What to do if you have diarrhea every morning

Occasional episodes of diarrhea are common and usually resolve on their own. However, if you have diarrhea every morning, or even every week, it could be a sign of a more serious health condition.

If you have had symptoms of diarrhea for longer than 2 weeks, but less than 4 weeks, doctors class this as “persistent.” Anything over 4 weeks is what doctors would call “chronic.”

Sometimes chronic diarrhea can be caused by something as simple as drinking too much fruit juice every day.

If you have been experiencing diarrhea every morning, consider speaking with a healthcare professional who can create a treatment plan.

Causes

Your intestines help manage the water levels in your body. If they’re not working properly, excess water can enter your stool, causing diarrhea.

Here are some of the possible reasons this might happen:

• Gastrointestinal infections: Viruses, bacteria, or parasites can infect your gut and cause diarrhea. Although these infections usually get better by themselves, some can cause chronic symptoms.
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): This chronic inflammatory condition can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms such as weight loss, fatigue, diarrhea, and bloody stools.
• Dietary triggers: Certain food and drink can make you more likely to have diarrhea. Common triggers include spicy food and food high in fat.
• Medications: Many medications, especially antibiotics, and certain cancer medications, can cause diarrhea. It’s important to read the information leaflet with your medication to see if diarrhea is a reported side effect.
• Excessive stress or anxiety: Emotional and psychological stress can affect your digestive system. Some people find that it can cause them to have diarrhea.
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): IBS is a chronic condition that affects the large intestine and can cause diarrhea, constipation, or both.
• Celiac disease: This is an autoimmune condition that can lead to damage to your small intestine when eating gluten. It can also result in symptoms such as diarrhea and fatigue.
• Colorectal cancer: You have about a 4% chance of getting colorectal cancer during your lifetime. Chronic diarrhea can be one of the signs of rectal or colon cancer.

Treatment

The main goal of treating any form of diarrhea is preventing dehydration. Here are some measures that may help relieve your symptoms and prevent you from becoming more seriously ill:

Stay hydrated

Diarrhea can often lead to dehydration, so drinking plenty of fluids is important. You should take small, frequent sips of water throughout the day. Other liquids, such as clear broths and herbal teas (like peppermint or chamomile), can help keep dehydration at bay.

Oral rehydration solutions, such as Pedialyte or Gastrolyte, can also help replace essential salts and sugars lost during diarrhea.

It may be helpful to avoid diuretics like caffeine and alcohol as they can make you more dehydrated and often trigger diarrhea.

Medication

There are some over-the-counter (OTC) medications available to help treat acute diarrhea, such as loperamide (Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol).

However, if you have diarrhea every morning, speaking with a healthcare professional is best. They can recommend medications to help with symptoms depending on the cause.

Examples include:

• antidiarrheal medications, such as diphenoxylate with atropine (Lomotil) and rifaximin (Xifaxan)
• antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro), azithromycin (Zithromax)
• antispasmodic medications, such as dicyclomine (Bentyl)
• immunosuppressive drugs, such as azathioprine (Imuran) and methotrexate (Trexall)

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Modify Your Diet

Avoiding triggering foods and opting for a diet consisting of easily digestible foods may help you manage symptoms.

Examples of food that are easy to digest include:

• bananas
• plain rice
• applesauce
• toast
• boiled potatoes
• cooked carrots

It can also help to introduce new foods gradually as you feel better.

Consider probiotics

Incorporating probiotic-rich foods, such as yogurt with live cultures or fermented foods like sauerkraut, may help restore the balance of beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Prevention

To stop chronic diarrhea, you made need to make some changes to your lifestyle:

• Identify food triggers: Keep a food diary to track your diet and symptoms. This can help identify potential food triggers that bring on or worsen your diarrhea.
• Maintain good hygiene: Frequent handwashing can help prevent the spread of infections that might cause diarrhea.
• Reduce stress: Practice relaxation techniques, such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises, to alleviate stress and its effect on your digestive system.
• Make healthy lifestyle choices: Consuming a low fat, low sugar diet full of fresh, unprocessed food and getting plenty of exercise (if you can) can make a big difference to your digestive health. A 2017 scientific review reports that the low FODMAP diet may also help.

Risk factors

While most cases of diarrhea improve within a few days, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases warns that it may lead to severe dehydration or indicate an underlying issue.

You should seek medical help if you are experiencing the following symptoms:

• diarrhea lasting over 48 hours (or over 24 hours for children)
• severe dehydration symptoms, including dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and dry mouth
• a high fever (102°F or higher)
• frequent vomiting
• six or more loose stools in 24 hours
• severe abdominal or rectal pain
• black and tarry stools, or stools with blood or pus

Summary

Having diarrhea every morning can be distressing. However, identifying the cause, understanding your triggers, and taking steps to manage the condition can help keep symptoms at bay.

Some treatment methods that may help include:

• ensuring you stay hydrated
• adjusting your diet to avoid trigger foods, such as spicy food and food high in fat
• taking probiotics to aid with digestion

If you find that you are having diarrhea every morning, consider speaking with a healthcare professional. They can work with you to find the cause of your symptoms and put together a suitable treatment plan.

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