Causes of diarrhoea

 

The underlying cause of diarrhoea should be determined and if there is blood present in stools, this should be further investigated.

Below are the common causes of diarrhoea;

 

Overuse of laxatives

 The most likely cause is the overuse of laxatives particularly when the dose of laxatives has been recently increased to help clear constipation. This may require reducing the dose of laxatives.

 

Faecal impaction

 This is more frequently seen in the geriatric population where the patient is accustomed to the use of laxatives to stimulate muscles in the intestine to contract and propel contents forwardstowards the rectum.

Therefore if there is sudden withdrawal of laxatives the muscles cannot function independently and faeces remain without bein moved along. Runny stools can leak past the impacted faeces leading to incontinence or diarrhoea. 

 

 

Malabsorbtion

 Cancer in the pancreas (islet cells) results in malabsorption as there is a lack of bile acids secreted. This means fats cannot be absorbed which gives rise to steatorrhoea which is runny stools.

Furthermore, resection or surgical alteration on the GI tract such as colectomy (removal of colon) or illeal resectioncan cause diarrhoea due to damage to the mucosal membrane, inadequate reabsorption of fluisd and affect the motility of the intestine. This can cause the transit time through the GItract to be accelerated and diarrhoea occurs.