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Yep, all these years, I've been claiming that the colon's primary duty is simply to recover water from the fecal stream. Well, it turns out that there is another important function - the recovery of electrolytes. Apparently, a high percentage of electrolytes remain in solution all the way through the small intestine, and they aren't recovered until some point during their journey through the colon, (and if they're not needed, they're not recovered at all).
That's why diarrhea makes us so vulnerable to dehydration. If the colon is not absorbing water, then it is almost surely not absorbing electrolytes. In fact, in thinking about this, I'll go a step further, and suggest that when we are experiencing the worst type of D, secretory diarrhea, (during which water is infused into the intestines, rather than being taken out), electrolytes are probably also being infused into the intestines, along with the water, which can result in an escalation in the loss of electrolytes, possibly by as much as several orders of magnitude.
I apologize for misleading everyone all this time. I only recently discovered that fact, while researching ways to help my small intestine to take over some of the duties that my colon used to do. The good news is, it seems to be learning fast.
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