Diarrhea Following Bariatric Surgery - What Can You  Do About It?

Bariatric surgery has an impact. Aside from decreasing weight, you will experience significant mental and emotional changes. Your body also needs to adapt. One of the effects is that the surgery limits your vitamin and mineral intake, which may have an impact on your bowel motions. As a result, diarrhea is prevalent following weight-loss surgery. Find out what causes diarrhea and how to treat it.

What Is Diarrhea?

Diarrhea causes thin stools. Your large intestine pulls moisture from your stool to keep you hydrated. If your feces remains too brief in your intestines, your colon will not have enough time to absorb the moisture. Therefore, your stool is moist and thin when it exits your body. Simply put, you have diarrhea.

How Do You Recognize Diarrhea?

• Your stool is really thin;

• You need to go to the toilet numerous times every day;

• You have a sudden urge to go to the toilet;

• You have trouble holding your stool;

• You feel abdominal aches or cramps.

What Causes Diarrhea Following Bariatric Surgery?

Your digestive system has changed due to the reduction in stomach size. This makes it harder to absorb and digest food. A gastric bypass surgery eliminates the pylorus. The pylorus is the sphincter that connects the stomach and small intestine. While your stomach kneads the food liquid, the sphincter stays closed. When food is finely ground, the pylorus occasionally opens, allowing little food fragments to enter your small intestine. Without the pylorus, food enters the small intestine too quickly and all at once. This is often called "early dumping." The small intestine takes over from the stomach, adding liquids to the food to liquefy it. As a result, your intestines will get full and bloated. This may cause diarrhea.

You could potentially be infected with a virus or bacteria as a result of eating contaminated or spoiled food. Your intestines work hard to expel the invader from your body via feces. If this occurs, you have acute diarrhea. This typically does not persist long. 

What Can You Do If You Get Diarrhea After Bariatric Surgery?

1. Eat adequate fiber

Fiber absorbs moisture similarly to a sponge. If you have diarrhea, fiber helps absorb excess fluid, making your stool less thin. This is why getting adequate fiber is critical even while you're experiencing diarrhea. Fiber can be found in vegetables, fruits, whole grain products, legumes, potatoes, nuts, and seeds.

Have trouble eating enough fiber after surgery? Take fiber pills to enhance your diet. This will enhance your daily fiber intake and improve your gut health. This will enhance your daily fiber intake and improve your gut health.

Do you consume more fiber than you are used to? Or do you eat more than 20 g of fiber every day? The recommendation is to gradually increase your fiber intake and spread it out throughout the day.

2. Stop consuming fruit juices

Fruit is loaded with nutrients and is quite healthy. This is why it is recommended to eat at least two servings of fruit every day. However, fruit does contain sugars. If you consume too much sugar, your intestines accumulate an excessive amount of fruit sugar. The fruit sugar will then draw moisture. This makes your stool thinner and may result in diarrhea.

You will take liquids and finely pureed goods immediately following surgery before resuming to solid foods. We understand why you pick fruit juice over fruit. However, fruit juices contain a lot of fruit sugar. If you have diarrhea, avoid them to the greatest extent feasible.

3. Limit sweeteners

Certain sweeteners are not easily absorbed by your intestines. They enter the intestines and draw moisture. This may cause diarrhea. As a result, if you have diarrhea, you should limit your intake of sweetener-containing foods and beverages.