Diarrhea is one of your body’s natural defenses. It rushes s things through the digestive tract that your body wants to get rid of. Knowing this won’t make you feel any better when you’re running for the bathroom every ten minutes, but it’s important to understand that diarrhea is very efficient at what it does. It’s so efficient, in fact, that it rarely lasts more than a day or two – and that definitely should make you feel better.

The bad news, of course, is that diarrhea often comes back – again and again. Most come from bacterial or viral infections, although diarrhea can also be caused by food allergies, stress, a sensitivity to milk or other dairy foods, or even as a side effect of medications.

Even though diarrhea may play a protective role, you don’t want it to last too long because it can rob your body of essential fluids and nutrients. Of course it just plain feels awful. Here are a few ways to speed it on its way.

Drink a lot of fluids. To stay healthy, it’s essential to replace all the fluids that diarrhea takes out of you. Doctors recommended drinking as much as you can hold –at least eight to twelve glasses of water a day. Sports drinks are even better than water because they contain many essential minerals; called electrolytes that you need to stay healthy. You can also purchase flavored electrolyte solution at your local pharmacy.

Give your system a break. It’s generally important to eat well to keep up your strength, but when you have diarrhea it’s better to eat less to give your digestive tract time to recover. Doctors recommend sticking to a “clear” diet by eating foods such as broth or gelatin. When you’re ready to start eating solid foods again, keep it bland for a few days are eating easy-to-digest foods such as rice, bananas, applesauce, and toast. Avoid acidic foods, such a s oranges and tomatoes, which are known to irritate the digestive tract.

Have a little yogurt. Yogurt can be very good for diarrhea if it contains “active” cultures – beneficial bacteria that help aid in digestion. The label will tell you.

Avoid high-fiber foods. When you have diarrhea it’s important to eat foods that are easy to digest. Dietary fiber, for all its benefits isn’t digested, which makes it harder for the digestive tract to do its job. Once the diarrhea has run its course you can start eating a high fiber diet again.

Take advantage of berries. Blueberries may be the perfect diarrhea-fighting food. They’re rich in protein, which your body needs when you’re feeling sick. Plus, they contain compounds that may help stop the bacteria that can cause diarrhea in the first place.

Take the Mary Poppins prescription. Even if you don’t need any help getting the medicine down, a spoonful of sugar can be very helpful when you’re fighting diarrhea. Sugar helps the body absorb – rather than eliminate – water, so it can help prevent dehydration.

Ask your doctor about diary. If you’re having diarrhea all the time, you could be sensitive to lactose, a sugar found in milk and other dairy foods. In fact, doctors believe that”lactose intolerance” is a very common cause of diarrhea. You may want to try giving up milk, cheese, and other dairy foods for a few days to see if the problem goes away. Or you can take supplements containing lactase – an enzyme that will help your body digest the lactose found in dairy foods.

Get quick relief at the pharmacy. Doctors usually recommend letting diarrhea run its course. But when you have to stop it fast – because you’re taking a business trip, for example – you may want to pick up some Imodium medication helps to prevent your intestines from contracting, which stops diarrhea.

Diarrhea is nothing but the condition in which, there will be frequent, loose, watery stools or an abnormal increase in the frequency and liquid content of the stools or defecation. All the stools or defecation contains little water but in the condition like diarrhea it has been increased.

Human intestines digest the food, absorb the nutrients from the food and finally leave the waste material that is expelled out of the body, known as stools or defecation. Generally large intestines absorbs the watery portion and makes the stools stiffs but not as hard as rock. Due to many reasons, the digestive system gets affected and it loses its functions. The intestines cannot digest the food properly and makes the stools watery.

There are many reasons that can cause the diarrhea. The first and most significant is infections. Any abdominal infections may bring diarrhea as a symptom. The microorganisms affect the intestines and then they cause the diarrhea. These infectious diseases include typhoid fever, cholera gastroenteritis etc. Other common causes include intolerance of any food or food allergy. The intestines get irritated and lose their functions. Any kind of food poisoning may also end up in diarrhea. There are certain medications that can cause diarrhea. For instance, some antibiotics (amoxicillin) can cause the diarrhea as its side effects.

