Top Natural Remedies for Diarrhea

Milk

Posted by Amanda (Osburn, Idaho) on 09/01/2009
★★★★★

I learned this from my great grandmother who used it all the time.

If you have problems with diarrhea take two cups of whole milk (IT HAS TO BE WHOLE MILK) and boil it to a rolling boil. (It takes a long time to get to boil, but once it does...it will boil over so watch it close). Let the milk cool and as it cools it forms a skim over the top of the milk, peel it off and drink it.

It works guaranteed. But as always if you continue to have problems see a dr.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Peggy (Young Harris, GA) on 03/09/2009
★★★★★

Just to let you know this is a GREAT site. I have recommended it to lots of people who are having ailments which I believe can be helped by natural remedies.

I work in a long term care facility and am exposed to a lot of germs. I drink a Tablespoon of ACV & Honey in water daily and believe this keeps my immune system up. While a horrid stomach & diarrea bug had the place quarantined, (Knock on wood) I escaped this bug which I give credit to the ACV/Honey.

My co-workers tease me about my attention to "natural" eating, etc, but I try to avoid processed foods, drink lots lots of water. Thanks so much for this site.

Banana Peel

Posted by Betty (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) on 11/20/2008
★★★★★

Banana Peel for dysentery: Years ago, fearful of getting dysentry on our travels to europe, our doctor reassured us that we did not have to worry, as long as there were bananas available- he said to eat the white portion of the banana skin. Over the years we have used this method for this purpose. Start out by using about 1/3rd of the inner skin and increase if needed .. It really works .It has a slightly stringent taste, which can be masked by mixing it with peanut butter or jam.

Cinnamon

Posted by Lana (Morris, New Jersey) on 05/14/2008
★★★★★

Diarrhea (ailment) and Cinnamon (cure): My boyfriend had a stomach virus and was in awful pain. He was throwing up and using the bathroom around every 5-10 minutes. It was to the point where he had nothing left to expell but water and bile. I finally convinced him to drink a tea mix I made. I used- 1 cinnamon stick, broken up with a scissor a big pinch of ground ginger pinch of ground mustard a pinch of ground cloves (or 2 whole) I let it steep from boiling to drinkable temperature. He started getting better almost instantaneously. It stopped not only the diarrhea, but also the throwing up and the incredible pain. I never saw anything work so fast!

Blackberry Brandy

Posted by Molly (Madison, USA) on 04/12/2008
★★★★★

For SERIOUS seemingly intractable diarrhea, take one shot glass of blackberry brandy. I learned this decades ago from a neighbor whose grandmother would but one-eighth TEASPOON, an infintesimal amount in the baby bottle for youngsters whose diarrhea hung on for many days.

The stuff is STRONG, it's an old folklore remedy which almost always works, for anybody, any age, any reason.

For long term loose stools with intermittent diarrhea, try a wheat-free gluten free diet for a month. Research this online, as wheat is hidden "everywhere," for instance there is apparently only one spice company which does NOT add wheat flour to its spices --- SO, you see, it's VERY easy to be exposed to wheat gluten in processed foods or eating in restaurants, no matter what one orders.

HIGH dose biotin can be "miraculous" for some folks -- get the FIVE-MILLIGRAM bottles at the health food store. I was amazed the first time that I swallowed 25-MILLIGRAMS of biotin, as that "expensive" bottle of this B-Vitamin was certainly cheaper than the many medical tests.

For a long term solution, massive supplementation with very large amounts of acidophilus has been successful.

Lemon Juice

Posted by Helpyourself (Texas) on 02/13/2023
★★★★★

For diarrhea: Lemon water. I have found that drinking lemon water has stopped my 6 months of diarrhea. This is amazing. One 16 oz water bottle( drink some to make room for juice), squeeze one fresh lemon, pour into water bottle. Sip all day. Then do this again the next day and sip on this one bottle for 2 days. Keep making one bottle last 2days and always drink with a straw as to not damage teeth. Best results after about two weeks. This drink also alkalizes your body. Lemon turns into an alkaline after ingested.

Bonus: sleeping through the night.

Coconut Macaroons

Posted by Kellison (Oregon) on 07/12/2016
★★★★★

Eat 3-4 (small) coconut macaroon cookies after your first episode and that will stop your diarrhea. I keep some in my freezer and just eat them when I need to. Works better than Imodium or anything else.

Milk

Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 02/13/2016
★★★★★

My mom's home remedy for diarrhea was to boil a cup of milk and drink it - no sugar. Hold your nose because it tastes awful. Let it cool down a bit first.

Boiled Milk

Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/18/2015
★★★★★

My mom used to boil milk and make us drink it after it cools. It tastes awful and do not add sugar. Just hold your nose and drink it. It works like a charm!

Apple

Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/18/2015

Have you ever tried eliminating gluten? I think it is the #1 cause for IBS.

Pickle Juice

Posted by Meme (Dallas, Tx) on 03/07/2014
★★★★★

My grandmother always had us drink some dill pickle juice for diarrhea. Usually worked within a day!

Her remedies were passed down from her mother and grandmother She believed in castor oil...or Black Draught syrup...Clover Salve... If one of those didn't cure you or kill you....then you went to the doctor (she always called him the 'pill-crusher')

I can vouch for the dill pickle juice.

