If you have diarrhea and you hold it in will your body reabsorb some of the water? - eviltoast

Diarrhea is usually caused by the body dumping water into your intestines so I was wondering if holding it in would help with dehydration?

I currently have food poisoning so that’s why I thought of this.

  • FeelzGoodMan420
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    4 days ago

    Okay…but you certainly want to be getting rid of toxins, not holding them in your body. That makes no sense.

    • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      The body does not have diarrhea as a protective mechanism to purge the bacteria that caused the food poisoning. The bacteria is secreting a protein that inhibits water absorption which causes diarrhea.

      Preventing or reducing diarrhea would be a beneficial outcome for a bacteria infection such as ETEC whose cause of death is dehydration.

      This is by no means an endorsement of OP’s hold it in strategy.

      • FeelzGoodMan420
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        4 days ago

        Ok well let’s just pretend you have food poisoning and you hold in the bacteria but still somehow shit the rest of the food/water out, but you keep hydrated. Like what happens to all the bacteria you’re now holding in your body? I’m genuinely curious. I’m not arguing against you at all!

      • BlindFrog@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I really liked this explanation going beyond the webmd “BaCTeRiA & ViRuSes caused ur diarrhea”, and I really like sources and further reading material, so

        “Gut Microbiota and Diarrhea: An Updated Review”
        https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.625210/full

        Right after the Introduction section is “Gut Microbiota-Mediated Diarrhea and Its Mechanism”. The authors go into how some example bacteria/fungi/viruses stimulate diarrhea.

        My take away has been 1) drink water, 2) if it doesn’t feel like a one-time wee out the wrong hole, probably go see a doctor