What to do with diarrhea during pregnancy?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024

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Many women who are in the social status of a pregnant woman often face such a problem as an intestinal disorder that is caused by constipation, or, conversely, by the symptoms of diarrhea. How dangerous is diarrhea in this period and what to do with diarrhea during pregnancy? We will try to answer these and some other questions in this article.
From such trouble as diarrhea, no one is insured: stress, stale or too fatty food, but especially he worries a woman at a time when she is carrying her baby. The liquid stool during pregnancy can have various causes (both banal and quite dangerous for the body of a woman and her unborn child), and should be examined in more detail before deciding what to do with diarrhea during pregnancy and giving the necessary recommendations.
If a pregnant woman has diarrhea, this should be immediately notified to her obstetrician - the gynecologist, who leads the pregnancy. He will professionally help to understand the cause of the disorder and take adequate measures.
So what can be the causes of pathology in the intestine:
- This can be the result of nervous stress.
- The day before, a woman could eat "not the same" product - food poisoning or even a miscarriage of a pregnant woman.
- A common cause of the pathology in question is a viral infection. Such an infection, against a background of a healthy organism, passes independently for three to four days. But this does not concern intestinal infections.
- Provoke diarrhea is also capable of exacerbation of digestive tract diseases, of various genesis.
- In the process of bearing the baby the woman's abdomen increases in size, beginning to press on nearby tissues and organs, displacing them, the ducts may overlap (the cause of the appearance of gestational jaundice in pregnant women). "Gets" the stomach and other organs. It is worth carefully examining the stool masses. With these disorders, feces will have a light, slightly yellowish tinge, and pieces of undigested food can be observed.
- Diarrhea during pregnancy can be a consequence of hormonal changes in the body, which necessarily happens as soon as a woman passes into a new status.
- Side effect of some drugs that have to take a woman.
- At conception, in the organism of the future mother the level of body protection decreases - the immunity is weakened and there is a small negative impact that the body reacts with such symptomatology.
- To digestive disorders can lead and a quick change in diet.
- Often diarrhea is a companion of toxicosis during pregnancy. This can be explained physiologically, because the effects of toxicosis - it is an intoxication of the organism of the future mother, which, in turn, provokes the disorder.
- There are cases when gymnastics for women "in an interesting position", at which stimulation of the intestinal motility occurs, can cause diarrhea attacks.
- But it follows future mothers to know that diarrhea in the fortieth week of pregnancy is a natural process that prepares a woman for childbirth. In this way the body produces its purification. In such a situation, one should not worry about the unpleasant situation that has arisen.
But whatever the cause of the provoked diarrhea, for a fair sex that carries a child, it can cause a high probability of the development of pathological abnormalities, both in your body and in the still forming fetus. There may be a risk of losing a child, by interrupting pregnancy.
Physicians classify diarrhea according to intensity and duration of the course:
- The cause of acute form is usually food poisoning caused by poisoning when taking food. This type of diarrhea is usually able to last for several days. A similar picture of pathology is given by viral invasion.
- Diarrhea, which is observed for more than one week, is referred to as not passing diarrhea.
- Chronic diarrhea is called an intestinal disorder, which lasts more than one month. Such a clinical picture is already attributed to severe pathologies.
Predominantly, problems with the intestines "come" not alone. They can be accompanied by: dizziness, nausea, flatulence, dehydration, headaches.
Usually such symptomatology does not cause anxiety in the doctor, as it is an element of the norm. But if the signs have changed, and the pregnant woman begins to observe:
- Bloody veins and / or mucous discharge in feces.
- Significant increase in body temperature.
- Dark circles under the eyes, if these are not individual characteristics of the body.
- She constantly wants to drink and feels dry in the mouth.
- Increased moisture content of the skin and mucous membranes. That is, symptoms of dehydration of the body. A woman seldom starts to go to the toilet "on a small".
- When defecating, it can be seen that the feces have acquired a little suspiciously dark, almost black, shade. Such color can speak about the internal bleeding that has opened.
- Drowsiness.
- The appearance of a constant monotonous noise in the hearing organs of a pregnant woman.
