What Are The Various Diarrhea Causes

You have a case of diarrhea if you are experiencing loose watery stools and have to keep rushing to the bathroom ever so often. Your liquid stools may be light brown or green and even have some flecks flecks of blood, mucus, or semi digested food in the stools. In most cases, your diarrhea will be short lived as there are many remedies that can help alleviate your diarrhea symptoms.

Most diarrhea causes come from viral infections that develop in the intestines and stomach (gastroenteritis). Your body finds it hard to absorb foods and liquids due to the inflammation and irritation. As a result, the contents of food and liquids pass through your body faster than usual.

Since there is no cure for viral diseases (and hence, similarly for diarrhea cases), your doctor will recommend that you treat the effects from diarrhea, especially dehydration, rather than dealing with the ailment directly. If it is just a case of viral gastroenteritis, you should not see any blood or pus in the stool. Fever is also seldom experienced.

Acute diarrhea causes spring mostly from bacterial infections. Bacterial infections are usually transmitted through the food that you eat, or from contact with animals or other humans. Other diarrhea causes include parasitic infections, food and toxin poisoning, chemical poisoning, and gastrointestinal allergy. Bacteria in food produce toxins that may be produced before it is eaten or even after digestion, in the intestine.

You may also find yourself experiencing more episodes of diarrhea when you travel to foreign countries. These are usually countries where hygiene standares are different. Very often, traveller’s diarrhea, caused by a strain of E. coli occurs in the various foods that you eat. Nausea and bad stomach cramps can develop pretty quickly and usually lasts for 3 days.

When you suffer from chronic diarrhea, you are experiencing chronic intestinal infections, immunologic and metabolic abnormalities, environmental factors, and the impaired ability to absorb fat or carbohydrate (due to bile and pancreatic disorders, genetic abnormalities, etc.).

Doctors would recommend that you limit the likelihood of dehydration from too much loss of body fluids and electrolytes. You lose fluids through the frequent bowel movements and vomiting, if any. If your diarrhea is prolonged, you also stand to lose electrolytes or minerals which are carried out with the water. Hence you would need to replace electrolytes which are essential to body metabolism. What is usually lost is sodium and potassium, together with chloride and bicarbonates in smaller quantities.

You will be asked to take plenty of liquids, preferably those containing carbohydrates, especially glucose, and electrolytes. These liquids are termed oral rehydration solutions. Glucose is crucial for triggering the small intestine to start absorbing the liquids and minerals.

To help limit too much water loss, your doctor may recommend that you take absorbents, such as attapulgite, which promote absorption of water. Additionally, if your diarrhea symptoms are severe, you may also be asked to consume anti-motility drugs, which relaxes the muscles of the intestines and slows the flow of water giving more time for absorption.

Of course, you can also turn to natural remedies as an alternative to medications for diarrhea. There are many herbs that you can take or flowering plants that possess superb astringent properties because of presence of tannins.

Diarrhea, a term derived from Greek, is simply known as “flow through”. Diarrhea causes need to be examined especially in cases of prolonged diarrhea. You need to ensure that you replendish the liquids that you lost as well as find out if your symptoms point to a more serious digestive disease.