Talk:Diarrhea

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Atomic Diarhea?

I think this needs an entry here. Anyone ever have atomic diarrhea?

From that article:

The Norwalk virus is rare.

Perhaps, but Norwalk-like viruses appear to be common. Any experts in the house?

---

Certain foods cause diareah as well, as well as a recent fat substitute in potato chips, i cant remember the name as of right now though.--ShaunMacPherson 23:51, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

• That would be Olestra, and the term which is generally used is the charming "anal leakage"- Nunh-huh 23:55, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Loperamide HCl? 2 Popular culture 3 Photograph 4 Idiocy 5 Question re Acute diarrhea 5.1 Another question re Acute diarrhea 6 Question re Treatments 7 Images needed 8 Home treatment: Chicken soup and papayas 9 Popular culture (again) 10 Causes 11 Photo 12 Question re: ancient cases 13 Image 14 Uncited, Poorly Defined Claim 15 Lonox not Difenoxin 16 Question; Heat 17 POV problem 18 Re-titling 19 Trots 20 Removed from page 21 beer shits 22 Treatment section 23 Pictures 24 Treatment 25 Suggested Topics 26 Stress? 27 Scours

[edit] Loperamide HCl?

Any mention required of Loperamide HCl (Imodium)? There's a cautionary line at the end *against* using anti-diarrheal medication here, yet I've found that diarrhea originating from infection (e.g. gastroenteritis) can lead to extreme dehydration within a few days, requiring hospitalization. Which is very serious.

I guess Loperamide is not a good thing for one-shot diarrhea attacks; but where the condition has gone on for at least a day and is starting to dehydrate, and it is caused by an infection, I'd think it would be very important to suggest it as a one-off treatment.

Note: I am not a doctor, nurse, med student or mad scientist - nor do I play one on TV.

One of the reasons anti-diarrheal medications are traditionally advised against is that medication which relieves the symptom rather than treats the underlying cause delays definitive treatment. If diarrhea is so severe that it is causing dehydration, the cause needs to be diagnosed. Some causes of diarrhea need to be treated. - Nunh-huh 23:27, 5 Jun 2004 (UTC)

A lot of diarrhoea has an infectious cause - while the pathogen remains in the gut, it will continue to cause a problem, so stopping the diarrhoea causes more problems. Hospital admission, IV rehydration as necessary, and treatment/waiting for it to burn out is usually the safest approach.

[edit] Popular culture

I have re-added my section on this topic's place in pop-culture, which was deleted a while ago by user 66.181.94.5. If anyone believes it non-notable please at least state why before you delete it. Considering the ubiquity of the diarrhea song (even adults will remember it when you sing it around them) it is of my opinion that it is worthy of a small section in the article. --I am not good at running 02:41, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I don't think that song needs to stay. I've trimmed the paragraph to something more general. JFW | T@lk 02:56, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Photograph

I think a photograph is useful. Meconium, feces, and human feces all have photographs, why not one here? 68.97.208.123 09:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Is it necessary? If you REALLY feel it necesary to have a photograph of diarrhea, please put up something other than child playing in it. When people come to this article for information about diarrhea, I really don't think they're going to expect to see that. A vast majority of people will be disgusted by that. Let's not get into a discussion over how feces is a taboo, though. What needs to be considered is whether the photograph is useful. I don't see how a picture of a child playing in his diarrhea is useful. --Der Sporkmeister 17:44, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

First, I think it is pretty obvious that the child is playing in mud. Second, even if the picture were of a child playing with its own stool, a more appropriate picture would be one of JUST diarrhea. The child playing adds no value and is in fact a distraction from the valuable information in the article. Ektar 18:23, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

That picture definitely isn't essential to the article. I am surprised it hasn't been deleted yet. -Themusicking 04:22, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Agreed! That would be a great, a picture of shit. Because no one has ever seen SHIT before.

