Treatment of Chronic Diarrhea

Treatment of chronic diarrhea depends on the cause of the chronic diarrhea. Depending on the cause of chronic diarrhea, the treatment may be curative (for example if chronic diarrhea is due to a drug, withdrawal of the drug will cure the chronic diarrhea), suppressive, or empirical treatment. Chronic diarrhea due to infectious agent can be cured by administration of appropriate antibiotics.

Chronic diarrhea can be suppressed by suppressing the underlying mechanism of chronic diarrhea. Examples of suppression of mechanism of chronic diarrhea include removing lactose (milk disaccharide) from diet in lactase deficiency, provision of gluten free diet in celiac sprue etc. Use of proton pump inhibitor drugs such as omeprazole in gastric hyper-secretion of gastrinomas, prostaglandin inhibitors such as NSAIDS (like indomethacin, diclofenac etc.) for medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland, and pancreatic enzyme replacement for pancreatic insufficiency which cause chronic diarrhea are also examples of suppression of mechanism of chronic diarrhea.

Empirical treatment of chronic diarrhea becomes necessary when the cause or mechanism of chronic diarrhea can not be diagnosed specifically. Empirical therapy is given using a drug which causes constipation, such as diphenoxylate or loperamide and these agents are useful in mild to moderate chronic diarrhea. In case of severe type of undiagnosed chronic diarrhea codeine or tincture of opium may be of help.

Cautions while administering antimotility (which cause constipation) drugs:

Drugs which reduce motility of GIT and cause constipation should be avoided in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as they may precipitate the situation.

Chronic diarrhea due to diabetes may be treated with ?₂-adrenergic agonist such as clonidine. Treatment of chronic diarrhea should also include replacement of fluid and electrolytes as used in treatment of acute diarrhea. Chronic steatorrhea (loss of fats in stool) patients may require additional fat soluble vitamins as fat soluble vitamins are not properly absorbed during chronic steatorrhea.

Related posts:

1. Causes of Chronic Diarrhea
2. What are the Causes of Chronic Diarrhea?
3. Treatment of Traveler’s Diarrhea
4. Treat Acute Diarrhea Promptly
5. Acute Diarrhea
6. The Burden of Constipation
7. Self-Treatment of Traveler’s Diarrhea
8. The Global Burden of Diarrhea
9. Principles of Management of Acute Diarrhea
10. Prevention of Traveler’s Diarrhea