It’s stressful to deal with diarrhoea!

Diarrhoea can give anyone and everyone a hard time. Often a reaction of a bacterial infection, a food allergy or simply something that doesn't sit well in your stomach. It gives you frequent loose watery bowel motions, lasting over a couple of days often without any treatment needed. Diarrhoea lasting more than that can be a cause of a different problem. Known as chronic diarrhoea, this can be a symptom of an underlying chronic disease or condition.

One of the main symptoms of diarrhoea is loose, watery bowel motions/stools that occur three or more times a day. Usually, this symptom is accompanied by a few others, we have mentioned them below:

• Frequent need for going to the toilet
• Abdominal pain and cramping
• Irregular stools/ change in colour of stools
• Vomiting
• Weakness and tiredness.

There are also a few other symptoms that you can suffer from if you have a chronic diarrhoea condition. These include:

• Blood, mucus or pus in your stool
• Weight loss
• Fever

Now that you know what diarrhoea symptoms to look out for, let's take a look at how to prevent yourself from getting one.

Keeping personal hygiene is one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of viruses and bacteria that can cause diarrhoea. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. Other than that, we've put down a few points for you to keep the viruses at bay.

• Use the refrigerator to store food that can be spoiled
• While having meat ensure you cook it properly
• Avoid eating raw meats, fish, and shellfish unless you are sure that they are fresh and are from a reliable source
• Never store cooked meat and raw meat together to avoid cross-contamination
• Disinfect benchtops, stovetops, and chopping boards with a diluted bleach solution.

However, rotavirus is another trigger that can cause diarrhoea. Please ensure you take a vaccine, especially in a child's case to keep them away from the infection. Rotavirus is one of the most common causes of diarrhoea in infants and kids. Because of their lifestyle and habits, it’s tough to keep an eye on them all the times, so it's better you ensure to give them a dose of vaccine.

Although cleaning and washing can help in diarrhoea prevention it to some extent, it's not certain that you might be safe from the virus.

Although there are different diarrhoea medicines in the market, the body usually fights it off within a day or two. However, there are some techniques/medications that can help you ease the symptoms.

• Avoid caffeine, dairy products, and greasy, high fibre, or sugary foods
• Stay hydrated, drink plenty of liquid during the day. Other than water, clear thin broths or soups, diluted non-caffeinated sports drinks and rehydration formulations also help.
• Enterogermina is the world’s number 1 probiotic, trusted by pediatricians that helps build a healthy gut.

Diarrhoea is one of the most common conditions with many potential causes. Although, a range of home remedies and medications help, please make sure you visit a doctor/medical professional if the condition persists more than 2-3 days.