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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffMost cases of diarrhea clear on their own within a couple of days without treatment.
Medications
If a parasitic infection is causing your diarrhea, prescription antibiotics may ease your symptoms. Antibiotics sometimes, but not always, help ease signs and symptoms of bacterial diarrhea. However, antibiotics won't help viral diarrhea.
Therapies
Replacing fluids. If you seek medical attention, your doctor likely will advise you to take steps to replace the fluids and salts lost during diarrhea.
Your body needs adequate levels of salts and electrolytes — minerals such as sodium and potassium — in order to maintain the electric currents that keep your heart beating. Disruption of your body's fluid and mineral levels creates an electrolyte imbalance. Unless restored by replacing fluids and drinking an electrolyte mixture, this imbalance can be serious.
- Adjusting medications you're taking. If your doctor determines that an antibiotic medication caused your diarrhea, you'll need to stop taking that medication and modify your treatment plan.
- Treating underlying conditions. If you have chronic diarrhea, treating the underlying disease may help ease your diarrhea.
