Chronic diarrhoea

Chronic diarrhoea is a condition that many people face once in their life. Having chronic diarrhoea can be quite annoying, as this often means that you need to be always close to a toilet.

What is chronic diarrhoea?

Diarrhoea is a condition where you frequently pass watery or loose stools. If the stool is very thin, it can lead to an excessive loss of water and thus lead to symptoms of dehydration. The WHO definition (World Health Organization) includes having at least three runs or more of loose or liquid bowel movements per day.

Whereas acute diarrhoea usually only lasts a couple of days and is usually caused by an infectious disease, chronic diarrhoea is a symptom of a number of (chronic) medical conditions, which are usually non-infectious. Chronic diarrhoea can also be a side effect of certain drugs. Chronic diarrhoea is acute diarrhoea that lasts for more than four weeks.

Health complications

Diarrhoeal diseases can have a various acute health complications, like:

• Dehydration
• Electrolyte imbalances
• Decreased urination
• Renal impairment
• A faster heart rate

In severe cases, diarrhoea can lead to a life threatening volume deficiency shock.

Blood in stools

An alarming and frightening symptom of diarrhoea is visible blood in the stools (dysentery). Usually visible blood results from bleeding in the lower gastrointestinal tract as a trace of an invasion of bowel tissue. There are various causes of visible blood in the stool, including enterobacterial Gastroenteritis (Shigella, EHEC and Salmonella), colitis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), diverticulitis, endometriosis, colonic polyps, or colon cancer.

If you find visible blood in your stools you must see a qualified healthcare provider, e.g. a doctor, to identify the cause of your dysentery.

Causes of chronic diarrhoea

Chronic diarrhoea is often caused by (chronic) medical conditions or by a side effect of certain drugs. The most common causes of chronic diarrhoea are:

• Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea
• Intestinal infections – chronic infections or infections by parasites, like Giardia lamblia
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – mainly Crohn´s disease and ulcerative colitis
• Endocrine disorders – mainly due to an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or diabetes
• Food allergy or sensitivity – mainly lactose intolerance, gluten sensitivity, wheat allergy or celiac disease
• Other malabsorption syndromes
• Drugs – as a side effect

According to this list, the most common causes of chronic diarrhoea are:

• Use of antibiotics
• Intestinal infections

Both, the use of antibiotics and intestinal infections have something in common. They can dramatically change the composition of the gut flora, leading to a disbalanced or damaged gut flora.

Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea

Oral antibiotics can harm the bacteria of our gut flora. In most cases, a gut flora that is damaged by antibiotics can recover within a few weeks (“on its own”). However, with repeated or prolonged antibiotic treatment, certain bacteria species may become extinct and the physiological gut flora might become permanently damaged.

This is especially occurring during early childhood. Damage to the gut flora after use of antibiotics can lead to a syndrome called antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (or colitis). Interestingly, 95% of all antibiotic-associated diarrhoea can be significantly attenuated by the use of the right probiotic bacteria, such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus, or the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii.

That means a gut flora that was damaged by antibiotics can be rebuilt through the use of probiotics.

Infections that lead to chronic diarrhoea

The gut flora can also become damaged by (chronic) intestinal infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms. Every infection with a “bad” pathogenic microorganism can cause an intestinal miscolonisation. The result is an over-colonisation of the “bad” pathogenic and an under-colonisation of the “good” physiological microorganisms. The result can be a disbalanced or even damaged gut flora.

Pathogenic yeasts or enterobacteria are amongst the most frequent infections that lead to a miscolonisation of the gut in turn causing chronic diarrhoea. Furthermore, because of the relative lack of certain “good” physiological microorganisms, food components may not be properly digested. This may result in malnutrition, leading to lack of micronutrients, especially a lack of minerals and vitamins.

The good news is that you can attenuate the harmful effects of pathogenic microorganisms by performing a gut restoration and using probiotic products.

Improving chronic diarrhoea

Gut restoration

If you are having chronic diarrhoea, chances are high the reason for this is a disbalanced or a damaged gut flora. The good news is that you can improve chronic diarrhoea by using certain probiotic products.

There is substantial evidence of the beneficial effects of certain probiotic strains on chronic diarrhoea.  Namely, these beneficial probiotics are Lactobacilli, the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii, an Enterococcus strain, and the strain Escherichia coli Nissle 1917.

Can probiotics improve chronic diarrhoea?

The answer is yes! Several clinical studies have shown that diarrhoea can be positively influenced by the intake of probiotics. Certain probiotic strains have shown substantial beneficial effects in the treatment of certain types of diarrhoea. Some probiotics are effectively reducing the incidence and duration of Clostridium difficile infections, rotavirus-caused diarrhoea in infants, and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in adults. Other probiotics have shown symptomatic improvements in irritable bowel syndrome and can regulate intestinal immunity.

Gut restoration

If you have chronic diarrhoea, you should therefore consider doing a gut restoration to increase the level of lactic acid bacteria in your gut flora.

Gut restoration involves two steps,

• Gut cleansing and
• Rebuilding your gut flora

By gut cleansing you create space in your gut for new (“good”) bacteria to settle. By rebuilding your gut flora you are giving your gut what it needs: lactic acid bacteria for improving chronic constipation.

The 30 DAYS GUT RESTORATION PROGRAM for improving chronic diarrhoea

If you want to perform a gut restoration yourself, visit the website www.gutrestoration.com. On this website, you will find a 30 DAYS GUT RESTORATION PROGRAM for improving chronic diarrhoea, that exactly uses those probiotic strains that have shown substantial beneficial effects in the treatment of chronic constipation in clinical trials.