Talk:Diarrhea

From that article:

The Norwalk virus is rare.

Perhaps, but Norwalk-like viruses appear to be common. Any experts in the house?

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Certain foods cause diareah as well, as well as a recent fat substitute in potato chips, i cant remember the name as of right now though.--ShaunMacPherson 23:51, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

That would be Olestra, and the term which is generally used is the charming "anal leakage"- Nunh-huh 23:55, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Loperamide HCl?

Any mention required of Loperamide HCl (Imodium)? There's a cautionary line at the end *against* using anti-diarrheal medication here, yet I've found that diarrhea originating from infection (e.g. gastroenteritis) can lead to extreme dehydration within a few days, requiring hospitalization. Which is very serious.

I guess Loperamide is not a good thing for one-shot diarrhea attacks; but where the condition has gone on for at least a day and is starting to dehydrate, and it is caused by an infection, I'd think it would be very important to suggest it as a one-off treatment.

Note: I am not a doctor, nurse, med student or mad scientist - nor do I play one on TV.

One of the reasons anti-diarrheal medications are traditionally advised against is that medication which relieves the symptom rather than treats the underlying cause delays definitive treatment. If diarrhea is so severe that it is causing dehydration, the cause needs to be diagnosed. Some causes of diarrhea need to be treated. - Nunh-huh 23:27, 5 Jun 2004 (UTC)

A lot of diarrhoea has an infectious cause - while the pathogen remains in the gut, it will continue to cause a problem, so stopping the diarrhoea causes more problems. Hospital admission, IV rehydration as necessary, and treatment/waiting for it to burn out is usually the safest approach.

Popular culture

I have re-added my section on this topic's place in pop-culture, which was deleted a while ago by user 66.181.94.5. If anyone believes it non-notable please at least state why before you delete it. Considering the ubiquity of the diarrhea song (even adults will remember it when you sing it around them) it is of my opinion that it is worthy of a small section in the article. --I am not good at running 02:41, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I don't think that song needs to stay. I've trimmed the paragraph to something more general. JFW | T@lk 02:56, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Photograph

I think a photograph is useful. Meconium, feces, and human feces all have photographs, why not one here? 68.97.208.123 09:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is it necessary? If you REALLY feel it necesary to have a photograph of diarrhea, please put up something other than child playing in it. When people come to this article for information about diarrhea, I really don't think they're going to expect to see that. A vast majority of people will be disgusted by that. Let's not get into a discussion over how feces is a taboo, though. What needs to be considered is whether the photograph is useful. I don't see how a picture of a child playing in his diarrhea is useful. --Der Sporkmeister 17:44, 13 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

First, I think it is pretty obvious that the child is playing in mud. Second, even if the picture were of a child playing with its own stool, a more appropriate picture would be one of JUST diarrhea. The child playing adds no value and is in fact a distraction from the valuable information in the article. Ektar 18:23, 13 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

That picture definitely isn't essential to the article. I am surprised it hasn't been deleted yet. -Themusicking 04:22, 14 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Idiocy

I took off the added line "It is really bad and gross and annoying. It burns the butthole." in the beggining of the first section. Obvious stupid vandalism. emerson1024

Question re Acute diarrhea

What does "This can nearly always be presumed to be infective, although only in a minority of cases is this formally proven." mean? I think the context has been lost.

It means that diarrhoea is usually caused by infection, but demonstrating the virus/bacterium/parasite is not always possible. JFW | T@lk 14:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Question re Treatments

Are these supposed to be in some order? Should oral rehydration come before IV drip?

Should there be more discussion of commercial vs home made rehydration salts? (In short, commercial are better, but a home brew of 1 liter + 6 teaspoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon salt is better than plain water because it is easier to absorb. My Source: Loney Planet Taiwan)

Oral rehydration is preferable, as it avoids hospital admission, cannulation and all the problems this entails.

Home-made ORS is fine as long as the water is clean. The sugar and salt are to compensate for the salts and energy lost by the diarrhoea. It's not just the absorption. I was once recommended to rehydrate with tea, orange juice and chicken soup; this contains salt (soup)potassium and carbohydrate (orange juice) and fluids. JFW | T@lk 14:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It is not simply that the salt and sugar replenish those lost by the diarrhea. They actually allow the fluid taken orally to be reabsorbed by the body by osmosis.