- The secretion of urine is a dark shade, if the day before the woman did not eat any products that could change the color of urine.
- Immediately apply to your obstetrician - gynecologist and if diarrhea continues in a pregnant woman for more than seven days.
To minimize the risk of the disease, a woman should not forget about the elementary rules that will reduce the risk of developing this pathology, saving the pregnant woman from the possibility of poisoning or the possibility of intestinal infectious invasion:
- Food should be of high quality and only fresh.
- The dishes must be freshly prepared. Exclude food, which is heated "the next day".
- To adhere to the shelf life of products without using expired ones.
- Carefully observe all the rules of personal hygiene.
- It is very good to wash fruits and vegetables. If possible, they can even be given with boiling water.
- Required quality heat treatment of fish, meat and dairy products, water.
- Refuse from fast food, fast food and catering products.
- Minimize visits to places with a high density of visitors, especially during epidemics.
So what to do with diarrhea during pregnancy? This is the first thing that comes to mind in a similar situation. It should immediately be said that self-medication should not be self-attributing self-fixing drugs, especially if diarrhea continues for seven to ten days. In this situation, the most correct decision will be immediately to contact your doctor or obstetrician - a gynecologist who is watching pregnancy.
After all, even a seemingly harmless drug, in the position of a woman, can be dangerous for the newly emerging and developing fetus. The consequences of this method can lead to serious consequences.
Such a disorder of the organism is especially dangerous in the early stages of gestation. Diarrhea, especially prolonged, causes intoxication - poisoning - of the mother's body, which can not but affect her child. This danger is due to the fact that in the first trimester the embryo is laid all the organs and systems. Any failure at this stage can provoke a developmental malformation of the future baby, expressed in all sorts of ugliness, various pathologies that lead to disability of the child, and even to the termination of pregnancy.
It is worthwhile to clarify that another reason that speaks about the danger that prolonged diarrhea brings in the first trimester is that it provokes an increased contractile activity of the uterus, which is known to be a direct threat of miscarriage.
Therefore, it is very important to timely take adequate measures to stop the problem by effective methods, but not affecting the living space of the fetus.
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Treatment of diarrhea by alternative methods
If the unbalance of the intestine proceeds two - three days, you can first try to adjust your diet, just as you can fight the problem with alternative methods without using pharmacological drugs.
Primarily, the diet should be reviewed.
- Complete discharge (starvation) for a pregnant woman is not permissible and she, and the fetus should receive a sufficient amount of nutrients, vitamins and microelements every second, which is so necessary for the normal development of the child and for the healthy functioning of the maternal organism. Therefore, a diet in the broadest sense of the word in this situation is prohibited. The doctor will only correct her nutrition, excluding from it for the time of therapy food that can weaken the feces. A more restrictive restriction may be based, on the basis of the clinical picture, only on the first day of therapy.
- Completely eliminate for this period will have all smoked products and fatty foods, spicy and spicy food. Under a categorical ban, and whole milk. Minimize the reception of products with a pronounced taste: salty, acidic and sweet.
- Be sure to increase the amount of fluid consumed. This is due to the fact of dehydration of the body, obtained in connection with its increased release from the body together with feces. Introduced fluid will not only fill the loss, but also "wash" the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
- In this situation, it is advisable to refuse from reception of fresh fruits and vegetables for the period of acute disorder. But that the baby still receives vitamins, in small quantities you can eat such a salad: peel and carrots peel and grate on a grater with a fine grate. It turns out quite tasty and nutritious mix. If desired, you can add a few drops of vegetable oil.
- In the antidiarrhoeal diet of a pregnant woman, it is allowed to introduce small portions of vegetable or weak broth on a chicken.
- Mandatory pregnancy should take dairy products, especially those that have small lines of validity, as well as which contain "live" lactobacilli. They will help to normalize the proper functioning of the intestine, and even the entire digestive tract.
It will not harm a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, if she uses one of these recipes to fix the liquid stool.
