Poopy Call

You'll never know when it's going to attack. Loose Bowel Movement or what we call diarrhea, is the passage of a watery or loose stool occurring more frequently than your usual bowel movement. This sometimes occurs due to a simple irritation of the bowel. But there are times that these happen because of an infection. It is better to be aware of the symptoms and be able to know how to deal with it. This actually leads to a serious kind of complications.

The major concern in a child with diarrhea is the risk of being dehydrated, the loss of fluid and electrolytes, and the development of metabolic acidosis that may even lead to death. It is dangerous because it can cause undernutrition because nutrients can be lost from the body during the frequent passage of stool and sometimes the parents may contribute to the undernutrition due to the lack of knowledge about it. What the parents don't know is that they should allow the child to eat as much as they want mostly when they have diarrhea. In that way, the excreted nutrition can be replaced.

Here are some pointers that you may observe and can be helpful during the diagnosis of the disease:

o Character of the stool
You should observe whether the stool is watery or just plain loose. You can also check for the color of the stool, odor, and the consistency.

o Pain and abdominal cramping
Observe for the frequency of pain, what kind of pain whether it is cramping or twisting.

o Dehydration
This occurs when too much nutrients and fluid is lost. And the main goal is to rehydrate the patient or the child. The patient can be assessed by pinching the skin, this is for checking the skin turgor, whether the skins elasticity is lost. Check for drying of the skin, and then this means that the patient has been severely dehydrated. Other things that can be helpful to check for dehydration is the presence of a sunken eyeball, decreased urine output, cold clammy skin, weight loss, frequent thirst, and absence of tears during crying.

o Fluid and electrolyte imbalance
This may result due to too much fluid loss. It can cause the child to have manifestations of weakness, confusion, and decrease response to stimuli.

o Metabolic acidosis
This occurs due to severe dehydration and malnutrition. It may lead to drowsiness, stupor and even coma.

The person with diarrhea can lose essential water and salts, so what we do is to prevent the occurrence of dehydration. There are 2 phases that can help:

1. Rehydration Phase
This is the replacement of the fluid due to fluid and salt lost in stools and vomitus.

2. Maintenance Phase
It is the replacement of lost fluid during the ongoing diarrhea and vomiting.

Some tips on how to deal with dehydration:

o Treatment Plan A: To prevent dehydration
Explain to the mother on how to treat diarrhea at home. By just simply following these 3 rules, your child can be prevented from getting dehydrated:

1. Give your child a lot of fluids than the usual. Give rice water, fruit juices, weak tea, soup, or salt and sugar solutions (ORS). ORS stands for Oral Rehydrating Salts, you can actually make this at home by mixing 1 tsp of salt to a 8 tsp pf sugar and then add 1 liter of clean drinking water.

2. Give your child food. Don't scold the child from eating, at least the lost nutrients and fluids can be replenished, but give those foods that are easy to digest and contains potassium like banana, apple, and coconut juice.

3. Watch for the signs of dehydration. Bring your child if you suspect of dehydration, so the child can be treated by the experts.

o Treatment Plan B: To treat dehydration with ORS Solutions
ORS is the standard recommended formula by WHO/UNICEF. This has 4 constituents and should be discarded within 24 hours.

o Treatment Plan C: To treat severe dehydration quickly
For infants, the mother should be advised to breastfeed or give milk formula in between ORS.

The most important thing to remember to prevent diarrhea is to wash your hands often.