-me

[edit] Idiocy

I took off the added line "It is really bad and gross and annoying. It burns the butthole." in the beggining of the first section. Obvious stupid vandalism. emerson1024

... Well its true :p - Chairman Smith (no i diden't write it, just suffering from it right now)

[edit] Question re Acute diarrhea

What does "This can nearly always be presumed to be infective, although only in a minority of cases is this formally proven." mean? I think the context has been lost.

It means that diarrhoea is usually caused by infection, but demonstrating the virus/bacterium/parasite is not always possible. JFW | T@lk 14:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Another question re Acute diarrhea

"This may be defined as diarrhea that lasts less than 4 weeks, and is also called enteritis." Is this really the case? Enteritis, being an inflammatory condition, might be the cause of diarrhea, but I can't see how they're synonymous. Jddriessen 17:55, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

i also have it

[edit] Question re Treatments

Are these supposed to be in some order? Should oral rehydration come before IV drip?

Should there be more discussion of commercial vs home made rehydration salts? (In short, commercial are better, but a home brew of 1 liter + 6 teaspoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon salt is better than plain water because it is easier to absorb. My Source: Loney Planet Taiwan)

Oral rehydration is preferable, as it avoids hospital admission, cannulation and all the problems this entails.

Home-made ORS is fine as long as the water is clean. The sugar and salt are to compensate for the salts and energy lost by the diarrhoea. It's not just the absorption. I was once recommended to rehydrate with tea, orange juice and chicken soup; this contains salt (soup)potassium and carbohydrate (orange juice) and fluids. JFW | T@lk 14:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

It is not simply that the salt and sugar replenish those lost by the diarrhea. They actually allow the fluid taken orally to be reabsorbed by the body by osmosis.

This last comment is true as far as I know. Involvement of the GSLT-1 receptor (glucose sodium linked transporter), which facillitates movement of sodium AND glucose moieties together from the lumen of the small bowel into the enterocyte. Movement of ions creates an osmotic gradient favouring movement of water into the enterocyte as well, so that GSLT-1 facillitated sodium-glucose absorption is an important mechanism for absorbing water in the small bowel. Effective oral rehydration requires both sodium and glucose to involve this transporter. Other transporters exist (there are sodium channels) but these may be inhibitted by the activity of certain common enterotoxins? (no references) Rhymes with cow 04:31, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images needed

what does this stuff look/sound like???? -69.110.44.70 04:22, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Leave cheese outside for a week or two, until it grows fungus. Then eat it. The results will certainly be entertaining. JFW | T@lk 04:49, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

That's not good enough, no personal research on wikipedia!DevinOfGreatness 19:46, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Home treatment: Chicken soup and papayas

Everytime I've dealt with this illness, I was recomended chicken soup with little or no spices in it (I believe salt only). I think the section should contain some information on the recipe or at least mention it.

Also, I've always been told that papayas are strongly laxative, especially their black seeds. The article mistakenly demonstrates papaya as a resource for fighting diarrhea, when it can actually worsen it. I think it should be taken into consideration, and while I am yet to do some further research on it, I do not recommend it nor have any of my doctors ever recomended. Airstrike 02:36, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Popular culture (again)

OK, I know the section on "The Diarrhea Song" was trimmed from the article before but I've now given that amazing example of poetry its own article and linked through to it from the "See Also" section. Considering the song's impact on popular culture, I think this is reasonable... Milvinder 04:22, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations, dude! I'm proud of you. But ... where are the lyrics? The only one I remember is, "when you're driving in your chevy, and you're feeling kinda heavy, ..."

