Chronic diarrhea and chronic diarrhea

People get diarrhea from time to time. Often the intestines react this way to the wrong food.

When he is unable to cope with digestion, diarrhea can also begin. It is much more serious when diarrhea becomes chronic.

Description and etiology

Chronic diarrhea is a pathology caused by serious diseases of the body. As a rule, it lasts more than 1 month.

The daily frequency of bowel movements varies depending on the condition of the person. Often, a person can go to the toilet more than 3-6 times a day.

Treatment should be started immediately. Chronic diarrhea disease should not be taken as normal.

After all, a long course of pathology can cause dehydration. For this, not only medical therapy is used. Diet is essential.

How to recognize chronic diarrhea? In principle, only a qualified specialist can accurately determine the form of diarrhea and identify the root cause.

A person can independently make assumptions based on additional features. How is diarrhea recognized?

Symptoms include:

• Meteorisms.
• Abdominal pain.
• Cramping.
• Bloating.
• Rumbling.
• Tenesmus.
• Diarrhea has an urgent urge.
• Pathological impurities in the stool.

At the doctor's appointment, it is imperative to identify those symptoms that are in addition to diarrhea. Such data will help the specialist quickly determine the diagnosis.

Diarrhea is called chronic when the duration is more than 4 weeks. The main task of the specialist is to determine the causes of loose stools.

If the provoking factors are not eliminated, then there is no point in treatment. Diarrhea will come back after a period of time.

Diarrhea is uncomfortable. In addition, it causes dehydration, nutritional and electrolyte deficiencies.

In the future, more serious and severe pathological problems may arise throughout the body.

The causes of chronic diarrhea

This type of diarrhea is characterized by a division into 2 types. These are infectious and non-infectious causes. Intestinal upset is often caused by infectious causes:

1. Entering the body of viruses. Rotavirus can cause severe and profuse diarrhea.
2. Infection with protozoa and fungi: microsporidia, dysentery amoeba, cryptosporidium, lamblia, cyclospores.
3. Bacteria: Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas, Salmonella.

Chronic problematic diarrhea also has a non-infectious form.

These include:

1. Poisoning with chemical components. These are medicines, and poisons, and even alcohol.
2. Diseases of the digestive system.
3. Stress and emotional stress.
4. Acute and chronic pancreatitis.
5. IBS.
6. Proctitis.
7. Colitis.
8. Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas.
9. Excessive use of antibiotics.
10. Diverticulitis
11. Tumor neoplasms.
12. Intestinal blood supply disorders.
13. Frequent use of sweeteners.
14. Impaired absorption of bile acids.
15. Crohn's disease.

Medicine suggests several mechanisms for the development of chronic diarrhea. The classification of diarrhea, in this case, is divided as follows:

• Hyperosmotic.
• Hypersecretory.
• Hyperexudative.
• Hyperkinetic.

Hypersecretory diarrhea

With hypersecretory diarrhea, there is an intense secretion of water and electrolytes into the intestinal lumen. Secretion is passive or active.

Causes of chronic diarrhea with active secretion:

1. The introduction of pathogenic microorganisms that poison the body with their waste products: staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae.
2. Fatty acid.
3. Bile acids.
4. Laxative drugs.
5. Peptide hormones.

Causes of chronic diarrhea with increased passive secretion:

1. Damage to the lymphatic vessels: lymphoma, Whipple's disease, lymphangiectasia, amyloidosis.
2. Heart failure.

Hyperosmotic diarrhea

In most cases, its occurrence is influenced by problems caused by the gastrointestinal tract or the digestive system. Factors affecting the appearance of the problem:

1. Obstructive jaundice.
2. Disorders of digestion and absorption of nutrients.
3. Diseases of the pancreas.
4. The organs of the gastrointestinal tract cannot absorb the incoming nutritional components due to a malabsorption. It can be congenital or acquired.
5. Lack of contact of intestinal contents with the small intestine.

Hyperkinetic diarrhea

The appearance of loose stools is influenced by factors such as:

1. Neurogenic stimulation: irritable bowel syndrome, diabetic enteropathy, functional diarrhea.
2. Pharmacological stimulation. Excessive intake of laxatives is implied. Most often seen with acute diarrhea. It is enough to stop taking or reduce the dosage.
3. Hormonal stimulation: thyrotoxicosis, neuroendocrine neoplasia, Addison's disease.

This mechanical development of diarrhea causes excessive stimulation of the intestinal motor function, thereby triggering the process of defecation.

Hyperexudative diarrhea

This type provokes the release of exudate into the intestinal lumen, as well as inflammation of the wall. Factors affecting the onset of diarrhea:

1. Chronic infections: syphilis, tuberculosis, actinomycosis.
2. Inflammatory processes in the body: Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis.
3. Enteropathy.
4. Ischemic bowel disease.
5. Polyps and other neoplasms of various types in the colon.

Chronic diarrhea: signs

Naturally, the main symptom is diarrhea itself. Diarrhea will be frequent and profuse. In one day, a person can go to the toilet with liquid unformed stools more than 5 times.

When disorders are observed:

1. Increased gas production and flatulence.
2. Cramping.
3. Pain.
4. The presence of mucous discharge.

If chronic diarrhea is caused by abnormalities in the small intestine, then the feces will be thin and oily. Diseases in the large intestine are characterized by frequent urge to defecate. In this case, the number of bowel movements will decrease.

