Medicines for diarrhoea

Diarrhoea is a very uncomfortable digestive disorder that occurs when stools are too liquid and occur more than three times a day. It can cause abdominal pain, poor control over bowel movements and many more symptoms that we will see below.

This type of digestive disorder commonly occurs after events in which you eat large, fatty meals, after consuming alcohol, during trips, etc.

To know a little better what it is, let's start by knowing the types of diarrhoea that can occur.

- Acute: lasts a maximum of 3 weeks. It is usually eliminated with diet and symptomatic therapy.

- Persistent: lasts more than 3 weeks. Does not respond to treatment and can have many causes including gastrointestinal disease.

- Chronic: prolongs over time and is often accompanied by other symptoms, such as nausea, fever, abdominal pain.

Here are some tips to keep in mind to avoid diarrhoea:

1. Limit consumption of fatty foods.

2. Be careful with dairy products, they can have a direct effect on diarrhoea.

3. Eat bland products.

4. Beware of travel! In other places, try to avoid eating foods that are fresh or raw. Make sure water is safe to drink and bottled, and do not consume drinks with ice in them.

5. Finally and most importantly, hydrate well. If you are suffering from diarrhoea, drink fluids or isotonic drinks to help you recover lost mineral salts.

Another method of combating diarrhoea is to take anti-diarrhoea medication.

They focus on re-establishing the balance in the secretion and absorption processes. In short, they try to prevent dehydration, modify the texture of the faeces and suppress or reduce the symptoms of diarrhoea.

They can be classified as:

- Intraluminal action: they are very safe.

• Absorbent: They act by capturing toxins to prevent their harmful action on the mucosa. They merely affect the consistency of the stool, rather than the frequency and quantity of stools.
• Bismuth subsalicylate: reduces the amount and alleviates some effects of diarrhoea such as nausea or abdominal pain.
• Stool texture modifying agents: increase water absorption.

- Gastrointestinal motility inhibitors: delay intestinal transit and allow water absorption.

- Intestinal absorption enhancers: stimulate absorption processes. Usually reserved in cases where other types of treatment do not work.

- Intestinal secretion inhibitors: reduce water secretion.

- Anti-infectives: Not recommended as a first choice. Must be prescribed by your doctor.

Anti-diarrhoeals are usually found in capsule form to be taken orally.