List of drugs for the treatment of purging in Nigeria. Home remedy for diarrhea in Nigeria.
Are you purging, having a runny stomach or a diarrhea…. Is it very severe? Is your diarrhoeal stool mixed with with blood? Here are some of the medicines you can use to get yourself treated and stop your runny stomach.
But first why are you purging or having a diarrhea? You need to know right? Yes. Here are the possible reasons you are purging below:
Causes of Purging
🔷Usually, diarrhea happens because of a virus that gets into your gut especially rotavirus. Some people call it “intestinal flu” or “stomach flu.”
🔷Alcohol abuse
🔷Allergies to certain foods….allergic reactions
🔷Diabetes Mellitus
🔷Diseases of the intestines (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis)
🔷Eating foods that upset the digestive system
🔷Infection by bacteria (the cause of most types of food poisoning) or other organisms
🔷Laxative abuse especially abuse of liquid paraffin
🔷Medications esp prolonged use of antibiotics
🔷Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism)
🔷Radiation therapy and chemotherapy
🔷Running (Some people get “runner’s diarrhea” for reasons that aren’t clear.)
🔷Some form of cancers eg. colon cancer
🔷Surgery on your digestive system
🔷Trouble absorbing certain nutrients, also called “malabsorption”.
🔷Coronavirus may also be the cause of your diarrhoea.
🔷Bleeding peptic ulcer
🔷HIV may be the source of a person’s chronic diarrhoea.
Symptoms of diarrhoea
The symptoms of diarrhea or running stomach are all too familiar. They include : passage of watery stool, passage of mucoid stool mixed with blood, abdominal cramps, frequent use of toilets to pass stool as compared to before, nausea, vomiting, there may be fever, thirst, dehydration, and there may be weight loss esp for children.
TREATMENT
The good thing about diarrhoea is that it can be treated at home especially for adults. Here are some drugs you can use…
List of drugs for the treatment of purging in Nigeria
1. Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)
According to MEDSCAPE: “ORT or ORS is the cornerstone of treatment, especially for small-bowel infections that produce a large volume of watery stool output. ORT with a glucose-based oral rehydration syndrome must be viewed as by far the safest, most physiologic, and most effective way to provide rehydration and maintain hydration in children with acute diarrhea worldwide, as recommended by the WHO.”
Made up with clean water the ORS drink contains the main elements that are lost from the body during diarrhoea. It is effective in treating dehydration resulting from all types of acute diarrhoeal diseases. One of these drinks should be given to the child every time a watery stool is passed. If you have diarrhoea, continue to drink the solution. The fluids will not increase the diarrhoea. During or after treatment of dehydration, whatever is causing the diarrhoea, vomiting, or other symptoms should also be treated.
These days, you no longer need to make ORS yourself at home, there are already prepared and packaged ORS you can get in pharmacy stores or chemist shops and supermarkets. Tell the pharmacist to teach you how to mix it. ORS is not only for children, adults too can take it.
2. LOPERAMIDE
You one we commonly call imodium. Loperamide, sold under the brand name Imodium, among others, is a medication used to decrease the frequency of diarrhea. It is often used for this purpose in inflammatory bowel disease and short bowel syndrome. It is not recommended for those with blood in the stool, mucus in the stool or fevers (WIKIPEDIA). Loperamide is not recommended in children take note.
3. ZINC
Zinc tablets supplementation has been found to reduce the duration and severity of diarrhoeal episodes and likelihood of subsequent infections for 2–3 months. Zinc helps in the regeneration of the damage intestinal lining promoting intestinal healing. Zinc tablet is taken 20mg per day for children and 20mg twice a day for adults for 1 or 2 weeks.
4. ANTIBIOTICS
Agreed some diarrhoea are caused by prolonged use of antibiotics. However, some persons purge because of some bacteria or protozoan intestinal infections like shigellosis, amoebiosis… These intestinal infections can be treated with metronidazole popularly known as flagyl. Other types of antibiotics can be used to treat diarrhoea but your doctor or pharmacist will have to prescribe that for you. Note that antibiotics like tetracycline, red and yellow capsule CANNOT BE used to treat diarrhoea. Flagyl is usually combined with loperamide to get a desired results.
5. PAINKILLERS
Painkillers like paracetamol and buscopan are safe in diarrhoea treatment especially in those associated with abdominal pains or stomach cramps. Please don’t use painkillers like diclofenac, aspirin, ibuprofen when purging. They can trigger or worsen an already existing stomach ulcer. Bleeding stomach ulcer can also be the cause of diarrhoea.
CAVEAT: Diarrhoea in babies should be treated in the hospital……You can start with ORS at home before taking to the hospital immediately. Children cannot tolerate any form of dehydration. Other cause of persistent or chronic diarrhoea in adults should be thoroughly investigated. This article is for your education and not a substitute to seeing a doctor.
Are there other drugs used in the treatment of purging in Nigeria you know? Let me know in the comments section.
Dr Udomoh
©NIMEDHEALTH