The stool will be contaminated with pus, mucus, or blood. Large intestine pathologies are necessarily accompanied by pain. Inflammations of the lower intestines such as proctitis or colitis cause false desires.

In general, each person has individual symptoms. It all depends on what reason provoked the onset of the disease. Depending on this or that pathology, the symptoms will also change.

Cancer tumors will be accompanied by: weakness, rapid fatigue and rapid weight loss. In this case, diarrhea should be eliminated in a timely manner, otherwise it will lead to other complications.

Prolonged diarrhea can change to intestinal obstruction or cause rupture of the intestinal wall. Tumor-like neoplasms in the last stages cause intoxication in the patient. Also occur: hyperthermia and cachexia.

Inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract can affect the external symptoms: arthralgia, stomatitis, etc. Diseases of the endocrine system cause hormonal disruptions in the patient and diarrhea.

Signs such as bleeding and pain cannot be ignored. Treatment should be comprehensive. Therapy should be aimed not only at the symptomatology, but also at the cause itself.

If you do not pay attention to the pathological condition for a long time, then dehydration will eventually begin. This means that other signs will be added: fever, vomiting, nausea, convulsions.

The body is deprived of nutrients due to diarrhea. As a result, rapid weight loss will begin.

Diagnostics

How is chronic diarrhea treated? Treatment is impossible without identifying the cause. Therefore, you cannot self-medicate at home.

First you need to talk to your doctor. At this stage, the specialist draws up a clinical picture and anamnesis based on the symptoms, initial examination and patient complaints.

It is impossible to establish an accurate diagnosis and start treatment without laboratory tests. What indicators are important for detecting the disease? List:

• Blood analysis.
• The amount of iron.
• The level of calcium in the blood.
• The presence of vitamin B.
• The work of the thyroid gland and liver.
• Examine for celiac disease.
• Microbiological analysis of feces.

Based on these data, the doctor makes an initial diagnosis. Further treatment will depend on what is identified. It is likely that the therapist will refer to a specialist with a narrow focus.

Depending on the diagnosis, other diagnostic methods will be needed:

• X-ray of the abdominal cavity.
• Colonoscopy. For research, take a small part of the intestinal tissue for biopsy.
• Ultrasound of organs inside the abdomen.
• Scatological examination.
• Irrigoscopy.

Treatment

How is diarrhea treated? Chronic diarrhea is not an independent disease, but only a symptomatology. You cannot put up with such a disease. Treatment should be comprehensive under the supervision of a physician.

Drug therapy involves the use of:

1. Probiotics.
2. Antimicrobial drugs. Antibacterial agents aimed at destroying harmful microorganisms.
3. Adsorbents.

Entoban is used as an antibacterial agent. It copes well with its main task, or rather kills pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The main substances are tiliquinol and dodecyl sulfate.

Course up to 10 days. The daily dose is determined by the attending physician. Usually a person drinks from 4 to 6 capsules per day.

Mexaform also belongs to antiseptics. The main active ingredients are pectin, streptomycin, sodium citrate, kaolin. Diarrhea is treated for 7 days, 1 capsule 3 times a day.

The Deental-M suspension copes well with bacteria. Basic substances: furazolidone and metronidazole. Furazalidone stops diarrhea, and metronidazole has a bactericidal effect.

The course of admission is 5 days. The suspension should be drunk after each meal, 1 scoop.

During diarrhea, the intestines are strongly washed out of all kinds of microorganisms. Together with the bad ones, the good ones also leave.

The intestinal microflora is disturbed, which means that drug therapy should include taking probiotics.

For this purpose, the drug Bactisubtil is recommended. Contains essential cultures of beneficial microbes and calcium carbonate.

They are needed to cope with the disorder. The course is 10 days. Diarrhea is treated with 2 capsules 2 times a day.

To restore the natural balance inside the intestines after using antibiotics, they are prescribed: Bifikol, Enterol, Linex. The course of admission is more than 30 days.

In order to prevent the growth of bad bacteria, Hilak-Forte drops are prescribed. They contain the waste products of lactobacilli.

Of absorbents, Smecta is well suited. It envelops the intestinal wall and protects the mucous membrane from destruction. It also helps to remove toxins from the body, which prevents it from poisoning itself.

Diarrhea: nutrition

These two definitions shouldn't exist without each other when it comes to diarrhea. It should be not just food, but diet. It includes a complete meal that contains proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

It is advisable to eat steamed or boiled food.

There should be no products that provoke fermentation, putrefaction and stimulate the production of bile secretion, gastric secretion, pancreas and components that irritate the liver. Diarrhea occurs precisely against the background of these factors.

Diarrhea must be accompanied by proper nutrition.

Permitted products:

• Rusks and yesterday's white bread.
• Soups in weak broth with the addition of cereals.
• Low-fat meat and fish.
• Fresh cottage cheese.
• Steamed or boiled vegetables.
• You can eat porridge cooked in water. Suitable cereals: rice, buckwheat, oatmeal.
• It is allowed to eat soft-boiled eggs once a day. It is also recommended to make a steam omelet in the morning.
• Of the drinks, the most suitable are: black or green tea, medicinal decoctions, diluted fresh juices of some fruits.

Treatment will bear fruit if a person follows all the recommendations of his doctor. No sweet, fatty, salty or spicy foods. Drinking alcohol is also highly undesirable.

After and during treatment, it is imperative to follow a diet. With proper nutrition, the body will replenish its supply of nutrients and restore the natural function of intestinal motility.

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