Parasite Cleanse for Chronic Diarrhea

Posted by Mystic Gardener (Central Ohio) on 12/22/2013

I used a product at Whole Foods Market. The product contains some pills and a tincture of Wormwood. It was just after I first took the wormwood tincture that I felt a profound stillness in my whole being, like the parasites had been stunned. Yes, I believe I know how I got the parasites. Since I always wash my produce before I eat it, I believe I got them at a restaurant from someone else who was infected and then prepared my food without washing their hands. They probably had parasite eggs under their fingernails. An interesting thing that happened about a month before I started getting the diarrhea was that one day I started having very hard contractions in my belly, the whole abdominal area. No pain, just very strong contractions. It lasted the whole day and it was only for one day. It was very weird, as I had never had anything like that before if I wasn't actually having a baby! I think that could have been my body's first attempt at getting rid of the infestation. I also had fairly severe pain in the left leg during this time of diarrhea. When the parasites left, so did the leg pain!! I think they were nesting in an intestinal area adjacent to a nerve and just the bulk of them was enough to irritate that nerve that goes down into the leg!

Iodine

Posted by Kaybee (Tri-cities, Tn) on 08/21/2013
★★★★★

Lugo'ls Iodine is absolutely the BEST thing ever for diarrhea. Seriously, I've suffered off and on all my life with diarrhea episodes and have recently discovered that if I take 3 to 6 drops of Lugols in water my diarrhea will stop almost immediately! Works for food poisoning too! You must order on-line tho cause you can't buy that kind of iodine at drug stores any more thanks to FDA!

Activated Charcoal

Posted by Peacock05 (New York, Ny) on 06/07/2012
★★★★★

It is true you are not supposed to take this medicine within a few hours of taking other medicines. I too have seizures and I make sure to take charcoal many hours before I take other medicines.

Ground Flaxseed

Posted by Cheryl (California) on 03/12/2021

Dear Jayne, thank you for the information about the ground flaxseed...I stopped buying it about two years and that is when I started having irritable bowel syndrome ..I am 72 so I chalked this to getting older..I began noticing that soon after I ate dinner I would literally run to the bathroom and many times not make it in time and have to change my clothes...but today, after a particularly bad round of diarrhea I came to this site ( EC ) and found where apple cider vinegar has really helped many people and then I read your testimony and so I am going to start back on ground flaxseed..I am so happy I came across your remedy and did you know that a 1/2 of ground flaxseed daily really shrinks tumors down to nothing in time?

Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Oil

Posted by Jennifer (Sunrise, Fl, Usa) on 08/13/2011
★★★★★

I went to Morocco this summer and was not as careful as I should have been about avoiding contact with the water. By the end of the trip, I had a classic case of traveler's diarrhea (caused by the presence of E. Coli in the water). My stomach started to bother me and a few days after I left Morocco, I was experiencing excruciating cramping, had liquid bowel movements about 11-12 times per day, had a burning/queasy feeling in my stomach, had chills, could not eat, and was generally miserable. Every anti-diarrhea medication that I tried or was prescribed (I tried 5) had absolutely NO effect on me. It wasn't too long before my fiance's parents knew ALL about my bowel problems (to my embarassment), so my fiance's mom gave me apple baby food which seemed to help a little. I suffered for another 3 days, and on the final day I had to travel home for over 24 hours, including a 11-hour flight, and with my condition it seemed like it was going to be a disaster.

the trip I looked up remedies on EC and bought some ACV (couldn't buy the kind with the mother, because I was not in the US at the time). I took the ACV about 3 times that day and the cramping and nausea disappeared and the frequency of my bowel movements greatly decreased. When I got back to the US I was able to take some ACV with the mother, took some coconut oil in chai (which contains cinnamon), ate some applesauce with cinnamon, and in one day my problem was completely GONE, finally putting an end to my 10 days of suffering. Thank you EC!!!! And readers, PLEASE do not drink the water in developing countries ;)

N.B.: Coconut oil might have been effective in my case because my diarrhea was caused by a bacterial/parasitic infection, but coconut oil generally has a laxative effect on most people, so use with caution!

Burnt Toast Charcoal

Posted by Mrs. Betty (Colorado) on 04/15/2018
★★★★★

This burnt toast remedy was also used by my mother in the 40's when one of the children was sick. It worked wonderfully on all stomach and digestive issues.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Anne (Huntington Beach, California) on 06/11/2011
★★★★★

I had diarrhea for 12 hours and Imodium didn't help. I thought I should go to the doctor, but it was 6:00 p. M. I decided to go online to see if I could find help there and was grateful to find this site. I sent a relative to a healthfood store for the ACV capsules. He bought a bottle of 500mg capsules. I took two and was cured! Thank you so much.

Apple

Posted by Norak (South Salt Lake, Utah) on 03/09/2011
★★★★☆

I've had a terrible bout of LD for the last 2 days -- going between every 20 min to 2 hours or so -- and just a bit ago found this site. After reading all of the comments, I figured I'd try at least one of these remedies where I had the ingredients immediately available. After eating the apple, it seems to have at least calmed my stomach, hopefully it stays that way. This is a great site. Thanks to all who've posted.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Jramos (San Antonio, Texas) on 03/03/2011
★★★★★

Tried the 4 tablespoons of vinegar to half cup of purified water; my stool has solidified since taking two cups of this ACV and took one again this morning. It burns a little going down but it's worth the results it offers. I was excited to see my stool texture improve and I'm going to keep doing it for a week to ensure remedy effectiveness. Thank you Earth Clinic:)!! I'm going to do this three times a day for a week.