There are many and various reasons for which a person is suffering from diarrhoea in all its features. It is often due to malnutrition, but sometimes it is also because of a simple virus that enters our gut and create imbalances. Most of the time you have to wonder if, perhaps with a little more than foresight, all this will also be able to avoid.
Infectious causes: bacteria, viruses and parasites in summer are more common forms of bacteria, in winter the virus. Among the various types of infectious diarrhoea or infectious cough include: cholera, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, typhoid. One particular type is the so-called “traveller’s diarrhoea” caused by an organism called Campylobacter jejuni, which can contaminate water and food, especially in low hygienical standards. The toxins produced by this bacterium are destroyed by adequate cooking.
Psychological problems: stress, irritability
Motor dysfunction: irritable bowel.
Causes inflammation: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis
Medicines: laxatives, antibiotics, NSAIDs, etc..
Food: food intolerances, allergies
Malabsorption: congenital (cystic fibrosis) or acquired (pancreatic insufficiency)
Anatomical lesions: mainly post-surgery (ileal resection, intestinal bypass)
Causes Endocrine: hyperthyroidism, diabetes, hypoparathyroidism, carcinoid, Zollinger-Ellison
Vascular causes: acute mesenteric
Malignancies: lymphoma and intestinal cancer
Immunological causes: gastroenteritis esosinofila deficiency of immunoglobulin
Complications
Chronic diarrhoea can cause death by dehydration of the individual and / or metabolic acidosis. In the presence of diarrhoea would increase the body’s water loss due to incomplete absorption of water, excessive liquid booster by some undigested substances and / or related with hyper secretion and intestinal inflammation. Dehydration are also connected to the electrolyte disturbances that exacerbate the situation further to cause hypo tension, metabolic acidosis, renal calculi, oliguria, lethargy and tachycardia with pulse small and frequent.
Diarrhoea can become dangerous for the phenomena of dehydration associated with it, especially in the elderly, children and debilitated subjects.
Care and treatment of diarrhoea
An examination of the possible complications of diarrhoea, often undervalued, makes us understand the importance of proper therapy. Actually, since the origin of the disturbance there may be very different causes, treatment of diarrhoea should be differentiated according to the pathological process in place. In any case it is important to act quickly to combat dehydration, as we have seen, is one of the most feared and common symptoms of diarrhoea In the presence of this disorder should therefore be of fluids, minerals and sugars lost through food or intravenous electrolyte solutions (in relation to the degree of dehydration).
Antibiotics are generally not used since the diarrhoea itself contributes to the elimination of pathogenic micro-organisms that have affected the intestine. However, in case of severe infections in which it clearly identified the causative agent (typhoid, Campylobacter, Yersinia, Clostridium difficile) the use of antibiotics is strongly recommended. The anti-diarrhoeal drugs do not cure the disease upstream, but attenuate the symptoms (diarrhoea).
Diet and Medication
The care and treatment of less severe forms of diarrhoea can be done at home: drink lost of fluids to keep the body hydrated; avoid rich foods such as fruit and vegetable waste; avoid iced drinks, strong tea, foods high in fat and therefore difficult to digest; limit the intake of fructose and sorbitol in the diet (fruit juice); avoid alcohol, coffee and any substances that can aggravate allergies (dairy products, excess gluten, soy, etc..). Effectiveness of lactic acid bacteria is questioned by many, which is why it is recommended to discuss with your doctor beforehand.