Ten year old girl with diarrhea for 2 days what should I do?

Question

My daughter has had diarrhea for two days now. We don't live near a doctor so I can't take her to a doctor unless I really had to. There has been no vomit and she eats a fantastic diet. We have just came back from the north of Scotland where we went for our summer. She diid not eat a lot of fruit there so it might be that. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

If you have acute diarrhea there are some steps you can follow to help ease your symptoms, some of which are outlined below.

    * Avoid dehydration. You can avoid becoming dehydrated by drinking lots of fluids. You are more likely to be dehydrated if you are also vomiting. Try to take small frequent sips of water or diluted fruit juices. It is especially important that babies and small children do not become dehydrated. Even if your child vomits, you should still give frequent sips of water. A small amount of fluid is better than none. If your child shows signs of dehydration (drowsiness, passing little urine, few or no wet nappies, a dry mouth and tongue, unresponsiveness, or glazed eyes) you should contact your GP immediately.

    * Rehydration drinks. If you are worried that you are becoming dehydrated, your doctor or pharmacist may advise rehydration drinks. You can buy these sachets from your pharmacy and add them to water. They provide the correct balance of water, salt, and sugar. They do not help to cure diarrhoea, but are ideal to prevent, or treat, dehydration. Rehydration drinks may also be advised for your child if you are worried that they may become dehydrated. Do not use home made salt or sugar drinks - always consult your pharmacist.

    * Eat as soon as you can. The old advice was to not eat anything for a day or two, but now it is advised that you should eat foods high in carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice, or potatoes, and other foods as soon as you feel like it. If you feel you can't eat, it will do you no harm, but make sure you continue drinking, and eat as soon as you are able. If your child wants to eat, offer soups and foods high in carbohydrates at first. Your child can eat normally as soon as possible. If your child refuses to eat, continue to offer drinks and wait until their appetite returns.

    * Anti-diarrhoea medicines. These medicines can relieve symptoms of acute diarrhoea and can be useful to reduce discomfort and social disruption, except where there is blood in your stools or if you have a high temperature. Check with your pharmacist.  Never give anti-diarrhoea medicines to your child.

    * Painkillers (analgesics). You can take recommended doses of paracetamol or ibuprofen if you have a fever or headache. You should not take ibuprofen if you are asthmatic, or if you have stomach, liver or kidney problems. Liquid paracetamol or ibuprofen can also be given to your child if necessary. Children under 16 years of age should not take aspirin.

    * Hygiene. Always continue with good standards of hygiene. This is especially important if you or anyone in your family has diarrhoea.

Answer 2

sounds like gastro. It may take 5-7 days to stop. Keep up the fluids. If it lasts longer than a week then see a doc

Answer 3

she should be over it by the third day, my 5 year old girl had it for a week, went to the doctor and she was fine, he give me nothing for her, just keep her home and it will pass its self, you are doing the right thing with her diet so don't worry it will go away, but if she is getin really bad pains i would think about taken her to a doctor or call a doctor out to your house, if you don't have the money there to pay the doctor they can send you a bill. try not to worry. good luck

Answer 4

I am a seasoned traveler and help many on tour in minor problem like dizziness, headache, flu & diarrhea.  We in the Eastern Asia, practises shelf medication most of the time to save cost as well as coz many know how to treat them.

Just pop-in two tablets of ultra-carbon and the gas, pain, cramp and diarrhea will ease off in two to four hours -- no side effect at all.  If is food poisoning, add on another two in the 3rd hours.  Now, if still not well, call the doctor.

Answer 5

call nhs direct theyll advice u what 2 do .

Answer 6

i can't beleive you're asking on here and not taking her to a doctor, call one!

Answer 7

Diarrhea is most commonly caused by viral infections, parasites or bacterial toxins.[1] In sanitary living conditions where there is ample food and a supply of clean water, an otherwise healthy patient usually recovers from viral infections in a few days. However, for ill or malnourished individuals diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration and can become life-threatening without treatment.[2]

Diarrhea can also be a symptom of more serious diseases, such as dysentery, cholera, or botulism, and can also be indicative of a chronic syndrome such as Crohn's disease or severe mushroom poisoning syndromes. Though appendicitis patients do not generally have diarrhea, it is a common symptom of a ruptured appendix. It is also an effect of severe radiation sickness.