Images needed

what does this stuff look/sound like???? -69.110.44.70 04:22, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Leave cheese outside for a week or two, until it grows fungus. Then eat it. The results will certainly be entertaining. JFW | T@lk 04:49, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

That's not good enough, no personal research on wikipedia!DevinOfGreatness 19:46, 10 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Home treatment: Chicken soup and papayas

Everytime I've dealt with this illness, I was recomended chicken soup with little or no spices in it (I believe salt only). I think the section should contain some information on the recipe or at least mention it.

Also, I've always been told that papayas are strongly laxative, especially their black seeds. The article mistakenly demonstrates papaya as a resource for fighting diarrhea, when it can actually worsen it. I think it should be taken into consideration, and while I am yet to do some further research on it, I do not recommend it nor have any of my doctors ever recomended. Airstrike 02:36, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Popular culture (again)

OK, I know the section on "The Diarrhea Song" was trimmed from the article before but I've now given that amazing example of poetry its own article and linked through to it from the "See Also" section. Considering the song's impact on popular culture, I think this is reasonable... Milvinder 04:22, 23 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Causes

It doesn't specificly state that diarrhea can be caused by excessive drinking.(83.118.38.37 05:33, 4 April 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Photo

Enough with this child in the mud business -- why don't we get an actual picture of diarrhea on this page (a la the image on the human feces article)? Perhaps I can cook something up...Latinlovinglatino 18:47, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Question re: ancient cases

This is a question for the medical community about traveling in ancient days. When St. Augustine moved from Carthage to Rome, he reports in his Confessions that "Rome welcomed me with the scourge of bodily illness." Of course diarrhea can't be assumed from this text, but my question is this: would it have been common-- almost expected-- for travelers to get very sick in the 5th century? Without any clean drinking water ANYWHERE, would all travelers have to develop resistance to new bacteria wherever they went? (If this question would be better suited in another article's discussion area please let me know. Thank you!)

Image

We should have one. I Love P00P 18:31, 21 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Uncited, Poorly Defined Claim

"In the Third World, diarrhea is the most common cause of death among infants, killing more than 1.5 million per year." This claim is not substantiated.

1) This claim should be re-written to reflect current statistics

2) Any such claim should be cited.

WHO statistics estimate diarrhea as the 2nd most common cause of deaths (17% of deaths) in children under age 5, the most common cause being acute respiratory infection (19% of deaths).

An approachable presentation of these WHO statistics can be found in a 2005 Lancet article (Lancet 2005; 365: 1147–52). This article also breaks down causes of childhood mortality (<5yrs old) for 6 regions of the world. The article may not be easily accessible online though.

A graph representing causes of death among chilldren under 5 years of age, and other useful information can be found at: http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/OVERVIEW/CHILD_HEALTH/child_epidemiology.htm

--65.125.151.253 19:15, 16 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Lonox not Difenoxin

This article from Wikipedia states: "Lonox (difenoxin with atropine." This is incorrect. Lonox is a different brand name for Lomotil (Diphenoxylate w/ Atropine). The actual brand name the person who wrote this was looking for is "Motofen," which is a combination of Difenoxin with Atropine, and is 4-5x more effective in treating diarrhea, and is a schedule IV medicine, not a schedule V medicine like Lomotil (Diphenoxylate w/ Atropine). In short, Difenoxin (Motofen) is not Diphenoxylate (Lomotil, Lonox). They are similar, but separate medications. Sorry for the long-winded explanation, I don't really have time to condense this. Thank you guys :)

Question; Heat

Can excessive heat cause diarrhea and anal leakage? I have heard of, and experienced, this potential cause and effect.

Kraz_Eric 08:40, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

POV problem

The first line of this article uses the word "sufferer". How do we know that the person (or animal) is suffering? They might be enjoying it for all we know!

Re-titling

Could we re-title this article "diarrhoea", please? It is the original spelling. Thanks. Crazy Eddy 10:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No. "Diarrhea" is a more common spelling in English. Wikipedia's rule say that the most common/popular form is to be used for the title, not the most "correct" or the "original" one. bogdan 10:59, 27 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Can we at least re-post the "child in mud" image here on the discussion page? Because it sounds frickin hilarious. --IQpierce 21:34, 31 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]