Diarrhea can also be caused by virus and unfortunately there is no treatment available for virus except just supplying the water that is lost. These types of diarrheas generally subside by their own and they do not require specific treatment other than the re-hydration.

The symptoms for diarrhea is watery stools and some patients may experience abdominal cramps while defecation. The diarrhea may turn into life-threatening disease if the frequency of and quantity of losing water increases. This will cause dehydration and is fatal because the body loses its electrolytes and the tissues start dying. Diarrhea often turns into dehydration in children and therefore, children with diarrhea are never taken as light case of the disease.

In children, especially babies, the diarrhea should be controlled as early as possible. Their eyes and mouth become dry. The abdomen gets sunken and they stop playing and probably feeding too. These are the prime symptoms of having diarrhea and later on the dehydration. Diarrhea can be followed by vomiting, which makes the condition worse in children.

The treatment is re-hydration. The fluid that is lost during the diarrhea is to be replaced immediately. Certain cases require antibiotics to control the infection and then the symptoms are treated accordingly. The IV (intravenous fluids) play vital role in treating the diarrhea. The intravenous fluids contain vital electrolytes those are lost in the diarrhea.

WHO recommends ORS (oral rehydration solution) to start as soon as one starts suffering from diarrhea. This is very essential fluid for children. The ORS is specific condition of water, sugar and salt. The ORS is to be supplied as much as a child can drink. However, the case is to be seen by doctor earliest possible.

Judging by the number of ancient remedies which abound world-wide for this horrid affliction, diarrhea appears to have been a major problem since the beginning of time, presumably as a result of man eating things which he should not have eaten or which were either contaminated or had gone bad. Infection was also carried through inadequate water supplies and drainage systems whilst health and hygiene in the home was fairly scanty.

The long-term or chronic condition of diarrhea is usually found to be caused by one of the following: a poor or inadequate diet; consistently eating foodstuffs to which one is unknowingly allergic; cooking foods in aluminum pans over a long period of time; perpetual emotional dramas or stress. Those acute griping attacks which usually last for no longer than 24 hours may be caused by one of the following: an infection from contaminated food or water, in some cases by antibiotics, over eating, an excess of sugar, stress or fright (you have heard the expression ‘one’s bowels turning to water). Children, particularly babies, are also vulnerable to a change of diet or milk, teething and, strangely enough, sultry weather.

The majority of people who suffer from acute attacks of diarrhea usually do so abroad and this is borne out by the list of names given to the problem ranging from ‘Tangiers trot’ to ‘cruise blues’. Unaccustomed food, different water, too much sun, too much alcohol and quite frequently too much of everything else, including stress, leads to gyppy tummy. Egypt does seem to be the one place where no stomach is safe and the only person I know of who survived unscathed ate all the highly spiced foods but no salads, drank neat whisky and cleaned his teeth in gin. According to scientists, water does not have to be contaminated to make you ill : it is quite enough that it is different and that the body is unused to it.

Centuries ago men knew when and where not to gather certain foodstuffs. Wild rabbits were not caught at certain time of the year for the flesh would be contaminated by the plants they had eaten. Mussels were not picked from wood beneath the water but only from rocks. Smallholders never fed offal to their chickens or meat scraps to their pigs. Nuts, berries, fruit, vegetables, fish and meat were eaten only within their natural seasons, not only because they were unavailable at other times but to protect the supply and to ensure that the conditions were right in which to keep them for as long as possible without adverse effect. Nowadays, due to modern farming, collection and storage methods, we have overcome most of these barriers but in doing so have created many other problems.

Home Remedies for Diarrhea

Although the desire to stop a painful attach of diarrhea may appear to be of paramount importance it is better to allow the body to flush itself clean of the cause completely, which will usually take about 24 hours. However, if it continues over 48 hours professional advice should be sought. Do not delay with young children; if a gentle remedy has not been effective within 12 hours seek advice. The same applies to babies. If it is not the normal result expected due to teething, or the introduction of new foods or bottle feeding, for example, seek help as soon as possible. Eat very little when the tummy is badly upset, keeping the consumption down to bland, dry foods and lots of water. Eat only light meals during recovery and do not tempt providence. If it is a case of real emergency, such as traveling home from holiday and being confined to coach or plane or an important meeting which just cannot be put off, try either kaolin and morphine or J. Collis Brown’s Mixture. They are both patent medicines which are very old-fashioned and effective, but do refer to the instruction for dosage and suitability for children. Most of the old wives remedies are as useful today as they were yesterday but pity the poor sailor who had little choice between chewing tarred rope or his bottle of rum.

