Pregnant women with diarrhea, stomach cramps. Pregnant women with stomach cramps, intermittent, stomach pain, diarrhea, cramps. Let’s see if pregnant women with diarrhea is dangerous. How should we deal with these symptoms? And do diarrhea symptoms in the first trimester of pregnancy and diarrhea symptoms in later pregnancy have different effects? And how should we fix it?
Pregnant woman has diarrhea. Is diarrhea in pregnant women dangerous?
Diarrhea is one of the symptoms that can occur during pregnancy. The causes of diarrhea are as follows:
-
Diarrhea caused by changes in hormone levels in the body
Changes in hormonal levels in the body due to pregnancy cause intestinal movement, which may cause nausea ( morning sickness ), constipation, diarrhea, etc. These symptoms are usually not severe and disappear on their own in 2-3 days.
Most infections are caused by eating food contaminated with germs, or what we often call “food poisoning.” The contaminants may be from low-quality ingredients or unclean and unhygienic cooking, which can lead to contamination by viruses or bacteria, which can cause diarrhea. Therefore, pregnant women should pay attention to the food they eat in each meal, which must not only contain all five food groups, but also be clean and safe.
-
Diet changes during pregnancy
When mothers are pregnant, they will start to pay attention to each meal and often change their eating habits to be more suitable for pregnancy. This causes the body to adjust and change, which can result in diarrhea.
-
The body becomes more sensitive to various foods.
Because the hormones in the body change, the body becomes resistant to certain foods and responds differently than before. Sometimes this is expressed through vomiting or diarrhea.
-
The body cannot digest certain foods.
In some mothers’ cases, there may be a problem where the body cannot digest certain foods, which leads to diarrhea. Although some nutrients may be nutrients that our bodies can normally digest before pregnancy, in some mothers, it may cause complications of digestive system diseases.
such as
1) Celiac Disease
It is a disease that involves the immune system responding to gluten, stimulating the immune system to destroy the intestinal wall, causing the intestines to be unable to absorb nutrients, causing problems in the digestive system. Gluten is a type of protein found in plants such as barley, wheat, and rye.
2) Irritable Bowel Syndrome
It is caused by abnormalities in the functioning of the terminal part of the intestine, which is the large intestine and small intestine, which contracts excessively, causing stomach pain, stomach tightness, stomach discomfort, and problems with the digestive system, constipation, or diarrhea.
3) Crohn’s Disease
A chronic inflammatory disease of the lining of the digestive tract, causing symptoms such as abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, or weight loss. It can also cause inflammation in any part of the digestive tract, most commonly the rectum or colon.
4) Ulcerative Colitis
Caused by inflammation of the lining of the colon wall, causing ulcers in the digestive tract wall and resulting in bleeding in the intestinal wall, causing the intestines to contract faster. People with intestinal inflammation will have abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody mucus in their stool. Most of these symptoms are caused by the shedding of the inflamed intestinal lining.
5) Gastroenteritis
Caused by inflammation of the stomach and intestines. This disease can occur in people of all ages and genders. The cause is that the body is infected with viruses such as Norovirus, Rotavirus, and bacteria through contact, eating contaminated food or containers. When germs enter the body, there will be a process of removing germs from the stomach and intestines. This process is what causes diarrhea, loose stools, and other symptoms.
-
Prenatal vitamins can cause diarrhea
Some vitamin supplements taken for pregnancy may cause side effects for some mothers, such as diarrhea. Therefore, before choosing to take vitamins every time, mothers should consult their doctor first. Or if the mother takes prenatal vitamins and has diarrhea, seeing a doctor for advice is the best choice. Because the doctor may recommend changing the vitamins taken to other types that have the same effect on pregnancy but do not cause diarrhea at all. Or may stop taking the vitamins if it is not necessary enough.
What are the symptoms of diarrhea during pregnancy?
Diarrhea during pregnancy is a symptom of passing watery stools 3 times or more within a 24-hour period or passing bloody mucus at least 1 time. If a pregnant mother has the symptoms mentioned above, what you have to be careful of is dehydration because pregnant mothers will lose a lot of water from their bodies, which can have negative effects on the pregnant mother’s body as well as the fetus. Diarrhea during pregnancy can be divided into 2 types according to the characteristics of the stool:
- Diarrhea that is bloody and mucus-filled, often accompanied by fever, headache, abdominal pain or pain in the rectum, frequent bowel movements, and a small amount of stool released each time.
- Diarrhea that is watery or yellow or light green in color. In severe cases, the water may be cloudy or white, similar to rice water.
Does pregnant women with diarrhea affect their unborn baby?
Diarrhea during pregnancy, if the symptoms are not severe, will not have any effect on the fetus because all germs are only in the intestines. The effect will only make the baby move more than usual because the uterus is surrounded by intestines. When there is diarrhea, the intestines will contract with a loud noise. The noise may disturb the sleep of the fetus, causing it to move more than usual. Unless the pregnant mother is dehydrated, has food poisoning, the body loses a lot of water, and the pregnant mother does not drink enough water. This is not good for the pregnant mother’s body, including the fetus.
