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I know Imodium slows down the process of diarrhea. So, would Imodium help with the absorption of food and vitamins since it takes longer for the food/vitamins to be eliminated? Would this also apply to Entocort? Thanks!
Mandy
Does Imodium help with absorption of nutrients?
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Mandy,
It depends. If the food is adequately digested, then it might, however there are no guarantees. The reason I added that disclaimer, is because of the mechanism by which D is generated. Osmotic diarrhea occurs because of dissolved substances in the fecal stream, which are incapable of being absorbed through the interior surface of the intestine. In other words, if nonabsorbable substances are in solution, then the water in the fecal stream cannot be effectively absorbed, resulting in stool that retains excess water, which is, by definition, diarrhea. A corollary of this is that if nutrients are in that same solution, then they may be "trapped" as well, and therefore, nonabsorbable. I'm not aware of any random, controlled studies to prove this concept, but I believe it logically follows, from the description of the mechanism that causes osmotic diarrhea. Secretory diarrhea carries it one step further, by infusing additional water and electrolytes into the fecal stream, (rather than absorbing them), which, of course, is the source of the high-volume, watery D, that's so common with MC.
Tx
It depends. If the food is adequately digested, then it might, however there are no guarantees. The reason I added that disclaimer, is because of the mechanism by which D is generated. Osmotic diarrhea occurs because of dissolved substances in the fecal stream, which are incapable of being absorbed through the interior surface of the intestine. In other words, if nonabsorbable substances are in solution, then the water in the fecal stream cannot be effectively absorbed, resulting in stool that retains excess water, which is, by definition, diarrhea. A corollary of this is that if nutrients are in that same solution, then they may be "trapped" as well, and therefore, nonabsorbable. I'm not aware of any random, controlled studies to prove this concept, but I believe it logically follows, from the description of the mechanism that causes osmotic diarrhea. Secretory diarrhea carries it one step further, by infusing additional water and electrolytes into the fecal stream, (rather than absorbing them), which, of course, is the source of the high-volume, watery D, that's so common with MC.
Tx
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.