Diarrhea can also be caused by dairy intake in those who are lactose intolerant.

Symptomatic treatment for diarrhea involves the patient consuming adequate amounts of water to replace that loss, preferably mixed with electrolytes to provide essential salts and some amount of nutrients. For many people, further treatment is unnecessary. The following types of diarrhea indicate medical supervision is required:

Diarrhea in infants

Moderate or severe diarrhea in young children;

Diarrhea associated with blood

Diarrhea that continues for more than two days;

Diarrhea that is associated with more general illness such as non-cramping abdominal pain, fever, weight loss, etc;

Diarrhea in travelers, since they are more likely to have exotic infections such as parasites;

Diarrhea in food handlers, because of the potential to infect others;

Diarrhea in institutions such as hospitals, child care centers, or geriatric and convalescent homes.

A severity score is used to aid diagnosis in children.[3]

Types of diarrhea

There are at least four types of diarrhea: secretory diarrhea, osmotic diarrhea, motility-related diarrhea, and inflammatory diarrhea.

[edit] Secretory diarrhea

Secretory diarrhea means that there is an increase in the active secretion, or there is an inhibition of absorption. There is little to no structural damage. The most common cause of this type of diarrhea is a cholera toxin that stimulates the secretion of anions, especially chloride ions. Therefore, to maintain a charge balance in the lumen, sodium is carried with it, along with water.

Osmotic diarrhea

Osmotic diarrhea occurs when too much water is drawn into the bowels. This can be the result of maldigestion (e.g., pancreatic disease or Coeliac disease), in which the nutrients are left in the lumen to pull in water. Osmotic diarrhea can also be caused by osmotic laxatives (which work to alleviate constipation by drawing water into the bowels). In healthy individuals, too much magnesium or vitamin C or undigested lactose can produce osmotic diarrhea and distention of the bowel. A person who does not have lactose intolerance can have difficulty absorbing lactose after an extraordinarily high intake of dairy products. In persons who do not have fructose malabsorption, excess fructose intake can still cause diarrhea. High-fructose foods that also have a high glucose content are more absorbable and less likely to cause diarrhea. Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol (often found in sugar-free foods) are difficult for the body to absorb and, in large amounts, may lead to osmotic diarrhea.

Motility-related diarrhea

Motility-related diarrhea is caused by the rapid movement of food through the intestines (hypermotility). If the food moves too quickly through the GI tract, there is not enough time for sufficient nutrients and water to be absorbed. This can be due to a vagotomy or diabetic neuropathy, or a complication of menstruation. Hyperthyroidism can produce hypermotility and lead to pseudodiarrhea and occasionally real diarrhea. Diarrhea can be treated with antimotility agents (such as loperamide).

Inflammatory diarrhea

Inflammatory diarrhea occurs when there is damage to the mucosal lining or brush border, which leads to a passive loss of protein-rich fluids, and a decreased ability to absorb these lost fluids. Features of all three of the other types of diarrhea can be found in this type of diarrhea. It can be caused by bacterial infections, viral infections, parasitic infections, or autoimmune problems such as inflammatory bowel diseases. It can also be caused by tuberculosis, colon cancer, and enteritis.

Dysentery

Generally, if there is blood visible in the stools, it is not diarrhea, but dysentery. The blood is trace of an invasion of bowel tissue. Dysentery is caused by an excess of water by a release of antidiuretic hormone from the posterior pituitary gland. Dysentery is a symptom of, among others, Shigella, Entamoeba Histolytica, and Salmonella.

Infectious diarrhea

Main article: Infectious diarrhea

Infectious diarrhea is diarrhea caused by a microbe such as a bacterium, parasite, or virus.

Malabsorption

Malabsorption is the inability to absorb food, mostly in the small bowel but also due to the pancreas.

