Re: Bad Diarrhea - Warning graphic

From: Mxsmanic (mxsmanic_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 06/25/04 

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 06:52:00 +0200

Fred writes:

> A day and a half ago, I was hit with the worst diarrhea I can ever
> remember. It is like water. It started out with me feeling tired and
> lightheaded. That night, I was up 3 or 4 times. The next
> day(yesterday) I felt horrible. I had a fever(around 100-101),
> headache, and was achy. I went to bed and still had this very watery
> diarrhea. Sorry to write this here but I actually awoke having
> slightly soiled myself three times. I felt achy this morning but that
> passed and now I still have watery diarrhea, am nauseated and have
> slight cramps with slight rumbling sounds in my intestines. The fever
> is gone. \\
>
> Does anyone know what this can be? I cannot remember ever having
> diarrhea like this even as a kid

An infection of the GI tract; such infections can produce very severe
diarrhea. The severity of the diarrhea is not necessarily correlated
with the gravity of the disease. However, severe diarrhea can produce
dehydration and especially a serious loss of electrolytes, which can
become life-threatening (that's how cholera kills its victims). Make
sure you get plenty of fluids and watch your electrolytes; eating food
helps replace them, if you can keep down food. If the diarrhea is
sufficiently severe or prolonged you might need a trip to the ER or a
visit from a doctor to provide you with some more specific electrolyte
replacement to match whatever you are loosing (special drinks or IV
rehydration).

A way to treat cholera, for example, is with aggressive oral fluid
replacement using special drinks that provide the correct replacement of
electrolytes. If the patient can be kept from dehydrating or drifting
too far out of electrolyte balance, the disease usually resolves after a
couple of days. But in the Third World and sometimes elsewhere, without
the fluid and electrolyte therapy, people die from the loss of water and
essential electrolytes before the disease can resolve. 

-- 
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

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