- You can try to eat a portion of rice, it's better if it's not dry porridge, but rice on water, a bit of a liquid consistency. Suitable and soup on the water, but without roasting. In it, besides rice, you can add carrots and potatoes. For the baseline it is desirable to take such a recipe: for one teaspoon of rice cereal take half a liter of water. Put on the fire and boil for 40 minutes after boiling. Get a kind of rice jelly. Ottsiviv, take the resulting broth. It is advisable to drink half the glass every two to three hours. Salt and sugar in this situation is not applied. If desired, it is on this basis that the soup is actually "constructed".
- There is also a similar recipe, only rice is replaced with oat flakes.
- Good strengthen the intestines of blueberries. Today they can be bought without any special work in any pharmacy.
- Perfectly proved in such a situation compote of dried fruits. Exclude only the dried apricots and prunes. This broth is useful to take a little throughout the day. It not only helps to stop the problem, prevent dehydration of the body, but also "delivers" to the body the vitamins and trace elements that are so necessary and lost in the course of diarrhea.
- You can eat a couple - three chocolate cubes, but do not follow the sweet diet.
- The situation and crunches prepared on the basis of bread from white varieties are well-stopping.
- An effective remedy for diarrhea are the decoctions of such plants as: ivan-tea, yarrow, shepherd's bag, sage, wormwood, St. John's Wort, calendula, oak bark, mother-and-stepmother, St. John's Wort, plantain, medicinal camomile, nettle and many others. They not only strengthen, but also have anti-inflammatory, removing excitement characteristics.
- Fits and decoctions of the collections of these plants. For example, take one part of each plant: the bark of oak, the leaves of plantain, Icelandic moss, the flowers of chamomile, the root of erect foot, the herb of St. John's wort. Two tablespoons of the collection pour a glass of boiling water and hold on the steam bath for about 15 minutes. Then let it brew for 45 minutes. The medicine is ready.
- You can try to drink strong black tea.
- Effective and tea from the berries of viburnum.
- Well-proven and starched water, easily obtained at home. Half a glass of boiled cool water dilute one teaspoon of potato starch. Take several times a day. The diluted amount is drunk at one time.
- If the cause of diarrhea is the emotional strain of a pregnant woman, tea, brewed on leaves of peppermint or herb of motherwort, is perfect.
- If there is, you can try to eat quince.
- Well showed himself tea from the pomegranate peel. To do this, one tablespoon of the crushed product should be steamed with a glass of boiling water and insisted for 24 hours (in a thermos).
But every future mother should remember that the use of medicinal herbs in the elimination of this problem should also be taken with caution. After all, many harmless, as some think, "grass" in such a period can significantly harm the unborn child, and in the worst case, to jeopardize the very pregnancy itself. Therefore, before you start to stop the problem yourself with "grandmother's methods," you should definitely consult with a qualified specialist.
In case a couple of days have passed and the problem has not exhausted itself, it is not worthwhile to delay, it is necessary to contact a qualified specialist. It is better if it turns out to be an unreasonable anxiety, than a more serious illness or situation will be missed, and precious time is lost that can cost the life of an unborn child.
Having studied the clinical picture and, if necessary, appointing an additional examination, the specialist will write out the treatment that will be effective for the woman and not dangerous for her baby.
At late periods of pregnancy (area 33 weeks), intestinal distress is no less dangerous and may be a companion of late toxicosis. Concomitant symptomatology is similar to the one above. In recent weeks, the appearance of diarrhea can affect the contractile muscles of the uterus as an irritant, provoking their activity, which, if not taking quick and effective cupping measures, can lead to the loss of the child. One can not hesitate. It is necessary to consult an obstetrician-gynecologist and, if necessary, his urgent intervention.
Diarrhea at 36 weeks of pregnancy is able to talk about the existing pathology, and maybe one of the first symptoms of approaching labor. At this stage of the course of bearing the baby, such a symptom is quite dangerous, because the child is still physiologically not ready to come to our world. Therefore, in the third trimester, the bottom problem should not be ignored. It is necessary to immediately notify the doctor who is pregnant.
Diarrhea for 37 weeks of gestation may have the same causes as the previous week. When this time is reached, you should minimize visits to places where there are many different people. This step will reduce the risk of infection. After all, the body of a woman in this period is so vulnerable. At this stage, the future mother moves less, it is already harder for her to do, and diarrhea can lead to rapid dehydration of the body, which is dangerous for both the pregnant woman and her child.
