Antidiarrhoeals

Drugs Acting on Digestive System

Antidiarrhoeals

INTRODUCTION

Diarrhoea means loose bowel movements resulting into the frequent passage of watery, uniformed stools with or without mucous and blood. This condition may arise due to the change in the nature of the diet and routine or sometimes due to bacterial infection. The former type of diarrhoea is the mild form while the infective diarrhoea is more powerful and persistent. Organism escapes from gastric acid and other digestive processes reaches the bowel. Their metabolic products irritate the nerve ending of intestinal wall leading to severe diarrhoea. In this condition, to compensate the loss of body fluids, a mixture of salt (sodium chloride or sodium bicarbonate) and water is to be given frequently. The simple type of diarrhoea may be controlled just by using intestinal adsorbents while infected diarrhoea needs the use of intestinal antiseptics.

Adsorbents

These substances have the power of adsorbing gases, bacteria, and toxins without undergoing any chemical reaction. They also posses the protective property apart from their adsorbent action. They form a coating over the intestinal mucosa to reduce its irritation, example of this category are kaolin, calcium carbonate, magnesium trisilicate, and aluminium hydroxide, pectin, bismuth subsalicylate and polycarbophill and various psyllium seed derivatives.