Diarrhea Remedies: Q&A
DIARRHEA IN 82-YR-OLD GRANDMOTHER
06/06/2012: S from Anonymous: "Dear Ted: I learned about you and your vast natural medicine knowledge through earthclinic and communicated with you by email last year. Today, I am writing to ask your expert advice on behalf of my grandmother. She is 82-years old and after having diarrhea for over a year that was them continuous from February 29, 2012 through the end of April of 2012, her Potassium got "dangerously low" and she was hospitalized. She was diagnosed with microscopic colitis that showed on the pathology after a colonoscopy with multiple biopsies was done. What makes this extremely difficult is that she is completely paralyzed on her left side as a result of a stroke in January 2008 due to her history of atrial fibrillation and unable to take care of herself at all. She is cared for in her home by her husband and children so you can imagine, the incontinent diarrhea sometimes up to 8 to 10 times a day is a very challenging situation! She is taking Coumadin, Metoprolol and Digoxin for the atrial fibrillation. She also takes Armour thyroid for hypothyroidism. I had recommended trying apple cider vinegar back in March but they didn't notice any help.
After her diagnosis of the microscopic colitis, the gastroenterologist, put her on tincture of Opium in hopes of stopping the diarrhea. At the time, she had no appetite and was barely eating. The Opium stopped the diarrhea for 1 day. She then started eating a little bit and the diarrhea promptly returned so Opium was stopped. The gastroenterologist also put her on a steroid, Entocort (3 every morning). The family pharmacist recommended Donnatol and she started taking that and for a few days was down to 2-3 liquid bowel movements daily which was an improvement over the 8-10. After a few weeks, the doctor placed her on Asacol intending for it to be the long term medication and started tapering her off of the Entocort. The liquid incontinent bowel movements increased to 3-4 and are now up to 5 times daily with her on the Asacol and Donnatol 3 times a day and the Entocort just 1 in the morning. She also has been avoiding dairy products for almost 3 weeks with no improvement.
She has been tested numerous times for bacteria and is always negative. She has extreme difficulty taking pills and complains they "gag" her. Her taste buds have been "defective" for a long time now. She used to enjoy "sweets" and now can't stand sweet things. She doesn't like salt or sour tastes and can only tolerate "bland" food. She also is starting to have occasional confusion.
Any recommendations or advice you might have would be very much appreciated! Thank you for your time."
06/13/2012: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "Shellie: Tannic acid 1/4 teaspoon in a liter water or more may lessen the diarrhea, and at the same time kill the harmful bacteria. This can be taken like three times a day as necessary. She can't eat because the liver hasn't worked because of vitamin B complex depletion. It can be taken B50 x 3 times a day, should give her energy. The colitis is probably caused by a mycobacterium that most standard tests fail to find. Tannic acid will get rid of most diarrhea, and keeping potassium under control will help, but also some magnesium gluconate, but at low dose, such as 100 mg may help correct some imbalance. Oat bran, corn bran or wheat bran may help if she doesn't have allergy issues. If weakness is a problem, methylene blue 0.1% 4 drops twice a day, in morning and in afternoon may help.Diarrhea is caused by lack of short chain fatty acid, so that is why oat bran, wheat bran, corn bran or even rice bran will help. The digestive enzymes (if taken enough) will lead to normalization of digestion, if taken with every meal.
Gastrointestinal trouble can normalize with two major supplements if taken at least once before sleep such as DHEA, 25 mg and melatonin 5 mg with every meal.
Ted"
06/14/2012: S replies: "Hi Ted: Thank you so much for your response. I'm wondering what is tannic acid, methylene blue, and DHEA and where can I obtain them? How much of the 1/4 tsp tannic acid to 1 liter of water should be taken three times a day? In your opinion, should we just try one thing at a time or all together? Is it OK to to take the tannic acid, B50, magnesium gluconate, methylene blue, digestive enzymes, DHEA and melatonin all every day?
Also, the gastroenterologist has placed her on a short term tapering dose of Prednisone. Are any of the natural remedies contraindicated with the Prednisone?
What would be the bast way to take the brans? As a cold cereal, hot cereal or baked in healthy muffins with coconut oil?"
