this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 213 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Hopefully not. Diarrhea is used to flush bacteria and poisons out of the body. I guess if the body would regain the water it could also regain the bacteria.

Just drink a lot of water and let your body do the work it needs to do.

In case you question my credentials, I'm the developer of Diarrhea 4.

[–] hakunawazo 2 points 6 days ago

Thanks for that.
Most fitting game music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdd4rBlsj2o

[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 week ago

Play the fartastically funny new game Diarrhea 4 (not to be confused with Disgaea 4).

This fucking killed me thank you for it.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Diarrhea isn’t necessarily “used” by the body in all cases. With things like rotavirus and Vibrio (cholera) it’s caused by the infectious agent and aids in its spread. It can be so severe it kills the person via dehydration.

[–] AbouBenAdhem 17 points 1 week ago

I thought diarrhea was (at least sometimes) caused by too many of your gut bacteria getting killed by fever so they can’t digest solids enough to extract the water.

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[–] [email protected] 124 points 1 week ago (9 children)

It's not to be reabsorbed, just absorbed.

Your body uses water to absorb nutrients. Diarrhea is when your colons run in overdrive and pump out their contents before the water is properly absorbed.

If your body thinks whatever is in your bowels is not safe and dumping it out the other end, you should find a toilet.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

... in an expedited manner.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

Find one or become one are the only options.

[–] skeezix 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Some people think it’s funny but it’s really wet and runny.

[–] voracitude 18 points 1 week ago
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[–] [email protected] 92 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Have you had lot of success in your life trying to hold diarrhea?

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 45 points 1 week ago

For the most part yeah. Just don't trust a fart.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have a pretty decent collection of plugs; one of them oughta be enough to hold back the deluge. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] Hobbes_Dent 55 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Just remember that it’s a two-ended pipe, even if a long one.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I was Celiac for most of my life without knowing it so yes I got quite good at it

Side note but fuck my doctor for just telling me it was anxiety for years and that it took seeing a random NP to actually get me tested

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I once white knuckled a bus ride with no option to stop for 3 hours. Probably 10+ times I was sure the wave of pain was gonna be that wave

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have IBS and yeah, if I can successfully hold it in the urge goes away for a couple hours and a more normal BM is the result.

The challenge is knowing when its worth trying to hold it in. It's like a 10% of the time kind of thing.

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[–] BananaTrifleViolin 36 points 1 week ago

Your colon is very good at extracting water; if you can hold it in then yes in theory it could remove some of the water. However in reality when you have diarrhoea your colon is inflamed and irritated during and you can't really stop it happening. You'd have to overcome the cramping and the body trying to push the contents outwards.

The most likely outcome of trying to hold it in is it gets worse and you get an explosive and even less controlled expulsion.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago (7 children)
[–] Noedel 16 points 1 week ago

Holy fuck that was TWO YEARS AGO!?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

This is stupid because you'd essentially be holding onto the toxins that your body is trying to expell. Please just shit and drink water.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

A major function of the colon is water absorption. The membrane is so small that viruses would be too large to get through.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If you have diarrhoea, it may have been caused by bad food, something you may not want to be absorbing, which may be why the body is trying to purge it ASAP.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 1 points 6 days ago

You wouldn't be absorbing "bad food". The body has diarrhea because it is unable to absorb water in the colon. It's unable to absorb water in the case of food poisoning because the bacteria that grew in the food is creating a protein that blocks the water absorption receptors in the colon lining.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] BlindFrog 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 1 points 5 days ago

That was a fascinating read. Thanks for sharing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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!

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 1 points 6 days ago

The reason one feels sick is because the bacteria found in the food were able to make a colony despite the innate defenses of the immune system such as the gut biome. As the bacterial colony is established, it creates an environment that is beneficial to the bacteria, but not beneficial to the surrounding tissue. This leads to cell death of the tissue. Upon cell, there are chemical markers released and enter the surrounding tissue and then the blood stream. Both of these signal to nearby and far off cells and tissues that there is somerhing happening and the cellular immune system, white blood cells, responds. These white cells have a host of defenses including raising the body's temperature resulting in a fever.

From here many things can happen, but in the case of most healthy people in the developed world, the type of bacteria faced in food poisoning will be dealt with with little need for any medication that directly assists the immune response. Staying hydrated helps and mitigating digestive discomfort are the best things.

[–] SloppyPuppy 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Eventually the pressure will overcome your sphincter strength. And its fluid - it only needs a tiny tiny hole to Come out. And its going to happen much faster than you think.

[–] thermal_shock 8 points 6 days ago

yeah, don't hold diarrhea, you will not win.

[–] hakunawazo 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

We have the technology…

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Sure, part of the job of your intestines is to deal with the water in your food. Espectally the large intestine, if I remember correctly. However... I wonder what your plan is to hold it in. The whole point of diarrhea is to flush everything more quickly through your intestines, and then out. That's why it's still wet at the end. You'll get kind of a traffic jam at the rear end. With more incoming. And I don't think the intestines are designed to withstand pressure. And the sphincter isn't really meant to hold back fluids...

So no. You need to drink a lot to deal with the dehydration. In bad cases the doctor can connect you to a drip. Those will be things that have an effect.

And all of that happens with a reason. I suppose you can force the intestines to stop with the diarrhea by using some medication. But then the pathogens/viruses/whatever your body is trying to get rid of, will grow inside of you, and you're bound to experience other issues.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago

Yes, but that would be a bad thing

Your body is flushing all that water into your intestines because it detected something bad and decided to get rid of it fast. The longer the bad thing stays, the worse, so it just firehose blast it out.

If you keep it in, first you'll have to deal with the increased pressure, not good for your intestines. Then your body will have to deal with whatever it is that is bad for you.

Better just go to a bathroom and a doctor if you're still having it after 2 days

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 16 points 1 week ago

Holding it in is antithetical to the concept of diarrhea

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago

Yeah, if you hold it in you will absorb more of the water. Generally, though, your body dumping stuff out of it is a defense mechanism for expelling stuff that's probably better off left alone. Though I guess you could do and hold some enemas for the same effect without potentially retaining things your body wants to expell.

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