Tips on Caring for Every Day Diarrhea

QUESTION: Although many articles appear about taking care of diarrhea that
comes on when traveling, little is said about the every day homegrown variety.
Surely many more of us suffer from this inconvenience than the other kind.
Won't you please give us some tips on caring for the problem?
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ANSWER: You know, you are right. The fact is that most questions that are
addressed to me do express anxiety about meeting up with diarrhea while
voyaging to foreign countries. Actually the information that is contained in
answers to those questions contain important tips about your "homegrown"
variety, but I am happy to address that problem now. The most common cause of
diarrhea, with its frequent large amounts of loose and watery stools, is
viral infection. However, the same symptoms can be caused by bacterial
infections, allergies to certain food products, or digestive intolerance to
certain foods. The dangerous effect of prolonged and excessive watery
movements is the loss of body fluids and dehydration, much more serious in
children. Therefore we pay a lot of attention to the replacement of liquids.
Fruit juices and sweet liquids are NOT a good idea, and can make the condition
worse. Water is not too helpful either, for it lacks some of the important
chemicals, sodium and potassium (electrolytes) that are lost in the liquid
stool. Nonfat chicken soup is a good replacement fluid, as is Gatorade, and
children may be given special solutions prepared for them after checking with
the physician. Stay away from spicy or hard to digest foods. Stay at home
and rest, for you may easily pass on your condition to fellow workers or
family you may come in contact with. When you begin to feel better, resume
your normal diet gradually, starting with rice, crackers and toast, cooked
potatoes and carrots, then on to broiled skinless chicken and fish. It may
take a while to get everything back to normal, but slow progress is better
than the discomfort of a recurrence because your battered system needs more
rest.