Long-Term Settlers

* Drink plenty Dehydration is the most acute problem arising from a severe attach of diarrhea so drink lots of fresh, clear water. If you are far from home buy a well known mineral water. Alternatively experts recommend making up quantities of the following; 1 litre (1.75 pints) of freshly boiled mineral water, 2 tablespoons of honey, ¼ teaspoon of sea salt, ¼ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and a little fresh lemon juice. Adults should take a little every five minutes until at least 3 litres (5.25pints) have been consumed within a 24 hour period. Children will only need to drink 1 litre (1.75 pints) and the very young even less. This is an invaluable remedy if sickness strikes abroad but do use a reliable brand of water that has been ‘bottled at source’.

* Barley water The most reliable and old fashioned standby, make it up with or without lemon.

* Rice A good food for a child who is suffering is plain boiled white rice mashed up with bananas.

* Rice water Boil 25g (1oz) of rice gently in 1 litre (1.75 pints) of water for 1.30 hours. Strain and drink the liquid to soothe the irritated bowel . One of the best home remedies for diarrhea.

* Oats Make a thin gruel with oat meal or a handful of raw oats.

* Plain live yoghurt This will kill off unwanted bacteria.

* Leeks Cook 8 good-sized well washed leeks in 2 litres (3.5 pints) of water for three hours in a covered pan. A teaspoon of the resulting liquid drunk every five minutes will relieve diarrhea in children.

* Potato juice The juice of fresh potatoes mixed with carrot juice and honey clears the bowels of infection. However ‘green’ potatoes, which are those which have been exposed to light, are very dangerous when eaten raw. Potatoes which have been cooked and left for over 24 hours before eating are also a prime cause of illness, so do not keep them for bubble and squeak but throw them away.

* Pomegranate juice Crush the flesh to extract the juice and drink a spoonful at a time regularly throughout the day. This is a remedy from Egypt, where they know about such things!

* Grape juice If an allergic reaction to a food or drug is the cause of sickness and diarrhea drink 2 glasses of grape juice and water.

Quick Comforters

* Oil of peppermint Take a few drops in hot water.

* Warm water and honey a small cup is an ideal soother for small children.

* Port and brandy This mixture warms and settles the stomach and, provided you are not nauseous, makes you feel so much better.

* Cayenne pepper One teaspoon stirred into a glass of hot water and swallowed quickly is incredibly disinfectant, if you can bear to take it. So is hot curry but this may well have been the cause of your downfall in the first place. Good home remedy for diarrhea.

* Rose hip syrup Take in hot water after first making sure than an excess of vitamin C is not the original cause of the problem.

* Massage A gentle massage of the abdomen will reduce the ache caused by this type of tummy upset which children find particularly distressing. Use 1 tablespoon of warm sunflower oil with several drops of one of the following essential oils added to given extra benefit: geranium, lavender, peppermint, sage, clove or garlic.

* Warm compresses Another old-fashioned idea was to use a compress of leeks but 1 think that a much nicer idea is to use a warm compress of chamomile tea.

* Onion Peel and slice a large onion and leave to infuse in a covered bowl with 1 litre (1.75 pints) water. The liquid is then drunk by the cup. This is also an excellent remedy for babies and small children if it is sweetened with honey and given by the small teaspoonful. The juice from raw onion on the hands makes a first-class disinfectant when dealing with children who have diarrhea, especially when changing nappies or cleaning potties.

* Milky beverages A red-hot poker immersed for 30 seconds in a cup of boiling milk was believed to impart iron emanations to the drink. You may prefer a teaspoon of cinnamon or allspice in warm milk, both of which are warming and antiseptic.