your diarrhea subsides, advises Ganjhu, who says to wait until you’re fully recovered to go back to the gym.
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3 Ways to Treat Diarrhea
While not a pleasant topic to think about, everyone has gastrointestinal issues from time to time. One of the most common digestive problems is diarrhea, or loose, watery stools, usually accompanied by the frequent and urgent need to use the bathroom.
A typical bout of diarrhea only lasts a few days, going away on its own without any treatment.
“But severe diarrhea, diarrhea that lasts more than a few days, or prolonged episodes of diarrhea are all reasons to see a doctor, as they could indicate something more serious,” says Stephen Bickston, MD, professor of internal medicine and director of the inflammatory bowel disease program at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Center in Richmond.
It’s also important to remember that diarrhea treatments for adults, especially medication, may not be the same for children with diarrhea, so always consult your pediatrician before giving your children any medication.
If you have diarrhea, here are three ways to ease your discomfort:
1. Stay Hydrated
Your body can lose a lot of fluids and salts when you have diarrhea, making dehydration a major concern. Frequent loose and watery stools can quickly lead to fluid loss.
Here are some easy ways to stay hydrated:
- Select sports drinks or Pedialyte. Sports drinks work because of their sugar and salt content; both allow water to be more easily absorbed, and even more so when taken together. People can make their own sports drinks by adding a teaspoon of salt to a quart of apple juice, Bickston says. “That little amount of salt will help the body absorb fluids but isn’t enough to make the apple juice taste bad.” Bickston recommends keeping your drinks at room temperature because a warm drink will sit better with you than a cold one. Pedialyte is marketed toward kids, but adults can drink it, too. The drink contains both sugar and sodium to help replenish fluids.
- Stick to clear liquids. Some other good choices for treating diarrhea include clear broth and water.
- Avoid drinks that can worsen symptoms. Caffeinated, alcoholic, and sugary drinks can worsen dehydration. Milk and other dairy products can also make your symptoms worse because diarrhea can cause temporary lactose intolerance. (Temporary lactose intolerance can persist beyond the acute episode.)
2. Eat a Bland Diet
When dealing with a brief bout of diarrhea, you want to keep your diet bland. It’s important to eat if you can, although you may find it best to only have clear liquids for the first 24 hours. Then you can slowly add bland foods to your diet. Some bland foods include bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast — otherwise known as the BRAT diet.
Research shows there’s not a lot of evidence to support the benefits of following this diet, but it may not hurt. At the same time, while bananas may be okay for adults, they’re not recommended for children who’ve been vomiting.
Crackers and mashed potatoes — minus the butter — may offer a better alternative for both adults and children.
It’s best to avoid greasy, fatty, and fried foods because these can exacerbate your symptoms. You’ll also want to stay away from any foods and drinks that cause gas, which can lead to stomach cramping with diarrhea. These include beans, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, avocados, and carbonated drinks.
If diarrhea lasts more than a few days, you might want to investigate the foods you’re eating, as some can irritate your bowel and make diarrhea worse. These include foods high in fiber, such as bran, whole grains, and brown rice, as well as greasy and highly processed foods, dairy (including yogurt), and excessively sweet foods. Foods that are sweetened with sorbitol may also aggravate diarrhea, Bickston says.
Diarrhea that persists for more than two weeks should prompt a visit to your doctor. They can check for infections, food intolerances, and more serious illness.
Tests are available to see if you have a food allergy or condition like lactose intolerance, celiac disease, or a gluten sensitivity. Do not try to eliminate these foods from your diet on your own before talking to your doctor because it can alter the results of your tests.
3. Take Over-the-Counter Medication
In most cases, over-the-counter medication can be helpful in stopping an occasional bout of diarrhea — especially traveler’s diarrhea, which may result from ingesting contaminated food or water while abroad. Over-the-counter options include Imodium (loperamide) and Pepto-Bismol or Kaopectate (bismuth subsalicylate). “These are reasonable to use on occasion and have the great advantage of not requiring a doctor’s prescription,” Bickston says, adding that they should not be used for more than two days.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you take pharmaceutical remedies for traveler’s diarrhea, they may make you feel better sooner, but they could keep any bacteria, parasites, or viruses in your system longer.
In most cases, diarrhea will go away on its own within a few days. If the diarrhea persists, talk to your doctor.
A Word on Probiotics
Some early studies have shown possible benefits to taking probiotics, or live bacteria and yeast that naturally live in the body.
But the American Gastroenterological Association warns that more research is needed to better understand the true effects of probiotics on digestive symptoms and recommends against taking probiotics.
