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Suggest Treatment For Persistent Diarrhea
Question: I am having recurring diahirea for past 2 months. I get a case of diaharea that is preceeded by acid tasting belches and real stinky gas expulsions. The runs last for about 6 - 8 hours (off & on) and then quits. I go on a nearly clear diet for a couple of days then start toward a normal diet when the belches/gas expulsions start and diahrea returns and we start all over again. Most duration of no diahrea has been about 4 days.
Have Dr appt with personal physician tomorrow (1/24) Thanks for the help
Have Dr appt with personal physician tomorrow (1/24) Thanks for the help
Brief Answer:
Several causes but food intolerance or allergy the most likely cause
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
There are several causes of recurrent or long lasting diarrhea. A very common one is allergy to certain food or intolerance to certain food. These are not the same thing.
One is a reaction of the body to the presence of a certain food and might cause diarrhea and the other one there is no reaction of the body but because of not being able to brake down certain food and absorb them, these food rich the bowel and cause diarrhea by osmotic effect. The common thing of both of these cases is the fact that they are both worse in the presence of that food.
Sometimes it is helpful to avoid certain food and see if it helps and the fact that you feel better after avoid some food is a sign that one of these causes might be the case.
What is recommended is that after avoiding food than you take them back one by one. When your stools are back to normal than you can take back one kind of food for a few days and if no diarrhea you can take back another one till you find what causes you the diarrhea.
Try to avoid milk as mild intolerance is the most common one. You can take cheese and yogurt.
Sometimes bread or gluten based food might cause some intolerance so you might need some tests if this is suspected.
On the other hand there are infection that might make your bowel more sensitive to certain food like Giardia for example or others so tests related to these might be needed in a certain stage of your investigation.
Lack of pancreas enzymes might be a cause and if you are better when you avoid fatty food than this is a likely cause and there are pancreatic enzymes you can take regularly if this is confirmed.
Your doctor might need to do several tests to rule out or to rule in the above diagnosis.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to ask if any more clarifications are needed.
Kind Regards
Dr Antoneta Zotaj
Several causes but food intolerance or allergy the most likely cause
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
There are several causes of recurrent or long lasting diarrhea. A very common one is allergy to certain food or intolerance to certain food. These are not the same thing.
One is a reaction of the body to the presence of a certain food and might cause diarrhea and the other one there is no reaction of the body but because of not being able to brake down certain food and absorb them, these food rich the bowel and cause diarrhea by osmotic effect. The common thing of both of these cases is the fact that they are both worse in the presence of that food.
Sometimes it is helpful to avoid certain food and see if it helps and the fact that you feel better after avoid some food is a sign that one of these causes might be the case.
What is recommended is that after avoiding food than you take them back one by one. When your stools are back to normal than you can take back one kind of food for a few days and if no diarrhea you can take back another one till you find what causes you the diarrhea.
Try to avoid milk as mild intolerance is the most common one. You can take cheese and yogurt.
Sometimes bread or gluten based food might cause some intolerance so you might need some tests if this is suspected.
On the other hand there are infection that might make your bowel more sensitive to certain food like Giardia for example or others so tests related to these might be needed in a certain stage of your investigation.
Lack of pancreas enzymes might be a cause and if you are better when you avoid fatty food than this is a likely cause and there are pancreatic enzymes you can take regularly if this is confirmed.
Your doctor might need to do several tests to rule out or to rule in the above diagnosis.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to ask if any more clarifications are needed.
Kind Regards
Dr Antoneta Zotaj
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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