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Diarrhea
Diarrhea is an uncomfortable, embarrassing, sometimes humiliating problem that many people encounter from time to time. The causes are numerous, and the treatments are just as many. The many causes include food poisoning, over eating, antibiotics, stimulant laxatives, viruses, bacteria, parasites, too much vitamin C, nerves, and food allergies. Some of the more dangerous causes of diarrhea are Cohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and adverse drug reactions. If your diarrhea last less than 48 hours it is considered ‘normal’. This means you won’t need to see a doctor unless you have complications. Those can include fever, blood, mucus or puss in your stools, you become dehydrated (dry lips, sunken eyes, no need to urinate for more than eight hours), have recently been out of the country or around someone who has, or drank water directly from a stream, river or lake. I would also add swimming in a stream, river or lake, since you can drink the water without even realizing it.
Antibiotics are one of the things that a doctor might prescribe for diarrhea. Killing the bad bacteria sounds good, but one of the side effects is diarrhea. How will you be able to tell if it is working if the side effect is the same as the problem? If you believe bad bacteria are the problem one option is Enriching Gifts Pro Biotic Flora with FOS. These wonderful little good bacteria will take over and eliminate the bad bacteria by both crowding them out and actually attacking them. Ron Schneider (the founder of Enriching Gifts International) tells a wonderful story about having a business meal in New Deli India. Evidently food poisoning is so common there that they have nicknamed it the ‘Deli Belly’. Before the meal was completed everyone was experiencing the beginning symptoms of food poisoning. Ron went back up to his hotel room and took a ‘handful’ of Enriching Gifts Pro Biotic Flora with FOS. Within half an hour all symptoms were gone. One of the people he was eating with reportedly ended up in his hotel room for a week, another was in the hospital, while the third ended up in intensive care! I can’t claim that everyone will react the way Ron did, but it is fun to hear him tell that story.
Other medicines you can take for diarrhea concentrate on thickening up the stool, or stopping the cramping. I’m not a doctor, but my personal thought is if the body is trying so hard to get something out of me should I really slow it down? If you really need to do something there are a few herbal/home remedies that sound pretty harmless. One is apples, especially the peel which contains pectin. This will make your loose stools more solid. Cooked carrots, white rice and bananas are also good for this. When I worked in a day care center many years ago they taught us the ‘BRAT’ diet. This stands for Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. The toast would not be the wonderful whole grain versions we could get now, but that old fashioned white bread that is normally not considered good for you.
The most important things you can do for someone with diarrhea are to make them comfortable and make sure they are getting plenty of liquids. Kristin Stiles, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at the Complementary Medicine and Healing Arts Center in Vestal, New York suggests frequent sips of water. Filtered water is usually the best. If the diarrhea is severe or lasts for a while Dr. Stiles suggests a sports drink to replace the electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and magnesium. There are many on the market that don’t contain high amounts of sugar, but don’t have the artificial sweeteners either.
Dr. Pam Taylor, N.D. a naturopathic doctor in Moline, Illinois suggest that to help alleviate the spasms (cramps) that can accompany diarrhea try taking ginger. She suggests a couple of capsules, or 200 to 400 milligrams. She says the ginger will normalize the peristaltic movements (the natural way of moving food through the intestines) as well as relieving the pain.
East Indian Ayurvedic herbalists advise combining half a teaspoon each of dried lemongrass and ground ginger in a cup of boiling black coffee. Steep the mixture covered for eight minutes and drain before drinking. Sounds like a way to get rid of that coffee headache at the same time.
Sources: Nature’s Medicines by Gale Maleskey and the Editors of Prevention Health Books, copyright 1999 by Rodale Inc. The Herbal Drugstore by Linda B. White MD and Steven Foster, copyright 2000 by Rodale Press The Good Herb by Judith Benn Hurley, copyright 1995 by Judith Benn Hurley.
(This information is not intended to serve as a prescription, or to diagnose, treat or replace the advice of your medical doctor. If you have any medical conditions or are taking prescription or non-prescription medications, consult your physician before altering or discounting the use of them.)
