Foamy diarrhea in an adult: causes

Most often, frothy diarrhea occurs during fermentation in the intestines.

This pathological process is characterized by a violation of the digestive function due to a lack of enzymes in the body. This phenomenon can be observed in both an adult and a child.

Specificity of the disease

Foamy diarrhea in an adult is always associated with some kind of disturbance in the work of the gastrointestinal tract. In some pathologies, a person exudes foamy feces, most often it is yellow and liquid.

The gastrointestinal tract is a very sensitive area of ​​the body. In most cases, the causes of frothy stools in an adult lie in improper diet.

If a person eats stale food, the origin of which is doubtful, he may develop diarrhea with foam.

However, if the pathology is caused by an error in nutrition, the person does not need medical treatment, because the diarrhea will pass after the toxin that provokes it is removed from the body.

But if diarrhea with foam in an adult was caused by any pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, he should immediately go to the hospital and be examined. After that, the patient will be prescribed appropriate treatment.

1. Frequent, sour-smelling stools are the main sign of fermentation.
2. The stool is liquid. Its color is yellow, but not bright.
3. The patient's abdomen often growls.
4. Sometimes the patient complains of discomfort in the abdomen. Pain is felt in the bowel area.
5. The patient's feces have bubble gas. In addition, they may contain starch grains, iodophilic microbes, and organic acids.

Causes

Diarrhea with foam can be triggered both by the wrong way of life of a person, and by any pathologies in his body.

The main reasons for this phenomenon:

• Intestinal infection. Foamy diarrhea will be liquid if the reasons that provoked it are bacterial in nature. Also, an intestinal infection can occur due to a virus. In this case, the patient has foamy stools accompanied by an increase in temperature, pain in the abdomen, constant rumbling of the stomach, as well as a feeling of general malaise and weakness. To rid the patient of an intestinal infection, medication is needed.
• Dysbacteriosis. This disease occurs due to damage to the intestinal microflora. There must be a balance of beneficial bacteria of microflora and opportunistic microorganisms in the stomach. Their ratio should be 99 to 1. That is, if pathogenic microorganisms are more than 1%, this leads to dysbiosis.
  Why can the intestinal microflora balance be disturbed? In most cases, this is due to long-term antibiotic use. That is, the causes of dysbiosis are long-term drug treatment.
• Allergic reaction. Foamy diarrhea often occurs as a response of the body to a particular product contraindicated to it. For example, if a person with lactose intolerance eats or drinks a dairy product, they may develop frothy, loose stools. There is no need to start treatment if the causes of the symptom are non-compliance with the rules of individual nutrition. Another symptom of an allergic reaction may be a skin rash.
• Lactase deficiency. This syndrome is often found in infants due to the mother's milk entering their body. The digestive system of newborns is not yet sufficiently adapted to the enzymes that enter their body along with the mother's milk. As a result, they develop foaming diarrhea. An adult can also have lactase deficiency. There is a genetic predisposition to this ailment. In the body of an adult, this syndrome is explained by a dysfunction of the pancreas. In addition to the above, there may be other reasons that provoke foamy stools.
• Parasitic invasions, such as worms. These parasites can cause both diarrhea and constipation. If there are worms in the body of an adult for a long time, his general health worsens, immunity decreases, and his mood deteriorates.
• Inflammation in the digestive organs. Such diseases of the gastrointestinal tract as duodenal ulcer or duodenitis in the early stages provoke diarrhea with foam. When the disease progresses in a chronic form, the patient no longer has watery stools with foam.

Complications

If you do not start treatment of foamy diarrhea in time, this can lead to negative consequences for the patient's health.

In the body of an adult who does not get rid of this symptomatology, conditions are created for fermenting microflora.

In some cases, frothy diarrhea leads to depletion of the body. Sometimes patients complain of constant thirst. This is not surprising, as foamy stools lead to dehydration.

Such diarrhea can cause intestinal inflammation. Therefore, with such symptoms, the patient should not postpone treatment.

Specificity of treatment

Foamy diarrhea can only be cured if the patient follows a strict diet. In the early days, it is recommended to cut the amount of food consumed by at least half.

It is better to eat nothing at all these days, but some people would find it difficult to completely stop eating for several days.

Before starting to take any medications, it is necessary to understand the reason why the stool with foam has arisen.

It is important that a doctor prescribes medications for the patient. Self-medication in this case is highly discouraged.

• If the cause of diarrhea is an intestinal infection, the patient is prescribed drugs that normalize the balance of the intestinal microflora. Most often, Linex is prescribed.
• If foamy diarrhea occurs due to the presence of parasites in the body, the patient is prescribed absorbing drugs, for example, Creon.
• If diarrhea occurs regularly in a patient, an antidiarrheal agent, such as Lopramide, will be prescribed.

Diet

For successful and effective treatment, a patient with this symptomatology must not only take appropriate medications, but also follow a diet.

Foamy diarrhea can be cured if you follow the following nutritional standards:

1. During the diet, you should not eat foods that are hard for the stomach, such as corn. You should completely avoid food that irritates the walls of the stomach. These are such products as semi-finished products, milk, cottage cheese and fat sour cream, homemade canned food, etc.
2. Recommended food is boiled rice. It is important that the rice is not salted. With this symptom, the intake of salty foods is contraindicated.
3. Bakery products should be excluded from the diet. The only exception is rye bread. However, do not overuse it.
4. Also, during the diet, fruits must be excluded from the patient's diet. The only fruit you can eat is a banana.
5. The patient must remember the need to maintain the water balance in the body. The fact is that diarrhea leads to severe dehydration. Therefore, to prevent this, you need to drink plenty of fluids. The patient is allowed to drink weak tea, juice, nectar and mineral water. It is recommended to drink 1 liter of alkaline mineral water per day.
6. If a person is not allergic to herbal teas, he can treat diarrhea with herbal infusions. It is important that the herbal infusions are not hot.
7. All foods that irritate the intestines should be excluded from the diet.
8. During the diet, it is not recommended to eat exotic fruits and foreign dishes, such as papaya or sushi.
9. The patient should completely abandon hot and mild seasonings and spices. Even black pepper should not be added to food.
10. Boiled chicken is allowed, but it cannot be salted.
11. The patient during the therapeutic diet should not consume any alcoholic beverages. From this, his condition will only worsen.

If you follow these simple rules, the digestive system will quickly normalize, and the diarrhea will pass. After that, you can not immediately eat foods that a person could afford before the diet.

Their introduction into the diet should be gradual. If you neglect this rule, then diarrhea may occur again.

Useful video