What is chronic diarrhea?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Doctor Vo Thi Thuy Trang - Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Da Nang International Hospital.
Although chronic diarrhea is not common, it is quite dangerous and difficult to treat definitively. Understanding the disease, its causes and effective treatment helps patients get rid of chronic diarrhea and its consequences early.

1. What is chronic diarrhea?

Chronic diarrhea is the passage of loose stools more than 3 times per day and diarrhea that lasts for more than 4 weeks. The disease is not common, only a few people get it, but the consequences of the disease are quite dangerous.

2. Causes of Chronic Diarrhea

There are countless causes of diarrhea such as eating, allergies, infections, side effects of drugs... For chronic diarrhea the causes can be mentioned as:
The syndromes malabsorption: Weight loss, gastritis, Crohn's disease, short bowel syndrome, lymphatic obstruction, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic carcinoma, bacterial overgrowth such as motility disorders, fistulas, small bowel diverticulum... Mobility disorders caused by systemic disease or after abdominal surgery, systemic disorders such as sclerosis, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, irritable bowel syndrome, etc. Chronic diseases such as parasites, bacteria, protozoa... Osmotic diarrhea caused by drugs, antacids...; pseudo-diarrhea... Diarrhea caused by drugs, malabsorption of bile salts, adenomas with villi... Inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, microscopic colitis, small bowel inflammation caused by irradiation, lymphoma, adenocarcinoma...

3. Principles of chronic diarrhea treatment

In order to effectively treat chronic diarrhea, the patient needs to solve the following 3 problems:
Treat symptoms, reduce the number of bowel movements, treat abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea if any. Treating the cause of diarrhea, in each cause, the treating doctor will have an appropriate orientation and treatment regimen. Prevention of recurrence and complications if any. Accordingly, patients need to solve the cause of diarrhea by:
Minimize alcohol, beer, stimulants. Limit the use of lactose and artificial sweeteners. If diarrhea is caused by an allergy to gluten in flour or lactose in milk... the patient should avoid using preparations containing these substances. If diarrhea is caused by side effects of drugs such as laxatives, antacids, magnesium-containing drugs, etc., it is necessary to see a doctor and adjust the appropriate prescription promptly. Treatment of diseases that cause prolonged diarrhea such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes. Patients with chronic diarrhea should be prevented and treated, if present, with appropriate rehydration and electrolyte replacement. If the patient does not have any symptoms of dehydration or is only mildly dehydrated, the patient can rehydrate at home by drinking water, oresol solution is mixed with the correct dose as prescribed by the doctor. Give fluids after each bowel movement and according to the patient's needs.
Particularly for young children, the amount of replacement fluid is required as follows: 50 ml after each bowel movement for children under 2 years old, 100-200ml for children 2-10 years old. Older children drink on demand. In case of chronic diarrhea patients with severe or critical dehydration, they need to be monitored at the hospital. At that time, the doctor prescribed rehydration by intravenous line.
Patients can be treated for complications such as treating hypernatremia, hyponatremia, and hypokalemia according to the appropriate treatment regimen for each patient.
In addition, patients with chronic diarrhea need to pay attention during the treatment process such as the diet should be soft, easy to digest, not excessively abstinence, fully supplemented with 4 groups of nutrients for the patient including: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals.
In particular, patients are not allowed to buy or use antibiotics arbitrarily. Some folk remedies can also treat diarrhea but are not completely effective. For definitive treatment, it is best for the patient to go to the hospital for examination, find out the cause and have the right treatment.

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