Piss, Shit & Heartburn Flashcards
What is the difference (in time) between acute and chronic diarrhoea?
4 weeks
Red flags for diarrhoea
Blood in the stool.
Recent hospital treatment or antibiotic treatment.
Weight loss.
Evidence of dehydration.
Nocturnal symptoms — organic cause more likely.
What do you need to know about the character of the diarrhoea?
Frequency
watery, fatty, containing blood or mucus
What factors are suggestive of an infective cause of diarrhoea?
Fever.
Vomiting.
Recent contact with a person with diarrhoea.
Exposure to possible sources of enteric infection (for example, having eaten meals out, or recent farm or petting zoo visits).
Travel abroad
Ask about potential exposures such as raw milk or untreated water.
Food handlers, nursing home residents, and recently hospitalized people
4 mechanisms of diarrhoea
Osmotic - intolerance/malabsorption
Secretion - infection
Inflammation - IBD/Shigella
Motility - diabetes/hyperthyroidism
Most common cause of infectious diarrhoea?
Virus - Noro
Prognosis for diarrhoea in relation to pathogen?
Viral - 2-3 days
Bacterial - 3-7 days
Parasite - potentially for ever
Other than infection, possible causes of diarrhoea
Anxiety Radiotherapy of pelvis New Medication Alcohol IBD
Aside from red flags what do you need to assess in someone with acute diarrhoea?
Dehydration
Examinations for diarrhoea
Abdominal
DRE
Investigations diarrhoes
Consider stool sample
Blood tests if you suspect start of chronic cause
When to admit for acute diarrhoea?
Cannot keep down fluids because of vomiting
Features of dehydration or shock
Older age (people 60 years of age or older are more at risk of complications).
Home circumstances and level of support.
Fever.
Bloody diarrhoea.
Abdominal pain and tenderness.
Increased risk of poor outcome, for example
When to refer for suspected cancer (2 week for dairrhoea)?
They are aged 40 and over with unexplained weight loss and abdominal pain, or
They are aged 50 and over with unexplained rectal bleeding, or
They are aged 60 and over with iron deficiency anaemia or changes in their bowel habit
10 red flags of chronic diarrhoea
Unexplained weight loss.
Unexplained rectal bleeding.
Persistent blood in the stool.
Abdominal mass.
Rectal mass.
Severe abdominal pain.
Iron deficiency anaemia.
Raised inflammatory markers (may indicate inflammatory bowel disease).
Nocturnal or continuous diarrhoea or both (suggestive of an organic rather than functional disorder).
Fever, tachycardia, hypotension, dehydration.
What is chronic fatty diarrhoea suggestive of?
pancreatic insufficiency
malabsorption (coeliac disease)
With diarrhoea what is recent antibiotic or PPI use associated with?
C. diff
Possible underlying causes of chronic diarrhoea and what to enquire about?
Travel - parasite, Giardia Drugs - laxatives Surgery Coeliac Diabetes Fam history IBD Constipation Immunocompromised Hyperthyroidism
In chronic diarrhoea what could abdominal pain indicate?
coeliac disease,
Crohn’s disease,
or malignancy
What would chronic diarrhoea with Weight loss, anxiety, palpitations, tremor suggest
Hyperthyroidism
In chronic diarrhoea what could pyoderma gangrenosum or erythema nodosum suggest?
IBD
Investigations for chronic diarrhoea
Full blood count — to detect anaemia. Urea and electrolytes. Liver function tests, including albumin level. Calcium. Vitamin B12 and red blood cell folate. Iron status (ferritin). Thyroid function tests. ESR and CRP (C-reactive protein). Testing for coeliac disease — immunoglobulin A (IgA), and IgA tissue transglutaminase (tTG)
In chronic diarrhoea what would you test for if they’d been abroad or it seemed infective?
Routine microbiology investigation and examination for ova, cysts and parasites
When would you perform faecal calprotectin testing?
to help differentiate between irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease in people under the age of 40 years
When would you not do faecal calprotectin testing?
With new onset rectal bleeding or bloody diarrhoea.
In whom there is a need to rule out cancer.
Other than suspected cancer when would you refer a person with chronic diarrhoea?
Suspected coeliac disease
suspected IBD
Malabsorption
A person less than 40 years of age does not have typical symptoms of functional bowel disorder and/or has severe symptoms and documented diarrhoea
Safety netting for acute diarrhoea
you or your child (over 5 years) still have signs of dehydration after using oral rehydration sachets
you or your child keep being sick and cannot keep fluid down
you or your child have bloody diarrhoea or bleeding from the bottom
you or your child have diarrhoea for more than 7 days or vomiting for more than 2 days
Other than malignancy what would you consider if someone had the following symptoms for at least 6 months?
Abdominal pain, or
Bloating, or
Change in bowel habit
In addition to abdominal pain, what is a key feature for making a diagnosis of IBS
Related to defecation, and/or
Associated with altered stool frequency (increased or decreased), and/or
Associated with altered stool form or appearance (hard, lumpy, loose, or watery)
In order to make a diagnosis of IBS what other symptoms need to be present with Associated with altered stool form or appearance (hard, lumpy, loose, or watery)?
Altered stool passage (straining, urgency, or incomplete evacuation).
Abdominal bloating (more common in women than men), distension, or hardness.
Symptoms worsened by eating.
Passage of rectal mucus, and
Alternative conditions with similar symptoms have been excluded.
In addition to bowel symptoms, what else might someone with IBS present with?
Lethargy, nausea, back pain, headache. Bladder symptoms (such as nocturia, urgency, and incomplete emptying), dyspareunia, or faecal incontinence.
IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion so what tests would you routinely preform?
FBC
ESR/CRP
Faecal calprotectin
Coeliac serology
Most common symptoms associated with bowel cancer?
diarrhoea, constipation, rectal bleeding, loss of weight, and abdominal pain
If someone had rectal bleeding what additional symptoms would make you consider bowel cancer?
Abdominal pain.
Change in bowel habit.
Weight loss.
Iron-deficiency anaemia.
In a pt with unexplained chronic diarrhoea you find the following upon examination: Pallor, clubbing, aphthous mouth ulcers.
Abdominal tenderness or mass, for example in the right lower quadrant.
Perianal pain or tenderness, anal or perianal skin tag, fissure, fistula, or abscess
What do you suspect?
Crohns
What investigations would you preform in suspected Crohns?
FBC - anaemia CRP/ESR - active inflammation U&E - dehydration Ferratin, B12 & folate - malnutrition Coeliac serology - to rule out Stool microscopy - rule out C.diff Faecal calprotectin - negative in IBS
In a pt with chronic bloody diarrhoea where malignancy is not suspected you gain the following upon examination
Pallor, clubbing, or aphthous mouth ulcers.
Abdominal distension, tenderness or mass, for example in the left lower quadrant.
Signs of malnutrition or malabsorption
What do you suspect?
IBD - Ulcerative Colitis
In addition to malignancy what would you suspect with the following symptoms?
Faecal urgency and/or incontinence.
Nocturnal defecation.
Tenesmus (persistent, painful urge to pass stool even when the rectum is empty).
Abdominal pain, particularly in the left lower quadrant.
Pre-defecation pain, which is relieved on passage of stool.
Non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, anorexia, or fever (may suggest severe disease).
Weight loss