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How to stop diarrhea quickly and reliably
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- About the polyclinic
- 29.01.2019
Views: 210495 There are several traditional remedies for diarrhea. The principle of their action is different, although in 90% of cases the cause of diarrhea is infection. Therefore, the choice of a remedy for diarrhea should take into account that this condition is only a symptom, which must be dealt with by acting on the cause.
In an acute intestinal infection, choosing a drug that acts only on the symptom can be dangerous.
For example, Imodium and its cheaper counterparts containing loperamide stop diarrhea by stimulating the gut’s opiate receptors. This leads to the fact that the tone of the locking sphincters increases, and the liquid from the feces is intensively absorbed back into the intestine. And this means that toxins, which are formed in excess as a result of infection with pathogens of intestinal infections, are also absorbed into the blood. Therefore, Loperamide is not so safe: it is forbidden to give it to children under 6 years of age.The best choice for an intestinal infection is a drug that acts in the intestinal lumen and eliminates pathogens, doctors say. Therefore, for diarrhea in adults and children, drugs are used – derivatives of nitrofuran. Furazolidone, which is included in this series and has been quite popular for many years, despite its low cost, due to its side effects (toxic effects on the liver), has lost the palm to Nifuroxazide, a safe antiseptic that acts exclusively in the intestines, not being absorbed into the blood.
Popular and recommended by doctors and pharmacists Nifuroxazide is the European drug Enterofuril. It has three forms (capsules of 100 and 200 mg, suspensions of 200 mg / 5 ml, which can be given to children from 1 month), so it is convenient to use. It has proven itself in the rapid treatment of diarrhea caused by bacteria, however, with viral diarrhea, its use is justified, doctors say: this drug prevents bacterial complications that almost always accompany viral diarrhea.Foreign and Russian clinical studies have shown that the drug preserves the beneficial intestinal microflora, eliminating such common infectious agents as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Shigella – the causative agent of dysentery. The effect has also been proven against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which plays a major role in the development of gastritis and stomach ulcers.
When choosing Nifuroxazide for a child, you need to be careful: the dosage of Nifuroxazide recommended by the Ministry of Health for a child is 100 or 200 mg, depending on age, and in the form of a suspension of 200 mg in 5 ml.
In pharmacies, there is a suspension with a higher dosage of 220 mg / 5 ml from other manufacturers, which attracts a slightly lower cost. However, it is better to follow official recommendations and not take risks, because we are talking about the health of the child.Nifuroxazide is important to have in the traveler’s first aid kit: a change in the usual water and food is very often the cause of “travelers’ diarrhea”, equally insidious for both children and adults. If your child is over 3 years old, then you can save money and take the universal dosage of Enterofuril 100 mg: an adult will take two capsules, and one is enough for a child. Additionally, it is recommended to use sorbents: they help to bind and remove toxins from the intestines.
Remember that in the case of a severe intestinal infection, accompanied by dehydration, intoxication and other serious symptoms, antibiotics may be required. Therefore, in any case, you must consult a doctor.
Attention should be paid to the prevention of diarrhea.
Required:– Observe personal hygiene, wash hands.
– Subject meat, milk, chicken eggs, fish to thorough heat treatment. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating.
– If possible, boil water, especially the one that is in doubt. Avoid drinks with ice, as it is not known what water it was made from.
– Store food properly. It is especially necessary to be careful in the summer, when the air temperature is elevated, and food deteriorates faster. If you don’t like the taste or smell of a product, throw it away immediately.https://www.evrika.ru/show/kak-bystro-i-nadezhno-ostanovit-diareyu/fresh_feed/3
How to stop diarrhea – diagnosis and stages of diarrhea treatment
Author, editor and medical expert – Zavgorodnyaya Ekaterina Aleksandrovna.
Editor and medical expert – Harutyunyan Mariam Harutyunovna.
Number of views: 61 201
Date last updated: you can meet a person who has never suffered from diarrhea (diarrhea).
It can occur at any age. This uncomfortable condition significantly worsens the quality of life and sometimes even requires inpatient treatment due to the development of dangerous complications. With severe or persistent diarrhea, you should consult a doctor who will select the necessary treatment to stop the diarrhea.Should diarrhea always be stopped?
Diarrhea should be treated in any case, even if it is caused by the use of laxatives or laxative products, overeating or dietary errors.
In some situations, you need to see a doctor immediately. Medical assistance will be required if fever, intoxication or dehydration has appeared and is growing (especially in children and the elderly), if blood, pus or copious mucus is found in the stool, with severe pain in the abdomen, if diarrhea has not stopped within 2 days.
