What is Chronic Diarrhea?

Diarrhea refers to a medical condition, characterized by loose or sometime liquid stools. Diarrhea is considered to be chronic if loose stools last one month or more. Patients suffering from chronic diarrhea can have one or several episodes of diarrhea everyday. Most cases of chronic diarrhea are treatable. Severe chronic diarrhea can lead to death.

Significance

• Chronic diarrhea maybe a sign for more serious conditions of the digestive tract. These include inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, infections and malabsorption syndromes.

Identification

• Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the major causes of chronic diarrhea. In addition to chronic diarrhea, other symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome include alternating periods of constipation and diarrhea and abdominal pain.
  Another common cause of chronic diarrhea is inflammatory bowel disease, which is the inflammation of the large and small intestines. Patients suffering inflammatory bowel disease may experience chronic diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal cramps, mouth sores, abdominal pain and fever.
  Infection of the digestive tract also leads to chronic diarrhea.

Considerations

• Consult your doctor immediately if you have loose stools for more than four weeks or you lose weight and dehydrate due to diarrhea. Your doctor will check your medical history and conduct a physical examination to identify the cause of diarrhea. Further diagnostic procedures such as colonoscopy, x-ray maybe necessary to confirm the cause of diarrhea.

Size

• About 5% of adult population in America suffering from chronic diarrhea. Roughly 15% of people suffering from chronic diarrhea are due to their immune systems are compromised, due to chemotherapy for cancer, or HIV/AIDS.

Expert Insight

• There are several agents that can help to solidify loose stools. These include activated charcoal, resins, bismuth and fiber psyllium. You can also use anti-diarrheal drugs such as loperamide and octreotide to suppress loose stools.