However, if diarrhea continues for more than 3 days, complications during pregnancy may occur and affect the fetus as well. While diarrhea in pregnant mothers in the last trimester may be a warning sign that labor is near, it must be considered together with rupture of water or cervical dilatation, etc.
Pregnant women with diarrhea, what medicine can they take?
For pregnant mothers who experience diarrhea, it can cause great concern and annoyance to the mother. However, mothers should and should not do the following things:
- You should not buy and take medicine by yourself, especially Loperamide, medicines containing alcohol, and various antibiotics such as Fluoroquinolone, because these medicines can affect the fetus.
- You can take mineral supplements to reduce the severity of dehydration caused by diarrhea.
- Activated carbon for diarrhea, avoid it if possible. Activated carbon that we often eat during diarrhea, which if it is a normal period, eating activated carbon to reduce diarrhea, but for pregnant women, it is necessary to consult a doctor first. But if possible, avoid it if possible.
However, pregnant women should not take antidiarrheal drugs immediately because it allows the bacteria that cause diarrhea to remain in the body, and the side effects of the drugs may affect the health of the mother and the baby in the womb.
What can pregnant women with diarrhea eat?
During diarrhea, pregnant women should eat soft foods such as soup, rice soup, and cleanly cooked food. Avoid eating outside the home, especially food with strong flavors such as papaya salad, rice noodles, chili paste, etc. In addition, you should avoid foods that may make diarrhea worse, such as dairy products, coffee, tea, soft drinks, pickled foods, high-fiber foods, etc. You should also be careful about eating ice, drinking water, or unclean fruit juices.
And most importantly, you should get plenty of rest and drink plenty of mineral water to prevent fatigue and recover faster. However, if you experience severe abdominal pain, high fever, fatigue, dizziness, bloody stools, or your baby moves less, you should see a doctor at a hospital immediately for further examination and treatment.
How to treat diarrhea during pregnancy
- You should drink plenty of water to replace lost fluids.
- If you are not very tired and can still eat soft foods, you do not need to drink electrolyte drinks to maintain the balance of water and minerals in your body.
- If you feel weak and cannot eat, your body will lose water and electrolytes, so you should replace them by drinking electrolyte water or ORS.
- Avoid dairy products, caffeine, high-fat, hard-to-digest foods, and seafood.
- When a pregnant mother has diarrhea, it is not always necessary to take medicine to stop the diarrhea because the excretion is the way to remove germs and waste from the body. Using some medicines to stop the excretion immediately may cause germs to be trapped in the body and may have negative effects, including making the symptoms go away more slowly.
- If diarrhea is due to an infection, a safe antibiotic would be ampicillin or amoxicillin. Unsafe anti-inflammatory drugs should not be used.
- Get enough rest
What symptoms require you to see a doctor immediately?
If pregnant women have diarrhea with mucus or foamy stools, an unusual smell, similar to rotting food, severe nausea, vomiting, a fever higher than 38.5 degrees Celsius, extreme fatigue, or symptoms lasting more than 48 hours, pregnant women should not buy medicine to take on their own because if the symptoms are severe, they can be life-threatening and should see a doctor immediately.
I’m pregnant and I have diarrhea, stomach cramps, is this food poisoning?
Symptoms that indicate food poisoning can be observed after eating unclean food. The germs that enter the body will have an incubation period. However, the speed depends on the amount of food eaten and the immunity of each person. Mostly, food poisoning symptoms will occur from 2-6 hours after eating or drinking unclean food or water. Pregnant mothers can observe themselves to indicate that food poisoning symptoms are occurring from these symptoms, including:
- diarrhea
- Severe abdominal pain with twisting abdominal pain characteristics
- Pregnant women experience cramps in the abdomen that occur intermittently.
- There is also nausea and vomiting.
- There are symptoms of chills, body aches, fever.
- There are also symptoms of headache, body aches, and muscle weakness.
If a pregnant mother notices that she has symptoms of food poisoning, the first thing to do is to see a doctor as soon as possible to treat the symptoms and recover from food poisoning quickly. Food poisoning symptoms should not be left untreated because when there is severe defecation, it means that the body has lost a lot of water, which is not good for the pregnant mother’s body, including the fetus. It is also not recommended to buy medicine to take by yourself at all because it can be dangerous.
Pregnant women should eat a complete and nutritious diet to build a strong body for the baby. They should eat cooked food to avoid germs in food. They should not eat food that has been left out for a long time or food that has been left overnight. They should wash their hands frequently, use serving spoons, and should not go out of the house unless necessary. This alone can prevent diarrhea.
Republished with permission from theAsianParent Thailand
