Diarrhea: symptoms, types, first aid, treatment

Diarrhea has the following symptoms: discharge of a loose stool more than twice a day, which occurs in a person older than one year of life. This manifestation can be a sign of many diseases, so before you take any steps yourself, pay attention to the amount, color, odor and character of the stool, as well as other symptoms that accompany diarrhea.

Why can diarrhea develop?

These symptoms mean not only food poisoning, which will pass by itself, if you adhere to the principles of healthy eating. Often there are cases when a copious liquid stool does not pass more than three weeks and is a sign of serious illnesses (even tumors). But mostly diarrhea indicates that a thick or thin intestine "got" a problem:

1. Inflammation of the intestinal wall was caused by a bacterium (cholera vibrio or Escherichia coli) or virus, due to which sodium is actively released into the intestinal lumen. It is this electrolyte that actively "pulls" water on itself, as a result of which the stool becomes liquid, watery. With such a feces, 1 liter and more fluid per day are lost, while the stomach does not hurt. The same kind of diarrhea can appear not only with inflammation of the intestine, but also with excess production of VIP hormone, hydrochloric acid, serotonin or somatostatin, as well as overdosing of Bisacodyl, Purgen and other laxatives.

2. Osmotic diarrhea: Symptoms have arisen due to the fact that as a result of disruption in the release or assimilation of enzymes in the intestine, a large number of carbohydrates are accumulated, which are fermented and also "pull" upon themselves with water. This can happen if you take Dufalac (Normase), Mannitol, and those drugs that contain bile acids. At the same time, an abundant stool is distinguished, which contains feces, and sometimes even half-digested food is visible.

3. Exudative diarrhea: symptoms have arisen due to inflammation of the intestinal wall, when an inflammatory fluid - exudate - is released into the lumen. This happens with salmonellosis, dysentery, campylobacteriosis, iersiniosis, protozoal inflammations, as well as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The chair is liquid, its color changes, it can contain veins of blood, mucus, pus. In this case, often there are pain in the abdomen, the body temperature rises.

4. Diarrhea as a violation of the contractile function of the intestine. It can cause and diseases of the thyroid gland, and the pathology of the nervous system, which, in fact, regulates bowel contractions, and the taking of such medications as Almagel, Maalox, and Fosfalugel. At the same time, diarrhea is uneventful, it shows pieces of undigested food, rumbling, a feeling of transfusion in the stomach, it can hurt.

Diarrhea as a sign of disease of other organs:

A) stomach: gastritis, especially with high acidity, can also be accompanied by diarrhea. But usually to this symptom is added pain "under the spoon", heartburn, belching;

B) Pancreas: acute pancreatitis manifests itself very strong pain in the right, left hypochondrium, it can be shingled, accompanied by vomiting, nausea, bloating; These same symptoms, only in a less pronounced form, are inherent in chronic pancreatitis. In addition, diarrhea with pancreatic diseases will look like a plentiful mushy or liquid stool that is poorly washed off the toilet, has an unpleasant smell, can be accompanied by an increase in body temperature;

C) diseases of the biliary system and liver: bile is responsible for the cleavage and absorption of fats; If it is less, or its composition is changed, diarrhea may appear. But usually then there is pain in the right hypochondrium, bitterness in the mouth, these symptoms and diarrhea are provoked by the reception of fatty, fried foods;

D) if the symptoms appeared after the gallbladder, the site of the duodenum or other intestine was removed during the operation, this requires consultation of the operating surgeon.

Diarrhea can also occur as a symptom of diabetes mellitus, allergies, malabsorption of food due to a lack of vitamins (eg, folic acid). The cause of diarrhea can be dysbiosis (this can be suspected if a person recently, up to a month, took antibiotics), but such diarrhea pain and temperature should not be accompanied.

Sometimes diarrhea can be a symptom of a surgical disease, for example appendicitis. Then the first place is pain in the abdomen, the phenomenon of intoxication (weakness, nausea, increased heart rate).

What to take with diarrhea?

Do not take anything, but call an ambulance and go to the examination if there are such signs:

- there is blood in the feces or in vomit (not necessarily scarlet, you should be alerted by a brown or black shade of any feces);

- diarrhea is more than 10 times a day in humans;

- you can not provide yourself with a normal replenishment of lost fluid, as it leaves with feces or vomiting;

- if there is an admixture of pus or greens in the feces;

- high body temperature;

- there is severe diarrhea, weakness;

- diarrhea is accompanied by pain in the abdomen;

- Diarrhea has appeared either in a small child, or in a person with liver, kidney, heart disease;

- In addition to diarrhea, there was inadequacy, aggressiveness or overly pronounced sleepiness;

- there was little urine.

If these signs are not present, and the abdomen is soft, it is not painful to touch it, you can try to do within 24 hours:

- Drink the medicine "Activated Carbon", "Enterosgel", "White Coal" or "Smecta" in the age-related dosage;

- Drink plenty of unsweetened (for adults) liquids. Calculation is as follows: 40 ml / kg per day, plus the amount that a person loses with diarrhea and vomiting;

- 1.5 hours after you drink the sorbent, take the drug "Linex", "Entererozermina" or "Bifilact";

- After half an hour, drink tea with crackers, you can eat a couple of spoons of rice porridge, cooked not on broth and without butter;

- in half an hour-hour (only if there is a temperature and moderate weakness) drink on the pill "Norfloxacin" and "No-shpy";

- we continue to drink liquid;

- in an hour and a half after taking the pill "Norfloxacin" we drink the drug "Activated charcoal" or "Enterosgel";

- We continue to drink liquid.

We comply with the diet during the entire period of diarrhea and at least 7 days after it ends. For this, it is necessary to exclude fatty and fried foods, all smoked products, pickles, pickled foods, alcohol, mayonnaise, fresh vegetables and fruits. All products must be boiled, stewed or steamed, without spices, on second or third meat or fish broth. From salads with fresh vegetables you need to refrain.

The drug "Norfloxacin" is drunk 2 times a day (every 12 hours), sorbents - 4-5 times in the first days, then - three times, bifidolactobacteria - twice a day. The second day should be noticeably relieved, diarrhea does not necessarily stop, but weakness and nausea should recede. This means that you hit the mark. If it does not get better, call a doctor, do not risk your health.

But in any case, do not drink the drug "Loperamide" or "Imodium", especially if diarrhea is accompanied by an increase in temperature. So you just stop the defensive mechanism, which is diarrhea, and the infection will pour into the blood.