Causes include celiac disease (intolerance to wheat, rye, and barley gluten, the protein of the grain), lactose intolerance (intolerance to milk sugar, common in non-Europeans), fructose malabsorption, pernicious anemia (impaired bowel function due to the inability to absorb vitamin B12), loss of pancreatic secretions (may be due to cystic fibrosis or pancreatitis), short bowel syndrome (surgically removed bowel), radiation fibrosis (usually following cancer treatment), and other drugs, including agents used in chemotherapy.

Inflammatory bowel disease

The two overlapping types here are of unknown origin:

Ulcerative colitis is marked by chronic bloody diarrhea and inflammation mostly affects the distal colon near the r****m.

Crohn's disease typically affects fairly well demarcated segments of bowel in the colon and often affects the end of the small bowel.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Main article: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Another possible cause of diarrhea is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Symptoms defining IBS: abdominal discomfort or pain relieved by defecation and unusual stool (diarrhea or constipation or both) or stool frequency, for at least 3 days a week over the previous 3 months.[4] IBS symptoms can be present in patients with a variety of conditions including food allergies, infective diarrhea, celiac, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Treating the underlying condition (celiac disease, food allergy, bacterial dysbiosis, etc.) usually resolves the diarrhea.[5] IBS can cause visceral hypersensitivity. While there is no direct treatment for undifferentiated IBS, symptoms, including diarrhea, can sometimes be managed through a combination of dietary changes, soluble fiber supplements, and/or medications.

Other important causes

Ischemic bowel disease. This usually affects older people and can be due to blocked arteries.

Bowel cancer: Some (but not all) bowel cancers may have associated diarrhea. Cancer of the large intestine is most common.

Hormone-secreting tumors: some hormones (e.g. serotonin) can cause diarrhea if excreted in excess (usually from a tumor).

Bile salt diarrhea: excess bile salt entering the colon rather than being absorbed at the end of the small intestine can cause diarrhea, typically shortly after eating. Bile salt diarrhea is a bad side-effect of gallbladder removal. It is usually treated with cholestyramine, a bile acid sequestrant.

Celiac Disease

Alcohol

Chronic diarrhea can be caused by chronic ethanol ingestion. Consumption of alcohol affects the body's capability to absorb water - this is often a symptom that accompanies a hangover after a heavy drinking session. The alcohol itself is absorbed in the intestines and as the intestinal cells absorb it, the toxicity causes these cells to lose their ability to absorb water. This leads to an outpouring of fluid from the intestinal lining, which is in turn poorly absorbed. The diarrhea usually lasts for several hours until the alcohol is detoxified and removed from the digestive system. Symptoms range from person to person and are influenced by both the amount consumed as well as physiological differences.

Treatment

In many cases of diarrhea, replacing lost fluid and salts is the only treatment needed. Medicines that are available without a doctor's prescription include loperamide (Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (as found in Pepto Bismol and Kaopectate).[

Answer 8

Dont give her any food or flavoured drink for 48 hours, it may be a stomach bug or something she picked up from your holiday, but make sure she only drinks water.  If she is still the same in 48 hours get her to a doctor to be checked over.

Answer 9

Make sure she drinks plenty to avoid dehydration.

2 days isn't that bad............... if she still has it tomorrow then you could call NHS 24 hour helpline.

Answer 10

She may have caught a parasite from the food or water from another country.  I know that in many countries the water can give a person diarrhea because we may be used to the bacteria in our own country's water.  Or it could be stress or jet lag.  I would make the trip to the doctor even though you don't live close by just to make sure she is really ok.  Your child's health is worth the trip.

Any other symptoms?  Fever, chills?  It could also be a case of the stomach flu (gastroenteritis).  Keep fluids in her and have her eat bland, easy to digest foods and give her doctor a call.

Answer 11

It is probably something in her diet that is causing it.  If it continues, you will have to consult a doctor at least.  Severe diarrhea can cause dehydration quickly and it is not something that you want to take a chance on.  You might want to seriously consider moving closer to town where doctors and hospitals are because what would happen in a true emergency? You don't want to wait until that happens. Also, don't let more than 3 or 4 days pass beforer your daughter gets seen by a doc if the diarrhea persists.  Good luck.