Digestive tract difficulties are exceptionally common. While many people suffer with constipation, others are challenged by disastrous diarrhea. While this deserves medical attention, a simple home remedy can sometimes help control the symptom.
Diarrhea Is Ruining This Reader’s Life:
Q. I am in terrible trouble. My friends sometimes complain about constipation but I have the opposite problem. Diarrhea is ruining my life.
Imodium AD has become by best friend, but it only works part of the time. I cannot get too far from a bathroom or I risk having an embarrassing accident. You have no idea what it is like to live in constant fear that you will soil your clothes.
My doctor has not been very helpful. The tests have been negative, though he has suggested I might be at the beginning stages of something called Crohn’s disease. That sounds scary. Is there anything I can do to control this problem?
A Diagnosis Can Determine the Cause of Diarrhea:
A. You clearly need a diagnosis from a physician who can get to the bottom (no pun intended) of your disastrous diarrhea. If you have Clostridium difficile (C. diff) you may need powerful antibiotics and probiotics to get control of the infection. Your doctor should take a stool sample for this test. You can find much more about this on our website.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease:
If you are beginning to develop inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn’s, you may be interested in a couple of novel approaches. Believe it or not, cookies may be your salvation.
Coconut Macaroon Cookies:
The coconut macaroon cookie craze started for The People’s Pharmacy when we received a letter from D.A. in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He reported that he had suffered from a severe intestinal problem called Crohn’s disease for 40 years. This produced chronic diarrhea which was difficult to control, even with the prescription drug Lomotil (loperamide).
Then he bought a box of Archway Coconut Macaroon cookies. D.A. started eating two cookies a day and during that time did not experience diarrhea. If he ate three in a day he became constipated. He closed with the comment,
“Believe me, I have a new life now, and I would be delighted if others were helped by my discovery.”
We were rather skeptical that D.A.’s unorthodox approach would help anyone else. Crohn’s disease is a very serious condition, but like many other chronic ailments its symptoms can come and go. Perhaps, we thought, the cookies were a coincidence.
Corroboration on Cookies for Crohn’s:
Then another man wrote about his experience: “When one has disastrous diarrhea due to Crohn’s disease he will try anything for relief.
“I read in a recent column about the person who controlled his diarrhea by eating two Archway coconut macaroon cookies a day and decided to give it a try. Relief for me has not been perfect, and it is somewhat inconsistent, but I’ve had the problem 25 years. There is substantial improvement, better than from any medicine I have taken.
“If the drug research people got wind of this, they could buy out Archway and develop a pill with the ingredients. Then they’d sell it for $5 a pop instead of cookies that sell for $2 or $3 a dozen. And the cookies are delicious!”
Not everyone has found the cookies helpful. One couple wrote to say:
“Four boxes later we find they made no difference. Are you sure this was not someone’s idea to sell Archway Coconut Macaroons? If it was, it worked–we bought four boxes.”
We assure you that the People’s Pharmacy has no interest in selling cookies. And Archway Cookies disavows any interest in relieving diarrhea. D.A. received the following response to his letter to the company:
“We are happy that Archway Coconut Macaroon Cookies have allegedly helped you…Archway Cookies, Inc. would like our consumers to know that there is no medical basis for such a claim; therefore, we do not support this claim.”
Should You Make Your Own Cookies?
Apparently, the power of coconut macaroons is not limited to Archway brand cookies. We heard from one 85-year-old woman:
“Couldn’t find them at the supermarket, so I made my own. Presto! I am completely normal. It is still a miracle to me.
“I wonder if it isn’t something in the coconut that is the key. After all, cookie ingredients are about the same, commercial or home-made. I ate two a day for a week and now am fine on just a couple a week. It is hard to believe there is some relief for this awful condition.”
What Is It About Coconut?
Several people have speculated that the fiber in coconut macaroons might be helpful, but their hypotheses might be premature. The anecdotes we have collected here are fascinating and suggest to us that some research ought to be done. Testimonials are not science, and the science on coconut oil is sparse.
There are a couple of studies that may be of interest, however. One demonstrates that compounds in coconut oil can disrupt the walls of the bacterium Clostridium difficile mentioned above (Journal of Medicinal Food, Dec., 2013). Another found that the medium-chain saturated fatty acids in coconut can gradually kill the intestinal parasite Giardia, another possible cause of disastrous diarrhea (Parasitology Research, Oct., 2005). There isn’t any clinical research that we know of, but in the meantime, we don’t see any harm in trying two coconut macaroon cookies a day for diarrhea.
Are Pig Parasites the Answer?
If cookies don’t work, what about purified pig parasites? New research suggests that people with Crohn’s disease may benefit from these relatively benign pig whipworm. Worm therapy appears to calm the immune system so that it no longer attacks the large intestine and leads to dramatic symptom improvement. To read more about purified pig parasites for Crohn’s or rheumatoid arthritis visit this link.
There is also fecal transplant to restore a more normal gut flora. To read more about this approach check out this link.
You should not have to suffer the kind of anxiety and embarrassment that has affected your well being. Please seek a gastroenterologist who can diagnose the cause of your diarrhea and see if you cannot find a treatment that will control your symptoms if not cure the underlying problem. If you were exposed to antibiotics such as clindamycin, check out this link to read about options to overcome a possible C diff infection.
We have some other options for dealing with diarrhea in our Guide To Digestive Disorders.
We hope that with excellent professional help you will overcome this terribly disruptive situation.
Revised 5/19/16
