Unintended weight loss can sometimes result from persistent or chronic diarrhea—aka diarrhea that lasts for more than two weeks—but it's not something to aspire to. The weight loss you see after a couple of days of diarrhea is usually caused by losing lots of fluids (dehydration), and not by a reduction in fat tissue.
Every time you have a bowel movement, you lose fluids. Diarrhea causes you to lose even more fluids. You also lose salts and minerals such as sodium, chloride, and potassium. These salts and minerals affect the amount of water that stays in your body.
If you have diarrhea, there's a good chance you picked up a stomach virus. Or, you may have gotten food poisoning from eating food or drinking water that was contaminated with bacteria. A lot of people get sick from tainted food while traveling, because they're not used to the food and water in the foreign country.
Postprandial diarrhea is diarrhea that occurs after eating. It can happen unexpectedly and cause discomfort or pain until a bowel movement occurs. Possible causes include an infection, antibiotic use, and gastrointestinal conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
When you have diarrhea, important nutrients such as calories, protein, vitamins, water, sodium and potassium are lost. This loss can be serious if you are already ill or trying to recover from an illness. Your provider must know the cause of diarrhea to treat it correctly.
Watery diarrhea is commonly caused by a viral infection or food poisoning from eating undercooked meat or rotten foods. It can be serious if it causes dehydration. Keep an eye out for blood in the stool, and be sure to drink water and fluids with electrolytes.
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.
Ways of managing it include drinking plenty of water, avoiding foods that make it worse, and taking medications to treat diarrhea or an underlying condition.
In the case of simple short-term episodes of diarrhoea, which usually clear up by themselves in healthy people, you will probably be able to manage your symptoms through home care. You should try to do the following: rest at home. stay off work or school until you have not had a loose bowel motion for 24 hours.
If you've had diarrhea for a few days, you may feel lightheaded or weak. This comes from rapidly losing the minerals, sugar, and water that your body needs. Normally, diarrhea won't cause you to lose control of your bowels – if this happens, you should consult your doctor.
For patients recovering from a bout of this condition, staying hydrated is highly important. Apart from water, clear broths like chicken or beef broth without any grease, coconut water or other forms of water with added vitamins and electrolytes, Pedialyte, and weak coffee are also recommended.
The appearance of your poo can give clues about extremes of gut transit time – tiny nut-like pellets that are hard to pass signify a very slow transit time, while diarrhoea can suggest as little as 10 hours have passed between eating and evacuation.
Causes of diarrhea that are not due to acute illness include eating certain foods, food allergies and intolerances, some medications, caffeine intake, laxative use, alcohol use, digestive problems and diseases (celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome [IBS], Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, small intestinal ...
If you have IBS with diarrhea, you will have frequent, loose, watery stools. You may have an urgent need to have a bowel movement, which may be hard to control. If you have IBS with constipation, you will have a hard time passing stool, as well as fewer bowel movements.
Yellow/Pale Brown/Grey: Bright yellow diarrhea can signify a condition known as Giardiasis (see sidebar). Stool that is yellow or pale can also result from reduced production of bile salts, since a normal, brown-coloured stool acquires its hue from breaking down bile.
Since diarrhea is your body's way of getting rid of toxins, it is best to let it run its course. However, you may use over-the-counter antidiarrheal remedies for convenience, including: Attapulgite (Kaopectate) Loperamide (Imodium)
Diarrhoea is passing looser, watery or more frequent poo (stools) than is normal for you. It affects most people from time to time and is usually nothing to worry about. It can be distressing and unpleasant. It normally clears up in a few days to a week.
Colon and small intestine
Diarrhea — loose, watery and possibly more-frequent bowel movements — is a common problem. It may be present alone or be associated with other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or weight loss. Luckily, diarrhea is usually short-lived, lasting no more than a few days.
If your stool is yellow, or more likely, contains yellow droplets (seen floating on the toilet bowl), it is a sign of fat in the stool. It can also have a bad odor and a greasy texture. You may see noticeable amounts of fat in your stool when it's not absorbed properly by the body.