Home remedies for diarrhea are preferred to mainstream medicine because the latter is generally intended to treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause, and can therefore be more harmful than beneficial. If the cause of diarrhea is not removed, treatment of the symptoms will have only a temporary effect.
There are many root causes of diarrhea, but they tend to fit into one of four major areas:
A. Stress: although most do not realize it, diarrhea can be due to stress. Although most people do not associate this as being associated with diarrhea, stress can speed up the peristaltic motion of the intestine so that it does not have time to absorb the fluid that it should, hence leading to soft or watery stool. Anxiety and depression can cause similar symptoms, and some home remedies for diarrhea are in fact known for their antidepressant and stress relief properties.
B. Diet: some people are allergic to certain components in food such as the gluten found in wheat, and lactose found in milk. Diarrhea can be caused by a diet lacking certain vitamins, such as niacin and Vitamin D, and also essential fatty acids.
C. Toxicity: Bacterial and viral infections can lead to diarrhea, but so too can the antibiotics used by traditional medicine to treat them. Heavy metal contamination and pollution, and also pesticides on food and antibiotics fed to livestock all lead to a chemical soup that your body will react to. Some of the top home remedies for diarrhea can help to expel these toxins from your body.
D. Physical Trauma: This can lead to many conditions, of which diarrhea is a common one caused by failure of the digestive system to operate correctly. The treatment should be as for stress, since the effect of physical trauma is to accelerate the peristaltic intestinal motion, and astringent treatments, as detailed later, can also be effective.
The term Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is given to many of the symptoms of diarrhea, and also to chronic diarrhea. In IBS there are swings of bowel habits from diarrhea to constipation, and it is characterized by mucus in the stool, abdominal cramps and bloating and changes in the stool consistency. There is a strong relationship between stress and the symptoms of IBS.
The most effective natural remedies for diarrhea have been selected for their ability to treat these causes by detoxifying the body, relieving the causes and symptoms of stress and anxiety and focusing on the other causes of this distressing condition. Natural remedies dispute the claim made by mainstream medicine that many causes of diarrhea cannot be treated, only the symptoms, and focuses on these causes very effectively. Some normal medicines even add to the problem rather than curing it.
Five of the top home remedies for diarrhea focus on specific causes of diarrhea:
1. Activated charcoal is a form of charcoal that has been treated to render it able to adsorb substances to its surface. If your diarrhea is caused by toxins, it can adsorb these and remove the cause of the problem. It should be used for a short time only since it can also adsorb nutrients, but it is effective. In an emergency, burn some toast, scrape of the black bits and drink that mixed up in some water.
2. While activated charcoal is a good emergency remedy, probiotic supplements are longer term. While they can have an immediate effect, they are best when taken as part of your normal diet. The 'friendly bacteria' contained in probiotics have been proved clinically not only to help boost your immune system and help it fight bacterial and viral intestinal infections, but also to prevent such pathogens from getting a foothold in the first place.
3. Astringent substances such as the tannins available from drinking black tea and carob help to control and stop diarrhea. Tannins work by slowing down the absorption of toxins into your body and reducing intestinal inflammation.
4. Many people swear by the effects of bulking agents and mucilage. This is provided by psyllium and pectin. They bulk up the stool and contents of the intestine in general, and speed up their movement, giving the intestinal muscles something to work on. That is why many people take apple sauce when they have diarrhea. Psyllium can cause allergic symptoms, you are possibly best to stick to the apple sauce or apple pectin if you are prone to allergies.
5. The fifth treatment relates to diet. Not only can diarrhea be caused by a lack of nutrition, but also causes nutrients to be lost. A good supply of nutrients can be obtained by juicing green vegetables, taking foods rich in essential fatty acids (oily fish or flax oil for example), niacin (corn, nuts, whole grain pasta, chicken and tuna), potassium (bananas) and vitamin D (plenty of sun and oily fish).
Not included amongst these five are the various methods that people use to relieve the stress and anxiety in their lives. Relaxation techniques and yoga can help, and herbal treatments such as St. John's wort are popularly used to relieve the symptoms of stress, although chamomile and catnip are more effective, as is kava kava.
Natural remedies for diarrhea do not cause the potential serious side effects of medication treatments, and even bacterial infection of the gut can often be treated with probiotics without the diarrhea-promoting effects of many antibiotics.
Added to the herbal remedies for stress, these are five of the top home remedies for diarrhea, which ones are best and most effective for you depends on the root cause of your symptoms.
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