Diarrhea Treatment. Treat Diarrhea.

Diarrhea describes bowel movements (stools) that are loose and watery. It is very common and usually not serious. Many people will have diarrhea once or twice each year. It typically lasts two to three days and can be treated with over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. Some people have diarrhea often as part of irritable bowel syndrome or other chronic diseases of the large intestine.

Doctors classify diarrhea as "osmotic," "secretory," or "exudative."

• Osmotic diarrhea means that something in the bowel is drawing water from the body into the bowel. A common example of this is "dietetic candy" or "chewing gum" diarrhea, in which a sugar substitute, such as sorbitol, is not absorbed by the body but draws water from the body into the bowel, resulting in diarrhea.
• Secretory diarrhea occurs when the body is releasing water into the bowel when it's not supposed to. Many infections, drugs, and other conditions cause secretory diarrhea.
• Exudative diarrhea refers to the presence of blood and pus in the stool. This occurs with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, and several infections.

What Causes Diarrhea?

The most common cause of diarrhea is a virus that infects the gut. The infection usually lasts for two days and is sometimes called "intestinal flu" or "stomach flu."Diarrhea may also be caused by:

• Infection by bacteria (the cause of most types of food poisoning) • Infections by other organisms
• Eating foods that upset the digestive system
• Allergies to certain foods 
• Others 

Diarrhea may also follow constipation, especially for people who have irritable bowel syndrome.

What Are the Symptoms of Diarrhea?

• Abdominal bloating or cramps
• Thin or loose stools
• Watery stool 
• Sense of urgency to have a bowel movement

Etiology & Pathology of diarrhea in TCM

Syndrome differentiation

• Cold and Damp: Watery, thin diarrhea which has no strong or foul odour. Generally this is an acute type and has abdominal pain and digestive sounds from the intestines which are relieved by heat. There is a cold type of abdominal cramping. The patient will generally feel cold and prefer warm drinks.
• Damp and Heat: Foul smelling diarrhea which leaves a burning feeling on the anus. There is commonly yellow mucus and possible blood found in the stool. There will be a unfinished feeling after passing stool and a general sense of feverishness. The patient will have a red complexion and possibly sweat easily.
• Food Stagnation: Acute diarrhea due to over eating or inadquate digestion. Diarrhea which is irregular and has very strong odour and a general sense of bloating and possible abdominal pain. Patient will have frequent belching and burping up of old sour food.
• Spleen Qi Insufficiency: Diarrhea which is chronic. There is undigested food found within the stools. The diarrhea is very soft and may or may not be accompanied with pain. The pain with this type of diarrhea may be due to the anus dropping (prolapsed anus) or pain associated with abdominal spasming. In either case the patient will express a general sense of fatigue, easily bloat with specific foods or after large meals, have a low appetite and in severe cases have a slight yellow complexion.
• Kidney Insufficiency: Chronic Diarrhea occuring consistently early in the morning (around 5am). This type of diarrhea is commonly accompanied with mild abdominal pains which is relieved after a bowel movement. There will also be signs of low back ache, weak knees, waking at night to urinate, low sex drive and mild fatigue.
• Excess Water In Intestines: Chronic case of diarrhea which is watery, frothy and almost "bubbly". This is commonly known as a dysfunction of intestiness where there is excess water retained within the intestines giving rise to borborygmi(noise in abdomen), loss of weight, poor appetite, bloated abdomen, low amounts of urine but a good thirst.
• Liver Qi Stagnation: Diarrhea which is aggravated by emotional stimulus . Sadness, grief, frustration, anger, anxiety will all aggravate this type of diarrhea. There may be abdominal cramping and pressure or pain under the rib cage. This can be easily associated with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). 

Diarrhea Treatments

Herbs and Acupuncture should be combined together. I like to use acupuncture to adjust patients' meridians and they would feel their abdomen sudden relax and comfortable. Herbs would give them benefit in balancing their organs, such as spleen,stomach,and kidneys.

I have one patient who has suffered diarrhea at for several years. The patient had to go to washroom at lease 10 times a day. After one time treatment, the patient only need to go to washroom 5 times a day, and then, after 5 times treatments the patient has turned to normal 1 to 2 times a day. Acupuncture and TCM are really ways to treat diarrhea.