[edit] Causes

It doesn't specificly state that diarrhea can be caused by excessive drinking.(83.118.38.37 05:33, 4 April 2006 (UTC))

I probably just missed it but I don't see any mention of it being caused by things like cola either. 90% of the time that's the cause in my case. 65.95.157.80 05:34, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

Enough with this child in the mud business -- why don't we get an actual picture of diarrhea on this page (a la the image on the human feces article)? Perhaps I can cook something up...Latinlovinglatino 18:47, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question re: ancient cases

This is a question for the medical community about traveling in ancient days. When St. Augustine moved from Carthage to Rome, he reports in his Confessions that "Rome welcomed me with the scourge of bodily illness." Of course diarrhea can't be assumed from this text, but my question is this: would it have been common-- almost expected-- for travelers to get very sick in the 5th century? Without any clean drinking water ANYWHERE, would all travelers have to develop resistance to new bacteria wherever they went? (If this question would be better suited in another article's discussion area please let me know. Thank you!)

[edit] Image

We should have one. I Love P00P 18:31, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Uncited, Poorly Defined Claim

"In the Third World, diarrhea is the most common cause of death among infants, killing more than 1.5 million per year." This claim is not substantiated.

1) This claim should be re-written to reflect current statistics

2) Any such claim should be cited.

WHO statistics estimate diarrhea as the 2nd most common cause of deaths (17% of deaths) in children under age 5, the most common cause being acute respiratory infection (19% of deaths).

An approachable presentation of these WHO statistics can be found in a 2005 Lancet article (Lancet 2005; 365: 1147–52). This article also breaks down causes of childhood mortality (<5yrs old) for 6 regions of the world. The article may not be easily accessible online though.

A graph representing causes of death among chilldren under 5 years of age, and other useful information can be found at: http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/OVERVIEW/CHILD_HEALTH/child_epidemiology.htm

--65.125.151.253 19:15, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lonox not Difenoxin

This article from Wikipedia states: "Lonox (difenoxin with atropine." This is incorrect. Lonox is a different brand name for Lomotil (Diphenoxylate w/ Atropine). The actual brand name the person who wrote this was looking for is "Motofen," which is a combination of Difenoxin with Atropine, and is 4-5x more effective in treating diarrhea, and is a schedule IV medicine, not a schedule V medicine like Lomotil (Diphenoxylate w/ Atropine). In short, Difenoxin (Motofen) is not Diphenoxylate (Lomotil, Lonox). They are similar, but separate medications. Sorry for the long-winded explanation, I don't really have time to condense this. Thank you guys :)

[edit] Question; Heat

Can excessive heat cause diarrhea and anal leakage? I have heard of, and experienced, this potential cause and effect.

I've experienced this too. Excessive heat (~35°C) doesn't cause diarrhea for me, but makes it more likely to happen (eg one glass of cola might do it when normally it'd take quite a bit more). I'd have to wonder if dehydration somehow interferes with the colon absorbing water, but it makes little sense that not having enough water would prevent it from taking in more. Either way there does seem to be a connection between heat and diarrhea. 65.95.157.80 05:30, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Kraz_Eric 08:40, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV problem

The first line of this article uses the word "sufferer". How do we know that the person (or animal) is suffering? They might be enjoying it for all we know!

Does Wikipedia generally make exceptions for nutjobs? ;-) 65.95.157.80 05:31, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

This is very true. I agree it is POV 75.84.42.64 08:27, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re-titling

Could we re-title this article "diarrhoea", please? It is the original spelling. Thanks. Crazy Eddy 10:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

No. "Diarrhea" is a more common spelling in English. Wikipedia's rule say that the most common/popular form is to be used for the title, not the most "correct" or the "original" one. bogdan 10:59, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the WHO categorises the symptom as "diarrhoea" not "diarrhea". So just doing a google search for the word doesn't cut it. User:C3045051

No. "Diarrhea" is NOT the spelling in English. Its diarrhoea--Light current 18:53, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

From the American Heritage:

di·ar·rhe·a also di·ar·rhoe·a (dī′ə-rēə) (noun)
Excessive and frequent evacuation of watery feces, usually indicating gastrointestinal distress or disorder.

