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Know Your Herbs

- Fennel

Can ayurvedic or herbal treatments Treat Diarrhea?

Because Ayurveda believes that Human Body positively respond to the natural healing which includes natural remedies. It might take some long time(with compare to Allopathic methods) to achieve full relief from Diarrhea with help of Herbal medicines, but when you are fully treated, then results would last throughout your life (It is believed in Ayurveda that treatment with natural remedies has long lasting effects, but this belief is a matter of debate and open discussions). Herbal medicines don't make you dependent and the best part is that There is almost NO side effect in most of the herbal products.

What Is Diarrhea?

Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea refers to frequent loose or liquid bowel movements.

Although for many people diarrhea is merely unpleasant, diarrhea that is both acute and severe is a common cause of death in developing countries and a major cause of infant death worldwide. It is often due to gastroenteritis.

Diarrhea is most commonly caused by viral infections, parasites or bacterial toxins. In sanitary living conditions where there is ample food and a supply of clean water, an otherwise healthy patient usually recovers from viral infections in a few days. However, for ill or malnourished individuals diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration and can become life-threatening without treatment.

Diarrhea can also be a symptom of more serious diseases, such as dysentery, Montezuma's Revenge, cholera, or botulism, and can also be indicative of a chronic syndrome such as Crohn's disease. Though appendicitis patients do not generally have diarrhea, it is a common symptom of a ruptured appendix. It is also an effect of severe radiation sickness.

Diarrhea can also be caused by dairy intake in those who are lactose intolerant.

Symptomatic treatment for diarrhea involves the patient consuming adequate amounts of water to replace that loss, preferably mixed with electrolytes to provide essential salts and some amount of nutrients. For many people, further treatment is unnecessary. The following types of diarrhea indicate medical supervision is required:

Diarrhea in infants;

Moderate or severe diarrhea in young children;

Diarrhea associated with blood;

Diarrhea that continues for more than two days;

Diarrhea that is associated with more general illness such as non-cramping abdominal pain, fever, weight loss, etc;

Diarrhea in travelers, since they are more likely to have exotic infections such as parasites;

Diarrhea in food handlers, because of the potential to infect others;

Diarrhea in institutions such as hospitals, child care centers, or geriatric and convalescent homes.

A severity score is used to aid diagnosis in children.

Types of diarrhea

There are at least four types of diarrhea: secretory diarrhea, osmotic diarrhea, motility-related diarrhea, and inflammatory diarrhea.

Secretory diarrhea

Secretory diarrhea means that there is an increase in the active secretion, or there is an inhibition of absorption. There is little to no structural damage. The most common cause of this type of diarrhea is a cholera toxin that stimulates the secretion of anions, especially chloride ions. Therefore, to maintain a charge balance in the lumen, sodium is carried with it, along with water.

Osmotic diarrhea

Osmotic diarrhea occurs when there is a loss of water due to a heavy osmotic load. This can occur when there is maldigestion (e.g., pancreatic disease or Coeliac disease), where the nutrients are left in the lumen, which pulls water into the lumen.

Motility-related diarrhea

Motility-related diarrhea occurs when the motility of the gastrointestinal tract is abnormally high. If the food moves too quickly, there is not enough time for sufficient nutrients and water to be absorbed. This can be due to a vagotomy or diabetic neuropathy, or a complication of menstruation.

Inflammatory diarrhea

Inflammatory diarrhea occurs when there is damage to the mucosal lining or brush border, which leads to a passive loss of protein-rich fluids, and a decreased ability to absorb these lost fluids. Features of all three of the other types of diarrhea can be found in this type of diarrhea. It can be caused by bacterial infections, viral infections, parasitic infections, or autoimmune problems such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Infectious diarrhea

Infectious diarrhea is diarrhea caused by a microbe such as a bacterium, parasite, or virus.

Malabsorption

These tend to be more severe medical illnesses. Malabsorption is the inability to absorb food, mostly in the small bowel but also due to the pancreas.

Causes include celiac disease (intolerance to gluten, a wheat product), lactose intolerance (Intolerance to milk sugar, common in non-Europeans), fructose malabsorption, pernicious anemia (impaired bowel function due to the inability to absorb vitamin B12), loss of pancreatic secretions (may be due to cystic fibrosis or pancreatitis), short bowel syndrome (surgically removed bowel), radiation fibrosis (usually following cancer treatment), and other drugs such as chemotherapy.

Treatment of Diarrhea

In many cases of diarrhea, replacing lost fluid and salts is the only treatment needed. Medicines that are available without a doctor's prescription include loperamide (Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate Pepto Bismol and Kaopectate.

Ayurvedic or Herbal treatments are again becoming popular with today's generation because they are totally natural. In this website we have tried to list and analyze some Ayurvedic, herbal and Natural remedies available currently for Diarrhea.

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