When To Call The Doctor - Diarrhea: Digestive Disorders

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

When to call the doctor

If your diarrhea lasts three days or more, it's time to call the doctor. However, call immediately if there is blood in the stool or if the stool looks like black tar. The same goes for diarrhea accompanied by a fever over 101º F, severe abdominal or rectal pain, and severe dehydration (dry mouth, wrinkled skin, or lack of urination). Weight loss of more than five pounds is also a reason to see a doctor.

Chronic diarrhea may be an indication of irritable bowel syndrome (see "Irritable bowel syndrome"), and your doctor may want to evaluate you for that condition. There are forms of chronic diarrhea that have nothing to do with food but are the result of fluids secreted by the intestine. These are called secretory diarrheas and may be caused by hidden tumors, sometimes in the pancreas, that release chemical messengers telling the bowel to release large amounts of liquid. Microscopic colitis is another cause of secretory diarrhea. In this case, the colon looks normal in an endoscopy, but biopsies show intense inflammation of the colon lining.

Last updated:	August 21, 2007