Diarrhea is a condition in which your normal bowel movements are altered significantly. The normal consistency of your stools is relatively firm. With diarrhea, your feces are watery and very loose. This also may be accompanied by cramps in your abdomen that can be quite severe. In addition, diarrhea flushes a great deal of fluid from your body, so you may become dehydrated and need to drink extra fluids.
Drugs
Many types of medications, from over-the-counter to prescription drugs, produce diarrhea as a side effect of taking them. You can get diarrhea from these drugs often simply because your body is not used to the medicine being in your system. Other times, drugs can interact with your body in such ways that it changes your bowel movements. The Mayo Clinic reports that a primary type of drug that causes diarrhea is antibiotics. This happens because antibiotics kill bacteria, whether the bacteria is a normal, useful type that works in your body or the kind that infects your body. Because certain kinds of bacteria have functions within your intestines, killing them can throw off your digestive balance and change the way you defecate.
Viruses
Viruses may produce diarrhea. Diarrhea is common with the flu, a virus, for this reason. Rotavirus is known as the virus that most often causes acute diarrhea in children, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other viruses known to induce diarrhea include herpes simplex virus (HSV), viral hepatitis, cytomegalovirus and Norwalk virus. Because viruses can spread their infection to other people, diarrhea caused by a virus can infect people around the initial sufferer.
Parasites and Bacteria
Diarrhea caused by parasites or bacteria frequently can occur when you travel to other nations, particularly poorer countries that do not have the means to make water and food safe. This type of condition is referred to as traveler's diarrhea. It can come from water or food that has been contaminated. Such parasites as cryptosporidium and giardia lamblia can be common causes of diarrhea. The infection with the latter parasite, known as giardiasis, is common in the United States, particularly when municipal water supplies carry the organisms. The bacterial causes of diarrhea that are the most common include Escherichia coli or E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella and Campylobacter.
Food Ingredients
Common causes of diarrhea can also be found in some foods and drinks simply because of their ingredients. These may only affect certain people but are considered relatively common. Food sweetened by ingredients other than sugar, such as Mannitol and sorbitol, may be the cause of diarrhea in some people. These are found in many products labeled "sugar-free." Milk, which contains lactose, is a common cause of diarrhea in lactose-intolerant people, and the fructose that occurs in various types of fruit can cause diarrhea, primarily in children.