06/14/2012: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "Both DHEA and melatonin help the intestinal tract to return to normal. Very few people know that melatonin is also produced by gastrointestinal tract to help digestion, and DHEA, is deficient in most people especially when they are sick, but both help normalization of blood glucose if given at night. The B50 taken 3 times a day, helps energy level. The tannic acid is available in a chemical supply store, DHEA is a common vitamin supplement and can be purchase on the internet. The methylene blue is a bit harder to obtain but is available in chemical supply store and you mixed a 0.1% concentration. It can be obtained from fish aquarium shops at 1% where you have to dilute further to 0.1% that's ten parts more water, of course. If tannic acid cannot be found, a green tea extract can be used also, or a suitable green tea as it contains some tannic acid, at somewhat more then tannic acid say, 1/3 teaspoon per liter three times a day to help diarrhea.Magnesium gluconate is preferred as it is more acidic to prevent some diarrhea effect from other forms of magnesium such as magnesium citrate, but is needed to help the heart, as it is true for B50, CoQ10 (400 mg) and selenium 200 mcg x 3 times a day.
A good natural substitute for prednisolone is curcumin taken throughout the day will help the inflammation.
As to which way is to best way to take bran, it can be taken as a soup or muffins is fine. Basically to restore the short chain fatty acid, especially the butyric acid, with coconut oil is also fine.
Ted"
09/19/2012: Citygirl27 from Richardson, Tx, Usa replies: "If you can't find a chemical supply store, try black tea. Regular english breakfast, Tazo 'Awake' PG Tips or Tetley tea are popular brands of black tea. They all contain significant amounts of tannic acid. That is what is in it that stains your clothes and teeth. You didn't say which country you were from, so not sure which teas you have in your market. I have never used it for diarrhea but I have never had diarrhea either. Possibly because I've been drinking tea since I was 10.Also try psyllium husks in water. They are highly absorbent and will soak up some of the extra liquid in the digestive tract as well as being bulk-forming. If you can't get those, increase fiber intake however you can with other methods."
RECURRING BOUTS UNCONTROLLED DIARRHEA
12/09/2011: F from Anonymous: "Let me begin by thanking you for all your informative contributions to the Earth Clinic site. Keep up the great work.
I am in day 10 now of constant diarrhea. I have had bouts like this before and would so like to find a way to restore my digestion and this is why I am writing you. I originally was diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity they called dermatitis herpetiformis. My only symptoms were the small water blisters so I took note of it and made a half-hearted effort to avoid it. I have been a vegetarian since 1969 but still have consumed dairy - mostly cheese, never milk. Interestingly I just found out on Earth Clinic that caesin and gluten are very similar which might explain gluten outbreaks on my skin even when I have been quite sure I wasn't taking any in.
Sorry for rambling. My last bout of this in 2009 landed me in the doctor's office here and the theory we ended up with was that I was borderline celiac and that my advancing age (64) was causing more reactive outbreaks like this. The doctor guessed that by not strictly avoiding gluten (and probably continuing with dairy as well) had weakened the vilii of the intestines to the point that we found Blastocyctis Hominis and these were helping cause my problems. I finally got better then by using MMS.
I'm having another bout now and I've tried things that have worked before including, raw cabbage juice, ACV, anti-inflammatories like boswelia, devils claw, turmeric and slippery elm. So far, this time nothing seems to make a difference. It's like my body goes over the edge and won't come back until it decides it wants to - no matter what I try. I've previously done a colonoscopy with a GI doctor here and all he came up with was IBS.
So I don't know for sure what I have. Is it more of the same? Something wrong with my pancreas, gall bladder or liver that's been undiscovered? Should I take MMS again and see? I've also been thinking of getting back on a Master Cleanse and letting the cayenne pepper, syrup and lemon juice have a crack at it for ten days - at least I won't have to take a laxative tea. ;)
Any thoughts or input you can offer? My first goal is to just stop the diarrhea. One time in the past a doctor gave me bismuith (the active ingredient in pepto bismol) but I got black stools and it really isn't working on fixing the underlying cause.
Please give me some input as I respect your opinion."
