by Lawrence Wilson, MD

DIARRHEA

Diarrhea is a very common symptom, especially in some nations and among women, it seems, more than among men in America and the West. Diarrhea is always an important symptom because one can lose important nutrients over a period of time. It can also contribute to dehydration, which rarely is life-threatening, but also affects general health in subtle ways in all cases.

Diarrhea may be classified as chronic or acute. Chronic diarrhea is either when it occurs often, or when it is more or less continuous. Acute is when it is an isolated symptom that occurs rarely. Let us discuss these in more detail.

CHRONIC DIARRHEA

Many people complain about acute or chronic diarrhea. Our experience is that the single most important reason for chronic or recurring diarrhea is an improper diet. The key is to eliminate all yin foods such as all fruit, all juices, all raw food, all salads, all food chemicals, and all refined white flour and white sugar. (see the article entitled Yin Disease). Very often, even longstanding chronic diarrhea will clear up on a regimen of just animal protein daily and cooked vegetables, with a little whole grains, but no wheat and no spelt, as these are irritating. One must also stop all spicy and hot foods. Also do not drink with meals and relax at meals.

One client had had diarrhea for over 5 years. She had gone to many doctors, including bowel specialists and others. She had been tested for parasites and everything else, and had tried many remedies with no success. When she began a nutritional balancing program that omitted from her diet all sugars, all food chemicals, all salads, fruit, all juices and all refined flour as well, her diarrhea cleared up on its own within two weeks.

I believe that a lot of diarrhea is due to yeast problems, but even more so to eating fruit and fruit juices. Any at all seem to be irritating for some people. This is the first thing to change in your diet if you suffer from chronic diarrhea.

This is not to say there are not other causes for diarrhea that are discussed below. However, it is a consistent finding that fruit, in particular, along with food chemicals, sweets, raw foods and juices seem to cause many diarrhea problems. With this introduction, let us discuss diarrhea in more detail.

WHAT IS MEANT BY DIARRHEA?

Diarrhea means either:

1. Liquid or very runny stools at any time.

2. A bowel transit time of less than 8 hours.

To determine your bowel transit time, eat a plate of beets for a meal, preferably. Then calculate how long it takes for the red color to show up in the stool.

While most cases are not that serious, diarrhea is potentially a life-threatening condition. In most undeveloped nations, it is the leading cause of death, especially among children. The danger and cause of death or disability is the loss of minerals, vitamins, nutrients and of course, water.

Water can be easily replaced. Nutrients deficiencies may take months to develop and cannot be quickly reversed, even with supplements, as the entire body can become depleted. Therefore, always take care of chronic and severe diarrhea. Here are suggestions for dealing with it.

HOW TO HANDLE ACUTE DIARRHEA

A single bout of diarrhea may just be clearing out a bad meal that contained toxic bacteria or a virus. It requires no treatment other than rest and drinking extra water in most instances. You may also about 6 charcoal tablets or capsules, which are available at drug stores or health food stores, and this may help clear toxins from the bowel faster.

This type of simple, acute diarrhea can also be due to eating too much, eating too fast, eating when upset or anxious, or even eating when one is too tired.

Acute diarrhea as a healing reaction during a nutritional balancing program. It can also occur during a nutritional balancing program as the body clears toxic metals, toxic chemicals and perhaps infections such as parasites from the small and large intestine. The same principles apply. Just rest more, be sure to drink more water, and perhaps use charcoal tablets until it passes. By the way, charcoal is quite safe. However, it will absorb nutrients from the intestine, so it should not be used for more than a day or two.

For any diarrhea that continues for more than two days or so do the following:

1. Do not continue with charcoal tablets if they are not working.

2. Be sure to continue drink a lot more spring or distilled water, but not with meals. Do not drink other irritating beverages like coffee, soda pop or any juices. This is important to avoid dehydration, which can occur suddenly and without warning, and be a serious condition.

Do not drink water with meals, as this further impairs your digestion. In general, drink an hour or more after meals and up to 15 minutes before a meal.

3. Eat very simply and lightly of animal protein and cooked vegetables only. For example, just have a piece of toast, chicken soup or well-cooked rice or well-cooked oatmeal. To make the rice or oatmeal, add extra water and cook for an hour or more. This is soothing and does not stress an irritated intestinal tract.

4. Strictly avoid all raw food, all fruit, all juices, all sweets and all spicy or irritating food items. I know that some doctors advocate fasting, but our experience is this is not best in many cases, and eating some chicken soup should be okay.

5. Stop your supplements. They are not too helpful at this time. Especially stop supplements that contain magnesium, and digestive aids with pancreatin and ox bile, as these can aggravate diarrea.

6. Ask yourself if you are doing anything different that might have caused the diarrhea. For example, some medication can cause it such as antibiotics and some others.

7. Relax, rest and sleep more. You probably have an infection in the intestines.

8. Try the following remedies that are simple and safe:

· An enema, preferably with coffee. This may sound odd, but it works in some cases by removing the offending toxin, infection or other cause of diarrhea.

· Colloidal silver. This is a potent anti-infective agent. Good brands, we find, include Arabesque (sold on this website – click here), Life-silver sold at www.live-silver.com, Sovereign Silver and some others. With these silver products, the usual dose is between 1 and 3 tablespoons daily. Take it by itself, and do not eat or drink 20 minutes before or after taking it for maximum benefit. Take it for at least five days and maybe up to 10 days.

· Bee propolis. If this is not effective, another safe remedy for some infections is bee propolis. It is sold at health food stores. Follow directions, and do not use it for more than 2 weeks, as a general rule. Get help if you are not sure how to use any remedy!

· Live culture yogurt. This may help in some cases, and generally will not harm you. A quality yogurt will help replace the friendly flora in the intestines. One could also take a quality probiotic, which is a health food store product that contains the proper flora for the intestines.

· Bentonite clay. This is a somewhat toxic remedy, but it occasionally works well for a few days. It powerfully absorbs certain toxins in the intestines and can be quite constipating. Use only if the other measures above do not take care of the problem.

· Kaopectate. This is a safe drugstore product that contains excellent fibers that soothe and help rebuild the intestinal wall.

· Herbal astringents and other herbs. These may work. I do not use them, as herbal products must be of good quality and may be toxic. However, they may help in some cases.

· Patent drugs such as Immodium. These are much less recommended. Most are narcotics that have the effect of somewhat paralyzing the intestine. However, occasional use is probably fine, as far as I know. I would not use these, but if one is traveling there might be a time when they are needed, if one does not have other natural remedies and diarrhea is severe.

ON RARE OCCASIONS, ONE MAY NEED STOOL ANALYSIS AND MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR DIARRHEA

Diarrhea that is severe and continues requires emergency medical attention. It can cause dehydration and even death. Go to a competent health professional in this case who should ask for several stool samples and rehydrate your body. Stool testing, unfortunately, is not very accurate in my experience, but it might show up a parasite or something that cannot be destroyed using the natural remedies above. This is rare, in my experience. On rare occasions, antibiotics or other drugs may be needed, though I have not personally encountered these situations if one follows the simple steps discussed above.

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