How to replenish electrolytes after diarrhea

When you have gastroenteritis, your body eliminates large quantities of water and mineral salts that are essential to your body’s proper functioning.

It is therefore important to drink plenty of fluids and to replenish mineral salts to prevent dehydration and promote recovery. To do this, you must drink more fluids, such as water. You or your child can also use a rehydration solution. It is best to use commercial rehydration solutions. Homemade rehydration solutions are an alternative.

If your child is breast or bottle fed, they can continue to drink their usual milk (breast milk, baby formula or milk that contains 3.25% fat).

Are you tired of every medical news story being about the flu? Let’s talk about something different: stomach bugs. Last weekend as I was cleaning my son’s barf out of the floor mats in the car, I thought, “There is a community outbreak going around and this is a timely topic.”

The symptoms that you can get with a stomach bug are variable, but they typically include some combination of feeling pretty bad, potentially having some fever (sometimes kind of high), nausea with varying amounts of vomiting, and diarrhea. Now, if you’ve got horrendous vomiting and you can’t keep anything down, then what I’m about to talk about won’t be of much use to you, because I want to talk a little bit about rehydration.

Best Rehydration Drinks for Stomach Flu

If you think you are dehydrated, your typical response is to think that you need more water. Well, from a rehydration standpoint, if you’ve got a lot of diarrhea, water is okay, but you’re not just losing water. You’re also losing electrolytes: sodium and potassium and chloride and bicarbonate. Water is going to replace the water but it’s not going to replace the electrolytes. While water is good, it isn’t perfect.

Well, what about sports drinks? Those are formulated to have electrolytes, right? Sports drinks do have some electrolytes, but they don’t exactly match up what you’re losing. A sports drink will put back some of the water and some of the electrolytes but not enough of the electrolytes and too much sugar. Sports drinks are okay but not great.

Does Ginger Ale Rehydrate?

What about ginger ale, often touted for settling your stomach? Indeed, the ginger can sometimes ease the nausea just a bit, but this is basically sugar water, tons of sugar, way more than what’s appropriate for rehydration and really no electrolytes to speak of. So this may be okay for settling your stomach, but it’s not very good for rehydration.

If you go to the pharmacy section, you can get rehydration drinks that are very well developed to match up with WHO recommendations for different constituents. What’s the problem? It’s like drinking fruit-flavored sweat! This stuff tastes terrible and is expensive. It works pretty well but it’s not the most enjoyable thing and it’s not the best thing to pay for.

DIY ideal rehydration drink formula

So what’s another strategy you can use? Well, here is what I often suggest to folks: Using a 16-ounce cup, fill about a third of it with orange juice and the rest of it with water. Then add a little less than a quarter of a teaspoon of salt or baking soda. It’s not quite enough sodium to match the WHO criteria, but it doesn’t taste like you’re drinking a sweaty orange and it’s a whole lot cheaper.

I hope this is useful information. For more videos, check us out at sentinelprimarycare.com. I’m Dr. Patrick O’Connell.

When you are suffering from diarrhea or recovering from it, it’s important to rehydrate yourself to replenish the fluids you’ve lost. While most cases of diarrhea clear up after a few days without treatment, they can lead to severe dehydration. Babies and children especially should not be allowed to become dehydrated. 

Drink plenty of fluids and take small but frequent sips until diarrhea subsides. Follow a clear liquid diet and drink an oral rehydration solution (ORS) that contains glucose and sodium.

• Clear liquids include water, ginger ale, Gatorade, etc., which you can drink for about 12-24 hours after a sudden bout of diarrhea.
• WIth fluid loss comes electrolyte loss. You can make a homemade electrolyte drink by mixing the following ingredients:
  • ¼ teaspoons salt
  • 8 teaspoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate 
  • 4 cups water
• For young children, doctors may recommend a rehydration solution, which helps replenish the body with sodium and potassium. These solutions often come in liquid and popsicle-like forms to make them more appealing to children and ensure that the liquid is consumed slowly.

How much should you drink per day?

While most people normally need to drink a minimum of 8 cups of liquid a day, you may need to increase that amount during or after diarrhea. Consume as much fluid as possible, but avoid dehydrating beverages with tons of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, or prunes, all of which can have a laxative effect and make diarrhea worse.

Instead of chugging your drink down at once, take frequent sips or suck on ice chips. Build up to 1 ounce an hour, then 2 ounces an hour, and so on until you can drink normally. 

If the volume and frequency of watery stools are significant and don’t stop after a few days, you should take the necessary steps to avoid serious dehydration. Contact your doctor as soon as possible.

What are natural drinks that may help with diarrhea?

You can also try natural drinks that can help cleanse and regulate your bowels. Examples include:

• Quinton hypertonic water replenishes the body with minerals and trace elements, which are lost in large quantities during diarrhea. Quinton water is available in organic stores in the form of ampoules. Take 1-3 ampoules a day. However, you should avoid drinking this if you have high blood pressure and are following a no-salt diet. 
• Probiotics are particularly beneficial for diarrhea, especially if it’s caused by bacteria. Probiotics help regulate the digestive bacterial environment by replenishing the intestine with good bacteria. Choose only high-quality probiotics sold in pharmacies or organic stores.
• Carrot juice is a great regulator of the digestive system. It increases your resistance to infections, improves liver function, and cleanses the body. Drink a glass or two of carrot juice a day or more depending on your tolerance. Be careful not to consume too much because it could worsen your diarrhea. Ideally, carrot juice should be made at home using a juice extractor, but you can also buy carrot juice from an organic store.
• Thyme is known for its anti-infective, antiseptic, and antifungal properties. It helps fight bad bacteria and can relax the muscles in your digestive system. Steep 2 teaspoons of thyme in hot water for 5-10 minutes and drink 3 cups a day. Remember to drink plenty of water in addition to this herbal tea.

Which medications work best for diarrhea?

Studies have shown that the following common medications may help relieve diarrhea:

• Imodium (loperamide): Loperamide slows down the speed at which things move through the intestines (bowels). This allows more fluid to be absorbed into the body, which can help to lessen diarrhea and firm up stools. 
• Kaopectate, Pepto-Bismol (bismuth subsalicylate): Bismuth subsalicylate balances the way fluid moves through the intestines and reduces inflammation. It keeps bacteria and viruses that cause diarrhea from growing in the stomach and intestines.
• Antibiotics: These are commonly prescribed for bacterial infections and will not help if your diarrhea is caused by a virus. If your symptoms do not improve within a week of taking antibiotics, talk to your doctor.

Don’t use more than one over-the-counter antidiarrheal medication at a time unless your doctor says it’s okay since they may have similar active ingredients and could be too much to take together.

Medically Reviewed on 6/3/2021

References

Gastrointestinal Society. Diarrhea and Diet. https://badgut.org/information-centre/health-nutrition/diarrhea-and-diet/

Diet for Diarrhea. https://communitycancercenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Diet-for-Diarrhea.pdf