Diarrhea for 38 weeks may also be pathological. But if a woman still listened to the recommendations of her doctor, then with a high probability this "diagnosis" can be ruled out. Then diarrhea, often accompanied by fights, suggests that the woman's body is preparing for childbirth. If she is in the hospital - you should call a medical worker, informing him about the changed prenatal situation. And if the mother is at home, you should immediately go to the hospital. At this time, diarrhea is no longer dangerous.
Disorder of the intestines at 39 weeks indicates the impending long-awaited event - the appearance of a baby. Diarrhea is a natural self-purification of the maternity organism before delivery and there is no pathology here. Moreover, one should not take any measures, trying to stop this process.
Complementary therapy is also complicated by the fact that most of the pharmacological drugs in this period are contraindicated for such a patient, especially in the early stages of fetal development. This fact significantly narrows the specialist's ability to combat this pathology.
Drug treatment for diarrhea during pregnancy
But there are cases when the patient's condition causes fears, and the doctor has to make a choice. If you can not do without medication, even under the threat of negative impact on the future child's body, the obstetrician-gynecologist has to write out a protocol of treatment, which can include antibiotics and drugs that have fixing properties. But it is not necessary to "attribute" to oneself treatment - this step is fraught with negative and dangerous consequences.
Primarily, the doctor can prescribe a pregnant treatment, which includes one of the drugs related to the sorbing group of drugs. It can be carbopect, activated carbon, polysorb, carbosorb, purified "White coal", enterodesis, sorbex, carbactin, polyphepan, ethereosgel, ultra-adsorb and others.
Sorbent, ethereosgel is ingested orally. To increase the effectiveness of therapy, the drug should be drunk one to two hours before the intended meal time, with a sufficient amount of liquid. Before taking the medicine, open the sachet and dissolve its contents in water, which occupies the fourth part of the glass. The recommended dosage for adult patients, to which the pregnant woman belongs, is one package, which corresponds to 22.5 grams or one and a half tablespoons of the drug. The number of receptions is agreed by the attending doctor, usually not more than three such procedures are conducted during the day.
At attacks of an acute diarrhea in the first reception the double dosage can be appointed: two sachets that corresponds to 45 grams or three table spoons of a preparation. Further, the reception mode assumes the input of one packet of energy scanners. In the case of very severe intoxication caused by intense diarrhea, the recommended dosage can be doubled and taken within the first three days.
After the pathological symptomatology has disappeared, it is advisable to continue taking the medication for three to five days. This is done to fix the result.
Contraindication of the insertion of ET is individual intolerance of the constituents of the medicinal product, as well as atony of the intestine, which is observed in the anamnesis of the future mother.
With abundant diarrhea, the body of a woman loses not only water, but also salts necessary for proper work. To replace them, one of the salt solutions is prescribed: rehydron, sorbilact, tar, quintasol, trisol, disol, rheosorbylact and others.
Preventing dehydration and leveling the electrolyte balance in the body of the future mother, regidron is taken inside as a solution. The time of reception does not depend on the timing of the meal.
Before the reception, the packaging bag is opened and its contents are diluted in liter of clean, boiled water at room temperature. The dosage of the drug taken is 50-100 ml at intervals of three minutes.
After relief of the problem for some time, the woman will have to drink a maintenance daily dosage, in the amount of 80-100 mg per kilogram of the patient's weight.
Contraindication to the use of this drug is the hypersensitivity of the pregnant woman to one or more of its components, as well as if the woman's history has abnormalities in the work of the kidneys and diabetes mellitus.
If necessary, but only for the doctor's prescription, antispasmodics can be prescribed to relieve painful spasms caused by increased intestinal peristalsis: papaverine candles, drotaverin, no-spa, spazoverin or spasmolite.
But-shpa is injected into the patient's body orally. The recommended daily dosage of the drug is prescribed in the range of 120 - 240 mg, divided into two or three approaches. Do not exceed the amount of the drug corresponding to 240 mg, the single dose should not exceed 80 mg.
