Diarrhea is a digestive tract reaction that patients with malignant tumors often have, which affects the treatment of patients to a certain extent, coupled with diarrhea with different degrees of pain, it is easy to make patients feel irritable, anxious and other psychology.
In addition, diarrhea can cause dehydration, kidney failure and electrolyte abnormalities in tumor patients, resulting in the inability of conventional treatment to proceed smoothly. Therefore, solving the problem of diarrhea in tumor patients cannot be ignored!
Diarrhea can be divided into four grades
Grade 1: The number of stools increased by 2 to 3 times a day compared with before treatment, and there was a mild increase in bowel movements, and there was no effect on daily activities.
Grade 2: 4 to 6 times a day increase in stool compared with before treatment and no bowel movements at night, moderate increase in bowel movements, no effect on daily activities.
Grade 3: more than 7 times a day increase in stool compared with pre-treatment and accompanied by severe intestinal spasms, a marked increase in bowel movements, and daily activities are affected.
Grade 4: more than 10 times per day increase in stool compared to treatment, or bloody diarrhea, and serious daily activities [1].
What causes diarrhea in patients with tumors?
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy-related diarrhea accounts for 40.83%, chemotherapy drugs can produce direct toxic side effects on intestinal cells, and at present, chemotherapy mostly uses large-dose combination drugs, which often leads to increased damage and diarrhea [2].
Intestinal infections
Patients with immunocompromise, malnutrition, invasive procedures, etc. all affect the normal intestinal flora and are complicated by intestinal infection.
Antibacterial drug application
Tumor patients are susceptible to infection due to bone marrow suppression caused by the disease itself and chemoradiation, so it is often necessary to use antibacterial drugs in the clinic, but the excessive use of antibacterial drugs leads to intestinal microflora imbalance, causing pathogenic microbial proliferation and diarrhea.
Improper nutrition in the intestine
It is related to the excessive concentration of nutrient solution, the temperature is too low, it is contaminated with bacteria or fungi, and the perfusion fat content is too high.
Radiation therapy
It often causes direct damage to the intestinal mucosa, resulting in a decrease in crypt cells, leading to the development of radiation enteritis leading to acute exudative diarrhea.
Gastrointestinal motility drugs
Tumor patients due to gastrointestinal autonomic dysfunction, the use of gastrointestinal motility drugs, such as moshabil, morphine, etc., some patients also use rhubarb to cause diarrhea.
The tumor itself
Endocrine tumors such as gastric carcinoid and insulinoma can promote the release of polypeptides and serotonin directly causing diarrhea, such as intestinal obstruction, anemia, cachexia, all affect the digestion and absorption function, diarrhea.
How to relieve diarrhea?
01
Perianal skin care
The skin in the area may be completely damaged, keeping the perianal skin clean, dry and comfortable. Pay attention to the warmth of the abdomen, use a hot water bottle, avoid mechanical stimulation such as abdominal massage and compression, and reduce intestinal peristalsis.
02
Dietary aspects
Patients should eat a digestible, high-protein, low-residue, low-fat diet during diarrhea, and adhere to the principle of small numbers and many meals.
Avoid spices such as chili peppers, coffee, alcohol and other beverages, which may aggravate diarrhea.
Insist on replenishing enough liquids, such as water, porridge, light tea, clear soup, etc.
03
Oral care
Mouth Thai and 5% sodium bicarbonate solution are used to rinse mouth before meals, after meals and before bedtime; if oral infection/mucosal ulcers occur, vitamin E can be applied to the affected area, usually after meals or bedtime.
04
Ai Ji
Under the guidance of the doctor, moxibustion is performed on Guan Yuan, Qi Hai Acupoint. The patient is in a flat lying position to expose the skin of the abdomen, ignite the end of the moxa stick, about 2 cm away from the skin of Guan Yuan and Qi Hai acupuncture points for smoking, when the patient's skin has a reddish and warm feeling, stop the moxibustion, in this way each acupuncture point lasts for 5 to 10 minutes, 1 time a day, 10 days for 1 course.
bibliography
1. Xu Bo. Cancer Nursing[M].Beijing:People's Medical Publishing House,2008:120.]
2. Lin Huiying. Analysis of diarrhea causes and care in cancer patients[J].Henan Journal of Surgery,2007,13(6):113-114.