It lists both spellings but the entry is indeed 'diarrhea', not 'diarrhoea'. airstrike 02:09, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Heck, I'll just add a quick bit about that myself. 65.95.157.80 05:32, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind, it's already there. ^_^; 65.95.157.80 05:34, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

---

Can we at least re-post the "child in mud" image here on the discussion page? Because it sounds frickin hilarious. --IQpierce 21:34, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trots

where does the term trots originate from?

cos youre always trotting to the tiolet?--Light current 18:52, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed from page

Above is wrong, most water is actually absorbed from the small intestine, a common misconception is that the colon absorbs all the water from the faeces. This misconception occurs as this is just about the only job the colon does, so it gets a reputation as the main water absorber. In fact diarrhoea can be bourne from both the small and large intestines, they can be differentiated from the history of the patient and the faeces themselve.

--Light current 18:52, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] beer shits

I get redirected from beer shits, but the article doesn't explain a damn thing about alcohol-related shits (which aren't really diarrhea in symptom anyway). That's retarded.

[edit] Treatment section

I see a problem with the treatment section. It is formed as it talks directly to the reader. Which may seem like health advice rather than an encyclopaedic entry. Giving Health advice is a dangerous thing especially on an encyclopaedia where anyone can edit. I will put a tag on it to highlight the problem.--Konstable 11:19, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

I have a huge problem with the references to commercial beverages in the first point here:

"Large amounts of electrolytes are found in the sports drinks Gatorade and Powerade, so it is a wise choice to drink these while ill with diarrhea."

This seems to me to conflict NPOV, and it is not referenced. At the very least, I think we should delete the specific references to Gatoade and Powerade. It reads like a commercial and is anyway very US-specific.

John w4 07:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I think including the reference to Gatorade and Powerade are very acceptable. First, both a cell biology teacher and human physiology teacher have specifically talked about Gatorade in my lectures when talking about treating cholera, aparently it was originally designed as a cholera treatment before the formula was bought for the sports team in Florida. Second, I can't think of a more universal way to describe a solution with appropriate levels of glucose and sodium ions to help rapid absorbtion through the Na+/glucose symporter, which is why drinks with measured amounts of sugar and salt actually help with acute diarrhea far more than eating food and drinking water. Perhaps if someone included something about why mixtures of NaCl, simple sugar and water help people become rehydrated better than just water it would help, but it is well known that Gatorade or any other "sports" drink is very good to drink when becomming dehydrated through sickness.

That gatorade story is entirely not true. When are people going to realize that just becuase a teacher of professor stated something, it isn't necessarily true. Wikipedia fails againDjgranados

[edit] Pictures

Needs pictures. 69.227.189.202 23:13, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... that could be tricky...--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 23:58, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

No one has a picture?

[edit] Treatment

For an alternative discussion of treatment, see the CDC page on "Travellers Diarrhea" at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/travelersdiarrhea_g.htm. Other sources of infectious diarrhea are also discussed at this site.

[edit] Suggested Topics

Social distress caused by this. Such fear of going on long trips. The sometimes suddenness of its onset and how one may be in a place with poor or no facilities when this occurs. 69.114.117.103 07:24, 22 November 2006 (UTC) (EK)

I've never edited a wikipedia page before, but there are a couple of inaccuracies in the treatment section. First, drinking a solution made of rice water or sugar water is only effective in treating certain types of diarrhea- namely, cholera and a few other bacterial diarrheas. Moreover, oral rehydration therapy (ORT) does NOT reduce the diarrhea, it simply replenishes lost body fluids much mor effectively than does water alone.

[edit] Stress?

Often read and personally experience that stress is a common cause for diarrhea as well. However, I see no mention of this in the article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.56.177.248 (talk) 17:36, 4 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Scours

I was redirected here from scours. I was looking for information on the bovine condition commonly called "scours". My dairy farming relatives built sheds and pens outside for calves and planned winter calves, for outdoors + cold weather made for scours-free calves (no beer shits either). Anyone know the veterinary name for this and why it spreads so quickly? (waits to be told "Google's that way"). Jaguara 10:52, 6 February 2007 (UTC)