01/11/2012: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "Sorry for late emails, holidays and problems in Thailand, and I simply cannot handle this volume of emails but will try!The one major thing is the intestinal villi is non existent is the key to all the problems, and its not in medical literature either. But the clue is you are a vegetarian and it leads to multiple amino acid deficiency, the primary ones are threonine which helps the intestinal villi, the lysine is the most common deficiencies in humans due to cooked foods, especially more so in vegetarians, and one especially is quite common, vitamin K2 m4, which is actually the source of deficiencies as people no longer take butter (especially the raw kind). The pasteurized butter do have some vitamin K, but with pasteurization it destroys most of the lipase anyway, and some of vitamin K2 m4. The disinformation promoted by other websites about vitamin K2 menaquinone 7 and vitamin K1 in form of phylloquinone is not the ones you will take, because it does little to your health.
One quick simple test of vitamin K2 m4 deficiency is if you take butter (three small slice) for a whole month (I think it can be taken more), the wrinkles disappear overnight (in case of raw butter) and about one month for vegetarians as they have extreme vitamin K deficiencies, which the main reason now (I always update my knowledge-base) why Americans (at least) have more wrinkles than Europeans. It might sound trivial, but the same effect happens in your intestinal villi, they shrink or become virtually non-existent. So to restore intestinal health, it is vitamin K2 m4, lysine (to help collagen) and threonine to allow the permeability and growth of intestinal villi back to health. The problem is quite widespread especially with anti soy campaigns in U.S. because that is also the source of vitamin K, especially fermented ones, the regular soy also works, but only if you take prebiotics (not probiotics) such as leeks, onions, garlic, and carrots, then they increase the environment for intestinal health, the bacteria will produce in fermented Natto, a vitamin K2 m7, by bacteria subtilis, but I suspected other bacteria converts to vitamin K2 m4, in the gut, if prebiotics combined with soy milk is taken. However the simplest way is take raw butter, next is supermarket butter (pasteurized) then soy, in the order of importance. This is why vegetarians appear older then the meat eating people, they have vitamin K2 m4 deficiencies, as this is what is found in all animals, the m4 kind but not the K2 m7 or K1 kind. People who eat organ meats partially cooked, such as the liver or intestines also do have some vitamin K2 m4. The problem about U.S. nutritional database is they DON'T CHECK FOR K2 menaquinone 4, they only check for phyloquinone K1, and people concludes there is no menaquinone in animal meats.
The threonine is taken at least 1000 mg x 4 times a day, the lysine is 1000 mg x 3 times a day, the raw butter if you can find one, is taken at 3 (teaspoons or slices) a day should get the intestinal villi back in working order. There is a couple of things you have to be aware, melatonin is actually produced more in the intestines then the pineal glands, it is probably produced for regeneration of tissues in the intestines, but I will usually take it if there is some form of sleeplessness. We all know omega 3 with the EPA and DHA reducing the inflammation, so its probably taken once every other day for that.
Those deficiencies have to be addressed first, and the problem of boron deficiencies is the other one, that causes fungus along the intestinal tract. Now most Westerners who come to Thailand have very red skin, that is the fungus. Boron is taken at least one pinch a day for a month, and sodium molybdate is the other one that helped relieved inflammation of the red skin and intestinal tract. It is caused by a fungus and nutritional deficiencies as mentioned regardless of the names of these symptoms, you need to look at the cause of it, not the symptoms, and too often doctors give names based on symptoms or appearance, not the players.
The other that helps clear the fungus fast without resorting to MMS, is the hydrogen peroxide 3% one capful per liter of water, to use as a drinking water throughout the day. If the body is toxic, then it needs to be taken at most every other day, once the body toxic load is less then it can be taken as 5 days on, and 2 days off. If you have to take MMS it doesn't address the iodine deficiency issue, it make it worse, as it is a chlorine and plants and animals it stunts their growth, at the very least I would try lugol's first say 2 drops a day, or a mixture with MMS, but I don't generally use them, except topically or sterilization if bacteria only. And measure your pH saliva and urine, it should both 7.0.
