What You Need to Know About Diarrhea
Diarrhea is widespread but not serious. It is characterized by loose and watery bowel movements. We will experience diarrhea twice or thrice each year but we should not worry because it is the body’s normal way of getting rid of toxins but if it persists for couple of days, it means something is seriously wrong. We should act immediately before it is too late. To avoid seriousness, here’s what you need to know about diarrhea:
Types
According to doctors, there are three types of diarrhea. It can be osmotic, secretory and exudative. Osmotic and secretory diarrheas involve drawing or releasing of water into the bowel. Exuditive diarrhea involves blood and pus in the stool.
Causes
Diarrhea springs from many things like infection (bacteria and other organisms), allergies, medications, eating too much, laxative and alcohol abuse, etc. Furthermore illnesses like diabetes, hyperthyroidism, cancer and intestinal diseases (crohn’s and ulcer) can cause severe to mild diarrhea.
Symptom
Symptoms will vary depending on the gravity of the diarrhea. We should know that there is non-serious and complicated diarrhea. Symptoms of non-serious or mild diarrhea include nausea, throwing up, watery and frequent bowel movement (watery, thin and loose stools). Symptoms of complicated diarrhea include all indicators mentioned above plus fever and the state of the stool (if there is blood, mucus or any indigested food particles).
Treatment
The ideal thing to do is to wait for the diarrhea to pass but if we find it uncomfortable, knowledge of basic treatments are helpful. The first thing to do is avoid dehydration by replacing the lost fluids so we should drink plenty of fluids. We should never opt for alcohol and carbonated drinks. We can choose electrolyte solutions like Gatorade and Pedialyte.
If we want to take medications, it is important to seek the doctor’s advice first.
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