10 Scariest Causes of Diarrhea

By rjoachim | April 18, 2023

When you have diarrhea, your bowel movements (or stools) are loose and watery. It’s common and usually not serious.

Many people get diarrhea a few times a year. It normally lasts 2 to 3 days. Some people get it more often. That could be because they have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or other conditions.

  • Allergies to certain foods
  • Diseases of the intestines (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
  • Eating foods that upset the digestive system
  • Infection by bacteria (the cause of most types of food poisoning) or other organisms
  • Laxative abuse
  • Running (Some people get “runner’s diarrhea” for reasons that aren’t clear.)
  • Some cancers
  • Surgery on your digestive system
  • Trouble absorbing certain nutrients, also called “malabsorption”

Diarrhea may also follow constipation, especially for people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

  • Bloating in your belly
  • Thin or loose stools
  • Watery stools
  • An urgent feeling that you need to have a bowel movement
  • Nausea and throwing up
  • Most cases of diarrhea are nothing more than a brief inconvenience. But sometimes, they warn of a serious condition. Talk with your doctor if your child has diarrhea for more than 24 hours. If you have it for more than 3 days, make an appointment.
  • Also, be sure to let your doctor know about your diarrhea if you have cancer, or have had recent treatment for it.
  • More serious symptoms of diarrhea include:
  • Blood or mucus in your stool
  • Weight loss
  • If you have watery stools more than three times a day and you’re not drinking enough fluids, you could become dehydrated. That can be a serious problem if it’s not treated.
  • Call your doctor right away if you have:
  • Blood in your diarrhea or black, tarry stools
  • A fever that is high (above 101 F) or that lasts more than 24 hours
  • Diarrhea lasting longer than 2 days
  • Nausea or throwing up that prevents you from drinking liquids to replace lost fluids
  • Severe pain in your belly (especially the right lower quadrant) or rear end
  • Diarrhea after coming back from a foreign country
  • These can be warning signs of things like:
  • Infection
  • Inflammatory bowel disease
  • Pancreatitis
  • Colon cancer
  • Also, call your doctor right away if you have diarrhea and any of these signs of dehydration:
  • Dark urine
  • Smaller than usual amounts of urine or, in a child, fewer wet diapers than usual
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Headaches
  • Dry skin
  • Crankiness
  • Confusion
    • Your doctor will ask about your medical history and what medications you take, as well as what you’ve eaten or had to drink recently. They will give you a physical exam to look for signs of dehydration or belly pain.
    • Certain tests can help pinpoint the cause of your diarrhea, including:
    • Blood tests to look for certain diseases or disorders
    • Colonoscopy, in rare cases, in which your doctor looks inside your colon with a thin, flexible tube that holds a tiny camera and light. They can also use this device to take a small sample of tissue. Or your doctor might need to do only a sigmoidoscopy, which looks at just the lower colon.
        • https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-diarrhea
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