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Suggest Treatment For Diarrhea And Stomach Discomfort
Question: I have had cold symptoms for 4 days. I took some alkaseltzer cold medication Monday night and Tuesday morning. Yesterday afternoon, I went for a run (~5miles) and by the time I got done I was feeling some stomach discomfort. I went ahead and had dinner and the stomach cramps got worse; unusually painful for stomach issues (8 on the 10 scale). During the night I noticed some pain in my right back below the mid point. Diarhea all night with stomach cramping. This morning, my stomach is cramping (4 on the 10scale) and rumbling a bit (not hungry). The pain is less that last night. I had a flu shot in November. Any ideas of what to do?
Brief Answer:
fluids, probiotics, meds
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
The main aspect of treatment of diarrhea would be to treat or avoid dehydration.
Instead of water , you may want to consider the use of oral rehydration solutions from your local pharmacy or gatorade.
Either of these would give you back both fluids and electrolytes.
Water would only replace fluids and would not help give back the electrolytes that you need.
In addition to the above you can also: (1) use probiotics-these have been shown to shorten the course of diarrhea
They can be used on their own or you can use yogurts that contain probiotics
(2)hold off solid food till symptoms have abated for 3 to 4 hours. Then start dry, bland food in small amounts initially
(3)meds such as lomotil or peptobismol would help
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
fluids, probiotics, meds
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
The main aspect of treatment of diarrhea would be to treat or avoid dehydration.
Instead of water , you may want to consider the use of oral rehydration solutions from your local pharmacy or gatorade.
Either of these would give you back both fluids and electrolytes.
Water would only replace fluids and would not help give back the electrolytes that you need.
In addition to the above you can also: (1) use probiotics-these have been shown to shorten the course of diarrhea
They can be used on their own or you can use yogurts that contain probiotics
(2)hold off solid food till symptoms have abated for 3 to 4 hours. Then start dry, bland food in small amounts initially
(3)meds such as lomotil or peptobismol would help
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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