It is not recommended to prescribe the medicinal product in question if the pregnant woman suffers severe form of renal and / or hepatic, cardiac dysfunction, as well as in case of hypersensitivity to the active substance or any of the auxiliary chemical compounds of the drug.
If the pregnancy "passed" 30 weeks, the obstetrician-gynecologist can more easily decide to enter into the protocol for the treatment of antidiarrheal drugs, which are manufactured on the basis of loperamide. To such pharmacologists include entroben, diarol, loperakap, londium, diara, imodium, superilop, loperamide and others.
Entrobeene is taken in the form of capsules, not liquid, or in the form of tablets, which are put on the tongue (enough seconds in order for the medicine to dissolve and together with the saliva get into the body - do not drink).
In the case of an acute form of diarrhea, the starting dosage is attributed to 4 mg. After removing the severity of the attack, go to the reception of half the dosage - 2 mg each. The drug is taken after each defecation process with liquid feces. Do not just exceed the maximum daily values of 16 mg.
Similarly, the schedule for taking the drug and in the form of drops (0.002% solution): the starting amount of the drug - 60 droplets, after which the amount is reduced by half (up to 30 droplets one-time). Do not exceed the maximum daily values equal to 180 drops, separated by six inputs.
In the event that diarrhea has passed into the category of chronic diseases, a specialist can prescribe a maintenance therapy corresponding to 16 mg taken by a pregnant woman during the day, which is divided into four steps.
Contraindication to the use of entroben is an increased intolerance of the woman's constituent drugs, as well as in the presence of her history of diverticulosis, shigellosis, intestinal obstruction, salmonellosis, dysentery, gastrointestinal tract infection, ulcerative colitis, liver failure.
If it is diagnosed that the cause of diarrhea is a pathogenic microflora, in exceptional cases it is allowed to take an antimicrobial drug that effectively replicates the reproduction and very existence of the vast majority of microorganisms, pathogens provoking intestinal distress. Such a preparation may contain enterofuril, nifuroxazide, lecor, eco-fauryl, stoppier, ursefuril and others.
Nifuroxazide is taken in the form of tablets whole, not crushing, or in the form of a suspension, together with a sufficient amount of water. The time of input does not depend on the time of food intake. The main consideration when taking the drug in question is the requirement to maintain equal intervals of time between the very methods.
The recommended dosage is two tablets every six hours. That is, four times during the day.
Nifuroxazide - suspension is prescribed in an amount of 5 ml, which corresponds to one measuring spoon, four times a day, with the maintenance of equal intervals.
The duration of the treatment course is usually five to seven days.
Nifuroxazide is contraindicated in case of detection in the patient of increased individual sensitivity to the component composition of the drug.
In case of medical necessity, the attending doctor is able to decide on the introduction of some antibiotics into the protocol.
But the attacks of diarrhea need not only to stop, it is also necessary to restore the balance of the flora in the intestine. For this purpose, probiotics are prescribed-preparations containing living microorganisms that, when applied in adequate amounts, cause an improvement in the health of the host organism. To achieve the expected effect, it is necessary to take a course of one of such drugs as bactisubtil, acipol, bifi-forms, bifikol, bifidumbacterin, biosporin, linex, florin forte and others.
Bactisubtil is taken one hour before the expected food intake. The dose of the drug is four to eight capsules per day for seven to ten days. Contraindication to the use of the drug in question is its individual intolerance.
If a woman before the conception suffered from this disease or did not particularly go over what she eats, then the appearance of her diarrhea is a very real prospect. But if you consider that the future mother is now responsible not only for her health, but for the life and health of her baby, then the problem of diarrhea, in this light of its manifestation, rises in a more dangerous form. So what to do with diarrhea during pregnancy? This question can be answered in the above article. It is only once again to warn that when this pathology occurs, one should not self-medicate and try to cope with the problem on their own. It is more professional and efficient with her to fight only a qualified specialist. Under his control, you can be more calm and for the fate of an unborn child. Self-medication "grandmother's methods" is justified only in the case of a small diarrhea lasting one to two days.