What is diarrhoea?

It’s perfectly normal to visit the toilet as often as four times a day, or as little as once a week. But when a dodgy curry hits the staff canteen you face the dreaded diarrhoea. “Diarrhoea is really when the motion is watery and explosive, as well as frequent,” says Dr Ellard.

When your leftover food reaches your colon, it’s mixed with large amounts of water. Under normal circumstances, the colon absorbs most of that water, leaving the semi-solid stool. But when you have diarrhoea, the colon doesn’t absorb properly, and you end up with loose, watery poo.It’s mostly caused by tummy bugs, parasites, viruses and bad bacteria.

“The most common one we all know is an acute passing viral gastroenteritis. That’ll give you frequency of going to the toilet, cramping, urgency, sometimes even accidents,” says gastroenterologist, Dr Thomas Borody. So what’s the best way to treat the runs?

Dr Katie Ellard’s seen a lot of tummy troubles in her time. Her advice? Let nature run its course. “It’s often best just to bide your time, make sure your hydration’s okay, and if people just rest their gut by just having fluids, they might need to have something like Gastrolite, which can put the salts and the fluid back into their body that they’re losing, they’ll spontaneously get better.

“With your fluids topped up, your immune system can get on with the job of dealing with whatever caused the diarrhoea in the first place. So, normally, it’s a case of putting up with diarrhoea until it’s had a chance to work its way out of your system. But if the problem persists or there are other warning signs, seek medical advice.