Symptoms of Diarrhoea

8/10/2019 Symptoms of Diarrhoea

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Symptoms of diarrhoea

Diarrhoea can have a number of associated symptoms depending on the cause and who isaffected.

In terms of severity, you may only have slightly watery stools and a brief upset stomach, or yourstools may be very watery for a prolonged period.

Many people with diarrhoea experience stomach cramps and a frequent, urgent need to go to thetoilet. Other common symptoms associated with diarrhoea include:

nausea and vomiting headache loss of appetite

When to contact your GP

The advice about when to contact your GP varies depending on who is affected.

Babies

You should contact your GP or health visitor immediately if your baby has had six or moreepisodes of diarrhoea in the past 24 hours.

Children

Contact your GP if your child has:

had six or more episodes of diarrhoea in the past 24 hours diarrhoea and vomiting at the same time particularly watery diarrhoea blood in their diarrhoea diarrhoea that lasts more than two weeks (it usually passes within five to seven days)

Adults

You should visit your GP if you have:

diarrhoea and have recently been in hospital recently been treated with antibiotics diarrhoea that has blood in it diarrhoea and persistent vomiting unexplained weight loss bleeding from your rectum (back passage) passed a large amount of very watery diarrhoea you may be at risk of dehydration diarrhoea at night that is disturbing your sleep
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developing countries.

People with diarrhea often have fever and/or stomachache (abdominal cramps). Diarrhea may becaused by inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn's disease , an allergy, or an infection.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) approximately 3.5 million deaths each yearare attributable to diarrhea. 80% of those deaths occur in children under the age of 5 years.Children are more susceptible to the complications of diarrhea because a smaller amount of fluidloss leads to dehydration , compared to adults.

A bacterium called enteroaggregative E. coli , is responsible for 10 percent of cases of diarrhea inchildren , researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA, found.

What are the five types of diarrhea?

Secretory diarrhea

Either the gut is secreting more fluids than usual, or it cannot absorb fluids properly. Insuch cases structural damage is minimal. This is most commonly caused by a cholera toxin - a protein secreted by the bacterium Vibrio cholera .

Osmotic diarrhea

Too much water is drawn into the bowels. This may be the result of celiac disease , pancreatic disease, or laxatives. Too much magnesium, vitamin C, undigested lactose, orundigested fructose can also trigger osmotic diarrhea.

Motility-related diarrhea

Food moves too quickly through the intestines (hypermotility). If the food moves tooquickly there is not enough time to absorb sufficient nutrients and water. Patients whohad a vagotomy (removal or severing of the vagus nerve) as well as those with diabeticneuropathy are susceptible to this type of diarrhea.

Inflammatory diarrhea

The lining of the gut becomes inflamed. This is usually caused by bacterial infections,viral infections, parasitic infections, or autoimmune problems such as IBS (inflammatory

bowel disease). Tuberculosis , colon cancer and enteritis can also cause inflammatorydiarrhea.
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Dysentery

The presence of blood in the stools is usually a sign of dysentery , rather than diarrhea.

Dysentery is caused by a release of excess water caused by an antidiuretic hormone fromthe posterior pituitary gland. Dysentery is one of the symptoms of Shigella, Entamoebahistolytica , and Salmonella .

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Diarrhoea: Symptoms, treatment and prevention

What is diarrhoea?

Diarrhoea is having more frequent, loose, watery poo, which may be referred to as 'stools'.

You may get diarrhoea after being in contact with someone else who has it, or you may get itfrom food poisoning - after eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water.

Almost everyone has diarrhoea at some point in his or her life, including on holiday abroad,called traveller's diarrhoea .
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Diarrhoea that comes on suddenly and lasts for no longer than a couple of days is usuallyreferred to as "acute diarrhoea". Most people with acute diarrhoea recover on their own.Diarrhoea that lasts more than two weeks is thought of as "chronic diarrhoea". Typically, chronicdiarrhoea requires medical care to find the underlying cause and treat complications, such asdehydration .

What causes diarrhoea?

Many different problems can cause diarrhoea. Here are the major causes:

You are most likely to come down with diarrhoea after coming into contact with these infectiousorganisms and agents:

A virus, such as rotavirus, winter vomiting disease (Norwalk virus or norovirus ),enterovirus, or a hepatitis virus.

A bacterium, such as E. coli , salmonella , shigella , C.diff (clostridium), or cholera ( Vibriocholerae).

A parasite, such as those that cause giardiasis and amoebiasis.

The length of time diarrhoea lasts often depends on what caused it. Diarrhoea from noroviruslasts around two days, for rotavirus, the duration is three to eight days, Campylobacter andsalmonella infections may last two to seven days and diarrhoea from giardiasis can severalweeks.

Other medical conditions

A number of non-infectious medical conditions may cause diarrhoea, too. These include:
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Inability to digest certain foods, including a lactose intolerance (difficulty digesting thetype of sugar found in dairy products); coeliac disease (an intolerance of gluten in wheatand some other grains); and pancreatic problems, such as those caused by cystic fibrosis , which interfere with production of important digestive substances.

Surgery to remove part of your intestine. A shortened intestine may be unable to absorb

all the substances you eat. This is referred to as short-bowel syndrome. The after-effects of surgery to remove the gallbladder. An increase in bile in the colonmay result in watery stools.

Certain diseases of the endocrine (hormonal) system, including thyroid disease, diabetes,adrenal disease, and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

Certain rare tumours (including carcinoid tumour and pheochromocytoma) that producediarrhoea-causing substances.

Inflammation in the intestinal tract, which can result in chronic diarrhoea. If you haveinflammatory bowel disease (such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease), you will have

bouts of diarrhoea during flare-ups of your disease. Pouches of the intestinal wall in diverticular disease can lead to diarrhoea, especially if

they become infected and inflamed ( diverticulitis ) Irritable bowel syndrome , which may cause alternating bouts of diarrhoea andconstipation .

Bowel cancer produces a change in bowel habit that may include diarrhoea or alternatingdiarrhoea and constipation.
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Symptoms of Diarrhoea