Why do I feel so dreadful after having diarrhoea?

Digestive health
1

I’ve suffered from diarrheoa for more than 40 years (starting with a stomach bug aged 20). Dozens of investigations but no explanation so just have to live with it. Luckily, 1 Imodium daily keeps the problem at bay but, on those rare occasions when Imodium doesn’t work, I need to understand why I feel so terrible after just one incident of fairly mild diarrheoa (ie 1 visit to the toilet). I feel tired, drained, brain-fogged, with an indescribably unpleasant feeling in my stomach, guts and head - and this lasts for at least 24 hours afterwards.

I just don’t understand why, and no doctor has ever been able to explain. Is it simply dehydration? Please help! Thanks

2

From my experience, diarrhoea is much more difficult to tolerate in a hot country and leads to more unpleasant symptoms like the ones you described.

In the UK, the advice is to drink more water to avoid dehydration. In countries like India, the recommended remedies for dehydration are isotonic drinks or a least lightly salted drinks like lassi (water, yogurt, salt, sugar).

You could try isotonic drinks. I find it is more convenient and economical to get them in powdered form and make up the drink as required. As an alternative you could try drinking mineral water.