Activated Charcoal Capsules

[Spaniel]

A friend recommended activated charcoal for diarrhea. I'm not familiar with this product so I googled it and came up with lots of info and looks like it might work. Has anyone ever used this for diarrhea and if so di it work?

[tutsiwarrior]

yeah...many years ago (60s) in South America I used charcoal tablets for diarrhea and they were very effective, probably the most effective stuff available at the time, the alternative was to eat lots of bananas...certainly would be worth investigating to see if they are available in Thailand...

these days folks seem to prefer Imodium but that stuff plugs you up fer days and your bod is wantin' to eject whatever it was that caused the problem to begin with...

I like the idea of charcoal (carbon); organic in every sense of the word...

edit: however, if yer dealing with amoebic dysentery there may be a question...Sheryl?

Edited January 23, 2010 by tutsiwarrior

[FBN]

Charcoal absorbs any toxins released by offending bacteria and, if the diarrhoea is caused by this (which it mostly is), this is effective treatment or will at least provide some relief.

Can be used with drugs like Immodium etc as an adjuvant therapy.

Charcoal is not absorbed by the gut so will not cause any harm anyway.

[Soutpeel]

Been using charcoal for years on a recommendation from a Pharmacist buddy of mine and they work very well...

On the advice of the same person, recommended that I stay well away from Immodium, The are not very good for you

[chiangmaikelly]

Way back when I was a younger man and hung out in bars in dangerous areas I used to take charcoal pills in case I got slipped a mickey. It only happened once and I slept for 14 hours but felt fine when I awoke. I also use the charcoal pills when I feel I have eaten something bad along with Norfloxacin.

[FBN]

Using charcoal with antibiotics has raised some concerns that, because of the way charcoal absorbs foreign chemical substances, that it may reduce the effectivity of the antibiotic.

Immodium has 2 actions; it reduces the gut hypermobility during diarrhoea and also reduces the loss of electrolytes from the cells lining the gut, limiting electolyte loss through the diahrroea.

Use should be limited to very short course of treatment. It is just treating the symptom not the cause but does have some benefit in travellers diarrhoea but not in infective types like amoebiasis or giardia.