Diarrhoea for 11 days. Help

[Echocave]

D's who is 3 has had diarrhoea since Xmas eve. She has about 8 or 9 loose stools a day (some very small) but is in pain when she goes and has lots of wind.

She's been to the dr's twice and we've had the usual advice but I'm concerned it's showing no sign of improvement after this length of time. We did a stool sample about 5 days ago but the results aren't available until Monday and if it's a virus won't show up anyway.

We are trying to give her very plain food, no dairy, making her drink Dioralyte but nothing is making any difference. I have been up with her 4 times since 2.30am.

Has anyone got any ideas please? Everything I read says up to 10 days is normal for a bug but we're past that now.

[Thumbnutstwitchingonanopenfire]

What sort of very plain food, are you including meat in that? Meat still contains fat and still has the potential to irritate. Ditto soups.

I would take her right back to dry toast, maybe with some Bovril or marmite on if she likes those; or you could try the banana, plain boiled rice, stewed apple (no or very little sugar). No sugary drinks; she should be on water only, not even milk or fruit juice.

If there's nothing else actually wrong with her, this should fix the diarrhoea in a day or two - if it doesn't, then she needs to be checked over properly.

After a day or two, if the diarrhoea has stopped, you could introduce a bio-live yoghurt but it needs to be bio-live.

[Springsintheair]

Hi echo I just wanted to post a similar question in fact we have a very similar situation! Ds has had Diarrhoea for near three weeks now . We took him to the doctor and were told the same as you but I am a bit worried as he has not improved at all. What kind of freaky tummy bug can this be? I have never experienced this before.

[LittlePoot]

What did your doctor advise re diet? Last time my ds (3) had a tummy bug (that didn't last as long as yours -you poor things!), Dr advised not to restrict diet at all as the latest thinking is that they need the nutrients to recover more than the food irritates the stomach. The only change they advised was to try lactofree milk because small people will often become lactose intolerant with an irritated gut. And that definitely did make a difference as the bug passed. I hope it doesn't go on much longer for you and agree it sounds like speaking to the dr again would be a good idea. Can you call the out of hours service? We've often got very useful advice on the phone without having to travel.

[Baddz]

If it's their first rotavirus infection it's not uncommon for it to last 2-3 weeks
Cut out milk and get a good probiotic (I use optibac)

[Springsintheair]

Thanks baddz. Is it ok to give the probiotic whilst he has poster diarrhoea? I have given him half a tea spoon of a good probiotic powder in the ladt couple of days but have the feeling that there is more poo than ever . Also I haven weaned him off the breast yet ( just turned two) and he has been bf more than usual which I'm sure doesn't help....sorry echo, I have shameless piggybacked on your thread but didn't want to create a new one as it sounds so similar what our dc have....

[Springsintheair]

Sorry about the spelling [blish] am on tablet with dodgy spellcheck.

[Echocave]

It might be rotavirus as they didn't vaccinate for it when dd was a baby. Her younger sister who is 1 has been vaccinated against It but she also had a bug before probably passing it on to her dd - so can you still catch rotavirus even when you've had the vaccine?
Thank you for your advice. The food thing is really tricky as she keeps saying she's hungry so we give her plain toast and she's still ill after that. Her diet isn't very exotic at the best of time and she's had no meat, dairy, very little sugar since this came on

[Echocave]

Sorry, should say dd2 had a bug before passing it on to her older sister.

[mumofthemonsters808]

DS had a severe case of gastroenteritis during the summer which resulted in him being in hospital. After many weeks I eventually managed to get him some medication which closed his bowels it was an Imodium syrup that worked instantly. For the life of me I could not understand why this hadn't been prescribed six weeks earlier. Perhaps see if this is suitable.

[Thumbnutstwitchingonanopenfire]

I don't know about your DS's case, mumofthemonsters but I've always been told that (depending on the cause) it's better to let the bug be cleared out of your system, rather than stopping the body from doing what it naturally should to clear it.
But as I say, it does rather depend on the cause - and by 6 weeks, if it's not cleared naturally then something else was obviously needed!

[Echocave]

Thanks. The Dr said they'd only think about doing something (although no idea what) once she'd had it for a month so another week and a half. To be honest after11 nights of constant disruption, crying in pain and utter confusion about what to feed her I am at the end of my tether.

[MunningCockery]

OP & Springs What made doc/s so certain was a bug? Did they do any IVs for Crohns or Coeliac etc etc? Have 4 Dcs and none of them ever had diarrhoea for that long - would be deeply concerned re dehydration if nothing else (& appreciate is much else given impact). Personally I'd go to A&E as would absolutely reassure re hydration and also ensure a referral to a gastro - I've honestly never known a kid to have D. for that long.

[Springsintheair]

Thanks munning, I am with you on this one and have no idea why they are sure it's 'nothing'. We had to see and out of hours doctor on Thursday as ds's diarrhea is getting worse rather than better. There the doc said he was as good as gold in terms of hydration (checked fontanel, skin colour and kneaded his tummy to see if anything was untoward). I'll take him to the doctor on Monday again and ask for a stool sample.

It is all really disconcerting . Especially as ds cries in agony when passing stool. Apparently there were several kids at ds's nursery who had a tummy bug over the Christmas period. None quite this long though. Is there anything I should ask at nursery?

[Echocave]

I assume doctors say that because it's a process of elimination and that across the general population crohns and colitis are relatively rare.
I am sure DD is not dehydrated as we are giving her fluid replacement and actually over the course of a day she is not producing much more poo than normal.
If her stool sample reveals nothing then I will have to ask for different help but tbh most GPs do not think 2 weeks with diarrhoea is that unusual (and we have seen 3 different doctors over the last couple of weeks)

[Baddz]

Please do not give a child immodium...you could cause a bowel blockage.
When my ds2 had his first rotavirus infection he vomited for a week - even water would no stay down (we had to syringe dioralyte into him) and had bad diahorea for 2 weeks.
It was awful.
Do give dioralyte instead of water or juice....the blackcurrant is the most palatable IMO.
And you can get optibac in sachets that you add to food or juice.

[Echocave]

Thanks Baddz. Dd drinks the citrus one ok so giving her that.

[mumofthemonsters808]

Regarding giving your child Imodium, in my sons case he had experienced diarehha for six long, painful weeks. He could hardly stand he was that exhausted and something had to be done when white liquid started leaking from his bottom, even in the night when he was asleep. It was the correct medication for him but as I said he was in extreme pain and very poorly. He also took weeks to get back to his normal self he had been through such an ordeal. I hope Your DD gets sorted, some bugs are bloody lethal and floor little ones.

[Echocave]

Thank you. It isn't much fun. Thank goodness something finally helped your ds. I am worrying a lot because this Dd has constipation usually and is on Movicol (not now obviously) so I keep wondering if there's something else going on.

[Springsintheair]

Yeah, this morning' s nappy is much much better, I think hope he's on the mend. I hope your dd is getting better soon OP.

[Springsintheair]

Oh, yes and we stuck with the probiotic powder and only fed pasta, couscous and rice the last two days, so maybe that also helped.

[Baddz]

The brat diet is recommended after any stomach bug...
Banana
Rice
Apple
Toast
Hope all ill ones are on the mend x

[Echocave]

Still no improvement here. Going out of my mind a bit.

[Springsintheair]

I sympathise echo it's really wearing sing it? I hope you get some conclusive results from the Gp tomorrow and your dd feels better soon. Have you tried giving a good quality probiotics (I.e. Without too much added sugar)?

[Springsintheair]

*wearing, isn't it.... Not sing

[Springsintheair]

Just to say that I counted back and ours lasted 22 days