Have you ever passed watery stool (aka faeces, aka shit) before? Then you’ve probably taken tetracycline before (or have been advised to take it).

Tola is a ten years old boy. He woke up this morning with ‘stomach pain’. About half an hour after he woken up, he still had the pain, then rushed to the toilet. There, he passed copious quantity of watery stool after which the pain subsided. He had been at his friend, Sola’s birthday party yesterday where he ate jollof rice. By afternoon, he had defecated five times, each time passing watery stool. He is weak but his body is not hot nor is he vomiting. His mother notices his reduced activity and gives him tetracycline after getting details.

Okay. Let’s stop here. Now, let’s start from where most stories start from – the beginning.

Diarrhoea is a condition in which a person has frequent and watery bowel movement. The faeces is not well formed. There is a myriad of causes of diarrhoea ranging from infections (bacteria, viral, protozoan) to taking something very sweet:-)

Tetracycline is an antibacterial medicine. It stops infections caused by some bacteria, not all. It prevents formation of proteins essential to bacteria so that they die and the body kills off the remaining bacteria.

Tetracycline has no direct effect on the consistency or frequency of stool. Not all cases of diarrhoea are caused by bacteria. In fact, most bacteria that cause diarrhoea cannot be killed by tetracycline. However, tetracycline is very useful in treatment of cholera where it reduces the transmission of cholera to others but does not affect the bowel movement.

The abuse of this drug might be ignored (naa) if not for the fact that it poses a danger when used by certain portions of our population. This include pregnant and breastfeeding women as well as children less than twelve years old. This is because it distorts teeth formation in children.

Funny enough, one of the side effects of tetracycline is diarrhoea. Others are nausea, vomiting, difficulties with swallowing, skin reaction, liver disorders and blood disorders to mention a few.
The question now is what should be done or used by a person who has diarrhoea. Well, the most important thing is to remain well hydrated. Yes, take lots of fluid. Preferably, get Oral Rehydration Salt, make it into a solution as instructed and take it, liberally. Then go see a doctor:-)

Do you have any question? Please contact me.

Source: http://iambola./2014/10/26/myth-buster-tetracycline-does-not-stop-diarrhoea/

[size=18pt]you dey do copy and paste. The drug is a good relief for running stomach[/size]

Hmmm...I believe I'm permitted to do copy and paste since I wrote the article. Good relief for running stomach? I can tell you it's not. I'm a doctor. Tetracycline is one of the drugs abused by my fellow Nigerians. It's particularly saddens me when I see people with complications from it's use: bad teeth is one obvious one from it's use in a child.

I use it. Well disolved in water.it helps

what about flagyl

or thalazole?