What the doctor should do when diagnosing diarrhea
When diagnosing diarrhea, the doctor solves several problems. It is important to find out the etiology, since diarrhea can be stopped by eliminating its causes.
Set the duration
Be sure to determine the nature of the disorder, this is important for further examination tactics. The fact is that in acute diarrhea, it is necessary first of all to exclude an infectious cause, while in the case of a chronic process, most likely, non-infectious causes should be sought.
Detect the presence and severity of disorders
The doctor must identify and evaluate the severity of all possible disorders that require urgent measures. This can be dehydration, intoxication, etc.
Exclude acute surgical diseases in the diagnosis
An important task in diagnosing the causes of intestinal disorders is to exclude acute surgical pathology. Diarrhea syndrome can accompany acute inflammatory processes of the abdominal cavity, volvulus and intussusception of the intestine, exacerbations of chronic diseases, ulcerative necrotic or tumor lesions of different parts of the digestive system.
What are the steps in the treatment of diarrhea
It is not always possible to quickly and reliably determine the cause of the stool disorder.
Often, therapy has to be started before the final results of various examinations are obtained, especially in the case of a severe course of the process and the development of complications. Therefore, the treatment of any type of diarrhea consists of several mandatory steps.Symptomatic treatment
This is the name of the impact to eliminate the main manifestations of the disease. It does not eliminate the underlying cause of the disturbances that have arisen, but it improves the patient’s well-being and can stop the development of life-threatening conditions. First of all, rehydration is carried out to combat dehydration. The second task is to reduce the impact of toxins with the help of adsorbents. Additionally, astringents and enveloping agents are used for diarrhea. It is also important to influence intestinal motility, secretion and concomitant bloating. Symptomatic therapy is carried out against the background of a diet.
Selection of etiotropic therapy
According to modern views, the appointment of antimicrobial drugs is made only after the cause of diarrhea has been established.
At the same time, the sensitivity of isolated pathogens to drugs is taken into account, and the treatment carried out is monitored. If the intestinal disorder is of a non-infectious nature, the doctor prescribes drugs of various groups to treat the underlying disease.Rehabilitative and preventive therapy
After relief of the main symptoms of diarrhea, it is necessary to restore the disturbed intestinal microflora, to eliminate concomitant changes in the functioning of various sections of the gastrointestinal tract. Sometimes it is necessary to prescribe drugs with a sedative or antidepressant effect to normalize the functioning of the nervous system. If diarrhea was caused by endocrine pathology or diseases of internal organs, they must be compensated. In case of poisoning and intoxication, measures are taken to prevent a repeated episode of exposure to the factor.
Application IMODIUM
® Express
IMODIUM ® Express affects intestinal motility and anal sphincter tone, prolongs the passage of feces through the large intestine, reduces the secretion of water and ions, and also promotes fluid absorption.
For example, Imodium and its cheaper counterparts containing loperamide stop diarrhea by stimulating the gut’s opiate receptors. This leads to the fact that the tone of the locking sphincters increases, and the liquid from the feces is intensively absorbed back into the intestine. And this means that toxins, which are formed in excess as a result of infection with pathogens of intestinal infections, are also absorbed into the blood. Therefore, Loperamide is not so safe: it is forbidden to give it to children under 6 years of age.
Popular and recommended by doctors and pharmacists Nifuroxazide is the European drug Enterofuril. It has three forms (capsules of 100 and 200 mg, suspensions of 200 mg / 5 ml, which can be given to children from 1 month), so it is convenient to use. It has proven itself in the rapid treatment of diarrhea caused by bacteria, however, with viral diarrhea, its use is justified, doctors say: this drug prevents bacterial complications that almost always accompany viral diarrhea.
In pharmacies, there is a suspension with a higher dosage of 220 mg / 5 ml from other manufacturers, which attracts a slightly lower cost. However, it is better to follow official recommendations and not take risks, because we are talking about the health of the child.
Required:
It can occur at any age. This uncomfortable condition significantly worsens the quality of life and sometimes even requires inpatient treatment due to the development of dangerous complications. With severe or persistent diarrhea, you should consult a doctor who will select the necessary treatment to stop the diarrhea.
Often, therapy has to be started before the final results of various examinations are obtained, especially in the case of a severe course of the process and the development of complications. Therefore, the treatment of any type of diarrhea consists of several mandatory steps.
At the same time, the sensitivity of isolated pathogens to drugs is taken into account, and the treatment carried out is monitored. If the intestinal disorder is of a non-infectious nature, the doctor prescribes drugs of various groups to treat the underlying disease.