Q My diarrhea hasn't stopped for over a month. Why on earth is this happening?
A Chronic diarrhea lasting 4 weeks or more has diverse causes—from functional issues like irritable bowel syndrome to inflammatory bowel disease, malabsorption, and post-infection aftereffects. Stool becomes loose when the intestines can't absorb water properly or send it down too quickly.
Detailed Answer
A normal large intestine absorbs enough water from food to firm the stool appropriately. But if the intestines become oversensitive and send contents down too fast, if the mucosa is inflamed, or if nutrient absorption is poor, water passes straight through and loose stools recur. The causes of chronic diarrhea are very diverse—not only functional disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, but also inflammatory bowel disease, malabsorption, and the aftereffects of viral infection.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
At our clinic, we focus on "why the intestines can't hold water and why their transport-transformation function has declined." We commonly view liver-qi stagnation invading the digestive system due to stress (liver-depression with spleen-deficiency, ganul-bihu) or weakness of the spleen-stomach itself as the root, and focus on restoring the declined transport and absorption functions of the intestines.
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