How you classify diarrhea types depends upon how general or specific you want to be in your classification. At its most general, diarrhea can be either acute (short term) or chronic (long term). Examples of acute diarrhea are those caused by an infection or by a prescription or non-prescription medicine such as an antibiotic.
Chronic diarrhea lasts for at least a month to be diagnosed as such, and can possibly last for several months. Acute diarrhea often needs no treatment, although there are some natural treatments that make you more comfortable and even eliminate the diarrhea altogether. A cup of black tea can not only taste nice and refreshing, but also help cure your diarrhea due to the astringent effect of the tannic acid it contains.
Chronic diarrhea, on the other hand, needs treatment, although many of the mainstream medical prescription treatments given deal only with the symptoms, and not the underlying cause. That's like mending a leaking faucet by reducing the water pressure rather than replacing the washer. It's going to happen again. The trouble is that reducing the water pressure can stop other appliances from working properly, and that's what many prescriptive drugs do: they try to fix the symptoms, BUT can cause other problems with your body.
Natural treatments have no harmful side effects, and they also treat the underlying problem AND its symptoms. However, back to classifying diarrhea types and how they can be treated without drugs.
Rather than use the acute/chronic grading for diarrhea types it is probably better to classify them according what drives the diarrhea. What causes it? Scientific terms such as 'osmotic' and 'secretory' are often used to classify diarrhea, but these are meaningless to most people and fail to adequately cover all of the causes. It is preferable by far to classify the condition according to the causes, which can then give guidelines as to how they can be treated.
The term 'secretory diarrhea', for example, can have several causes, and different treatments. Here is how the diarrhea types can be classified according to cause:
1. Diarrhea Caused by Toxins The toxins in question can come from the food you eat, whether plant or animal in origin, such as heavy metals in the soil (e.g. chromium, lead, tin, mercury), pesticides used on vegetables, antibiotics fed to cattle, and also from bacteria and viruses. It is not the bacteria that are harmful, but the toxins they produce in their metabolism.
Not only that, but bacteria and their toxins stimulate your immune system into an inflammatory reaction. This inflammation of the mucosal lining of your intestine irritates it into rapid activity, forcing the contents and nutrients of your food through the intestinal tract unabsorbed.
2. Diarrhea Types Caused by Stress Stress and anxiety can lead to diarrhea by stimulating the muscles of the intestine, and increasing the rate of peristaltic motion that pushes the chyme (the product emitted from the food processor known as your stomach) through your intestinal tract: just as the previously discussed inflammatory reaction does. The faster this is moved then the less time the intestine has to absorb the nutrient-rich liquid.
You not only end up passing that liquid through the anus as diarrhea, but you also lose the nutritional value. Of all the diarrhea types, this is the most difficult to diagnose, although there are several natural treatments for stress.
3. Diarrhea Caused by Your Diet If you suffer from a lactose or gluten intolerance, the immune system of your body reacts to the presence of these substances in your body. Lactose is present in milk, and gluten in wheat. In fact an intolerance to gluten has a name: celiac disease, which causes a severe allergic reaction by your immune system if it is detected in your gastrointestinal system. The cure here is simple: don't eat wheat products, or in the case of lactose intolerance, don't consume dairy products.
A lack of niacin (vitamin B3), vitamin D and other nutrients such as essential fatty acids can not only cause diarrhea, but are also a result of it. The water soluble vitamins and minerals remain in the watery stool and are passed through the body unabsorbed. If you suffer from any form of diarrhea you will require either an improved diet containing these lost nutrients, or a supplement.
Strangely, caffeine can also cause diarrhea in some, and yet the tannin in strong black tea is a good natural remedy for it. So, it shows that a little of something that you like can be of benefit, but it can all depend on the cause of the diarrhea.
4. Diarrhea Caused by Physical Trauma and Functional Disorders Physical problems and disorders within your intestinal tract is another diarrhea type. Stomach surgery and gall bladder removal, for example, can cause the condition, as can severe blows to the abdomen.
If you are suffering from chronic bouts of diarrhea and are not sure of the cause, I recommend that you learn more about the term Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which is a combination of symptoms that include reoccurring diarrhea. Often, not one particular cause can be attributed to IBS as it is a complex situation including several factors. For some, it is a condition that can vary between diarrhea and constipation. However, not all cases experience constipation. IBS does not cause symptoms, but is a term given to a set of symptoms that can include chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, headaches and nausea. The label of IBS is not that important but the natural process of healing the digestive tract is what matters.
There are several diarrhea types, and each can be treated naturally without the need for mainstream prescriptive medicines that deal only with the symptom. Natural treatments go right to the root cause and make sure that your condition does not recur.
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