Excessive Diarrhea Causes

Diarrhea can be described as a condition where loose bowel movements takes place due to some abnormality in the intestines. Many people wrongly assume it to be a disease but actually it is a symptom that indicates that an underlying health problem exist in your body. When the loose bowel movements occur several times in a day, then it is considered as excessive diarrhea. It is often accompanied by excessive bloating, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, etc. When a large amount of fluid is lost from the body, excessive diarrhea causes dehydration.

Excessive Diarrhea Causes

The most commonly found causes have been discussed below:

Viral Infections: When excessive diarrhea is caused by a virus, it is commonly referred to as stomach flu or viral gastroenteritis. The infection causing virus enter our body due to consumption of contaminated foods or drinks.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): It has been found that the most frequent diarrhea causes are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease which are the two different forms of inflammatory bowel disease. In this condition, the immune system start attacking the digestive tract.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): This is one of the key causes of constant diarrhea. This is triggered by irregular contractions of the intestines. As a result, one suffers from severe diarrhea over a period of time. In such cases diarrhea and constipation occur alternately which means as the diarrhea subsides, it is followed by constipation.

Side Effects of Medications: Certain medicines like antibiotics can cause severe diarrhea. This happens because these medicines disturbs the balance of good bacteria and bad bacteria that exist in our body by destroying the helpful bacteria along with the harmful ones.

Other Causes: Some infections caused by protozoan parasites giardiasis and amoebiasis can be responsible for serious diarrhea symptoms. Some other underlying health problems like gallbladder disease, liver disease, diabetes, malnutrition are the other causes.

Treatment

Excessive diarrhea is often treated with the help of medicinal treatment as well as home remedies. The treatment is mainly based upon the cause. It is identified with laboratory tests like stool sample tests, X-ray, colonoscopy, etc. In order to control severe diarrhea, anti-diarrhea drugs are prescribed. If any bacterial infection is detected then they are treated with antibiotics. In some cases, anti-parasitic medicines are given. If it has resulted from some antibiotic medicines then doctors suggest use of acidophilus in tablet or liquid form along with that medicine.

This medicinal treatment is often accompanied by some remedies. You have to stop eating solid foods for few hours in order to provide much-needed rest to the digestive system. During this time, a rehydrating solution should be taken several times to prevent dehydration. It is prepared by adding 4 tablespoons of sugar, half teaspoon of table salt and half teaspoon of baking soda into four cups of plain water. This mixture should be taken in small sips after a gap of every few minutes. As the diarrhea symptoms subside, you should increase the fluid intake which can be in the form of plain water, clear broth, weak tea, apple juice and so on. It should be followed by excessive diarrhea diet which consists of banana, rice, applesauce, dry toast and soda crackers. It should be continued for the next couple of days or one week which depends on the doctor's instructions.

Some of the key causes can be prevented with the help of good hygiene. You must wash fruits, vegetables, raw meat, etc. thoroughly before cooking. Wash your hands properly with antibacterial soap and water after handling these food items and also before eating. While washing the utensils, clean them with water in such a way that no residue of dish soap are left behind as it can trigger diarrhea too.