Ted"
C-DIF HELP
07/27/2011: Anonymous from Anonymous: "My aunt is in the hospital with C-Dif for the second time. She's in isolation. Her body has been through so much, as this is only the latest in a long string of ailments, disorders and diseases that have wreaked havoc on her health and her immune system. She is on oxygen 24/7 and is rarely able to go out other than to visit her doctors, who i believe are party to why she remains so ill. She's always had a contagiously vibrant personality (one simply cannot avoid smiling when in her presence) and to this day, she maintains a positive attitude in spite of everything she's experienced. But i'm concerned that she may not survive the high level of stress under which her body remains for much longer. Until now, she's politely accepted alternative therapy suggestions and gifts of pure and natural products (that were barely used) as a gesture but has not seemed to understand nor shown much interest in learning how non-traditional methods of treatment may help her regain her health. My mom indicated to me a couple of days ago that she (my aunt) may finally be ready to go that route and asked me if i could help her."
07/28/2011: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "The cause of clostridium difficile was the widespread use of alcohol hand wash used in hospitals as it eliminates certain beneficial bacteria in check, while c. difficile is resistant against alcohol based hand washing. That leaves them free to spread. There are better alcohol based ones but you can forget what they used in hospitals, they don't kill MRSA and C. difficile. The second issue is the widespread use of certain antibiotics, that leaves beneficial bacterial that without proper controls c. difficile. I won't go to these explanations, doctors may have better qualified to answer that. The other one is the most effective controls of c. difficile is actually ozone and they are phasing that out in hospitals.So the basic treatment is ozone rectally, and hydrogen peroxide 3% in one or two capfuls per liter of water in all drinking water. Lavender oil rectally and orally (1-2 drops) helps for now. I don't know for sure, but I think that pH alkalinity discourages growth of these things (it will reduce cytoxicity of B toxin at least), so you can try baking soda mixed into the liter of water, say 1/2 teaspoon. You can try both water and alkaline mix and just see the difference. Doctors should know about the optimum growing temperature of C. difficle, and it's not your pH!
I will get back to you if I get more information, pressing things right now.
Ted "
SEVERE CHRONIC DIARRHEA - HELP NEEDED ASAP!
05/08/2008: Carol from La Verne, CA: "I've had chronic diarrhea for over 20 years. This happened after I had taken 8 months of Prozac. I've also had chlamydia for 20 years. Just found this out. My doctor has me on Nystat and Doxycycline. I've been taking Imodium to stop the diarrhea. Four to six pills a day, this dosage had lasted for about 7 years. In April 2007 I got a viral infection giving me a fever and my Imodium pill consumption had to be raised from 20-30 tablets a day. I know this is not possible but with me it is. I have severe mal-absorption. I've done all tests possible to find the cause of the diarrhea and nothing shows. One doctor says it might be an overgrowth of bacteria from my colon that migrated to my small intestine which they cure with a drug called Rifaximin. But the moment I started the drug I get worse diarrhea. I'm malnurished, dehydrated and anemic. I've tried all the Earth Clinic remedies, nothing helps. I am running out of time. I'll be dead by december 2008 if nothing is found to help. Anyone with any comments or answers are welcome. I have a 7 year old son I need to take care of."
06/13/2008: Tina replies: "I don't know where you live, but you may want to contact the D'Adamo Institute in New Hampshire. You can do some primilimary research on their web-site."
09/27/2008: Nicole from Chicago, IL replies: "I'm so sorry you are so sick. I think you should look into two things: first food intolerances, especially gluten.
Second, and much more important is to overhaul your diet to something rich and nutritious, not the standard American diet, nor even the "healthy" American diet. Get a copy of Nourishing Traditions from your library and read up on what your body actually needs. You would probably benefit greatly from lacto-fermented foods and drinks and other things which build up intestinal flora. Read this for a start: http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/digestion_primer.html
This article is by the authors of the book I mentioned. I pray you heal thoroughly and quickly and end your suffering."
04/01/2009: Jewel from Lexington, Ky replies: "I had the exact symptoms you have. I was sent to Cleveland Clinic. My intestinal flora was out of balance. Probiotics helped me the most. Try to slowly get off all meds and take probiotics only. Also, have you been tested for c-difficile infection? If you have ever taken high doses of antibiotics or steroids, this can lead to and intestinal imbalance. Hope this helps you and you and your son are in my prayers.
Jewel"
