What Is a Functioning Alcoholic?
Functional diarrhea refers to a syndrome in which defecation or watery stools occur continuously or repeatedly without abdominal pain or abdominal discomfort. Diarrhea without bacterial, viral, or parasitic infections is usually caused by gastrointestinal dysfunction. The occurrence of this disease may be related to mental factors, intestinal motor sensory dysfunction, and autonomic dysfunction. No organic lesions that caused diarrhea were found by various examinations.
- English name
- functional diarrhea
- Visiting department
- Gastroenterology
- Common causes
- Unknown, may be related to mental factors, intestinal motor sensory dysfunction, autonomic dysfunction, etc.
- Common symptoms
- Small, frequent bowel movements without abdominal pain or discomfort
Basic Information
Causes of functional diarrhea
- Functional diarrhea is called organic diarrhea that has symptoms of diarrhea but has not been found to cause diarrhea through various tests. Its etiology is complex, including irritable bowel syndrome with unknown causes and secondary small intestinal lactase deficiency with well-defined causes. Although the cause is not yet clear, studies have shown that symptoms of diarrhea can be caused by changes in colonic motility due to mental stress.
Clinical manifestations of functional diarrhea
- Patients with functional diarrhea often show a small number of defecations without abdominal pain or abdominal discomfort, but they need to be distinguished from "pseudodiarrhea". "Pseudodiarrhea" is characterized by a large number of defecations and a sense of urgency. The bowels are formed every time.
Functional diarrhea
- Patients with suspected diarrhea should be tested for blood routine, ESR and c-reactive protein (CRP). Determination of serum ferritin and folic acid can help distinguish small intestinal malabsorption. If IBD or small bowel malabsorption is highly suspected, imaging or gastroscopy of the gastrointestinal tract should be performed. Patients with severe watery diarrhea need to rule out diarrhea caused by endocrine diseases, such as diarrhea caused by intestinal vasoactive peptide (VIP) tumors and 5-HIAA.
Functional diarrhea diagnosis
- To exclude organic lesions, you can consider the diagnosis of functional diarrhea when: at least 75% of the defecation is thin stool or watery stool without abdominal pain; symptoms appear for at least 6 months and nearly 3 months before diagnosis Meet the above diagnostic criteria.
- It should be noted that diarrhea is only a non-specific intestinal symptom, and there are many causes of diarrhea. Functional diarrhea must be related to intestinal organic diseases, such as intestinal infectious diseases (chronic bacterial dysentery, intestinal tuberculosis, parasitic infection diarrhea, etc.), IBD, radiation enteritis, colon tumors, small intestinal malabsorption and VIP tumors, etc. Differentiated diarrhea. Gastrointestinal endoscopy, blood biochemistry and other related tests are helpful for differential diagnosis.
Functional diarrhea treatment
- Individual patients with functional diarrhea should implement an individualized treatment plan. For patients with diarrhea due to stress events, a detailed explanation of the condition is needed to help alleviate the patient's anxiety.
- Diet therapy
- Ask patients about their eating habits in detail. Pasta, dairy products, citrus fruits, eggs, onions, caffeine, and alcohol can all cause symptoms in patients with functional diarrhea. Therefore, limiting these foods will help alleviate the symptoms of diarrhea in patients.
- 2. Drug treatment
- If lifestyle changes are not effective, medication can be used. Commonly used anti-diarrheal drugs are loperamide and pheneperidine. These drugs play an anti-diarrheal effect by binding to opioid receptors and preventing the release of acetylcholine from cholinergic nerve endings. Loperamide also has a non-opioid effect for antidiarrheal purposes.