Diarrhea 😔

Hi, I have been giving my Mom Mannitol since last October and will keep on as she has improved on a lot of her symptoms. It hasn’t helped her mobility as yet which is the hardest on me as her caregiver but I am hopeful and being patient. I also recently started her on thiamine HCL. And last month I had a little set back with Mom as she developed UTI. She is over that but now I have to put a dash of apple cider vinegar in her drinking water 3 times a day to keep UTI away. My point is that everything I give her that is helping her is also causing severe diarrhea. Including her Parkinson’s meds. Does anyone know of something natural I can give her to control this diarrhea?

[Juliegrace]

Bananas and rice (not together) are both binding foods. How much mannitol and are you giving it all at once? Maybe you could give it in smaller doses during the day. ACV is a good way to avoid UTIs.

[park_bear]

Is she taking melatonin by any chance?

[Hidden in reply to park_bear]

Yes, I give her melatonin at bedtime.

[park_bear in reply to Hidden]

How much? Is it a "gassy" diarrhea? If so, the melatonin is almost certainly causing it.

See here for more: healingwell.com/community/d...

[Hidden]

I give her a banana everyday. I give her wild rice sometimes. I have to be careful with starches as easily as she has diarrhea she can get constipated in a hot minute. It seems like feast or famine.

[glenandgerry in reply to Hidden]

i understand your 'feast or famine' comment - my PWP is the same

[Hidden]

Sorry Juliegrace. I tried to reply under your post but my iPad keeps jumping.

[Juliegrace in reply to Hidden]

Possibly white rice might be better, it has less fiber. Mannitol is actually used as a laxative so it may be the main culprit.

[GinnyBerry]

My mom had a lot of trouble with diarrhea. She has had great success with Metamucil. It was counter intuitive because we associate it with constipation treatment. But psyllium helps solidify the stool. She takes it every day now — I think she’s had success for over a year.

[Astra7]

I would try some probiotics to get her back in balance. Mutaflor is the one recommended by my integrative GP but it's quite expensive. Maybe ask the pharmacist.

Your mum is lucky to have you looking after her.

[Dragona]

Mannitol definately gives my husband diarrohea

[EELAINE]

Check out "Sodium Butyrate" which was recommended by Rick Melvin (Silvestrov) a month ago. After suffering 3 weeks with the world's worst case of diarrhea, this non-prescription supplement has caused my gut to heal. It is a short chain fatty acid that our guts need to operate effectively. "BodyBio" is the brand I bought and I can't recommend it enough. Good Luck!

[Hidden in reply to EELAINE]

I will check it out. How much do you take?

[EELAINE in reply to Hidden]

Hello. Re: Sodium Butyrate for abdominal/diarrhea issues.

I take one 600 mg tablet daily. Re: Food intake: I (drink) white rice, + water + a Tbsp of Metamucil which I put in a blender as my ONLY food a couple of times per day until the the diarrhea stops. Good luck. Diarrhea is such a terrible thing!

[Hidden in reply to EELAINE]

See my latest post.

[grandmama16]

I will surely be taking more care of my hubby in the future. He has falken twice. So far he hasn't complained about digestive problems, just tiredness and sleepiness from meds. Taking a little more now...leg freezing doesn't seem as bad. What is Mannitol? We try to have a good diet but we really don't. I have Fibro. and diabetes with meds. and just don't want to cook. Thanks.

[Astra7 in reply to grandmama16]

Mannitol is some sort of fruit sugar that is used to coat chewing gum as it keeps it from sticking. It is also used medically for glaucoma.

Some of us are trying it for PD and it is helping some people. I take a heaped tsp in my morning coffee. There is a group called clinicrowd who are running an informal research experiment and there is more info on their website if you are interested. The dose is apparently dependent on your weight but I don't think it needs to be super accurate as it's basically food.

I believe it has helped me a lot.

[Celtis]

I have had chronic diarrhea for 25 years. I recently found LDN (low dose Naltrexone) and it has cured it. I stopped once when I ran out of pills and within 2 days it was back. Recently I had to stop again because I was going for major surgery and LDN blocks opioids. The diarrhea came back with a vengeance. Four days after starting again it was gone.

Of course your mom might not have the same reason for diarrhea that I have, but ldn also gives one more energy. It might be worth trying.

I will be starting mannitol this week. Holding

[Greenday]

Maybe your mom's intestinal bacteria flora is compromised.

Saccharomyces boulardii drugs.com/mtm/saccharomyces... has been used as a probiotic, or "friendly bacteria," to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Saccharomyces boulardii has been used as a possibly effective aid in preventing the recurrence of diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).

[Hidden]

Thank you everyone for all your responses to my mom diarrhea problem. I have good news and it might help some of you with the same problem. It has been about 2 weeks since I started giving her the splash of Apple cider Vinegar in her drinking water 3 times a day. Unbeknownst to me it seems to be curing her diarrhea problem. Since yesterday she seems to be back to having her normal bowel movements. So apparently it took care of the UTI problem and has cleared up her gut issue. It just took about 2 weeks or so. I looked it up and ACV is a probiotic. I will continue this for her as it seems to be working and it is natural and definitely the cheapest thing you can buy for Gut problems. I will post if anything changes. Thanks again. For those of you who are spending outrageous money on cures for this type of problem may consider this. Make sure it is the ACV that has the mother and organic. I buy the brand Whitehouse from Walmart.

[katz2017 in reply to Hidden]

That's good, otherwise I was going to say ..why not take Imodium for the diarrhea