Diarrhoea and diet

Diarrhoea is common amongst people with HIV. It can be caused by HIV itself, or by infections or medicines.

Diarrhoea has been reported as a side-effect of most of the protease inhibitors, as well as some of the NRTIs and some antibiotics. With some drugs, diarrhoea goes away after the first few weeks of treatment - but some people find that it becomes a permanent feature of living with the drug. The severity of diarrhoea can also differ between people.

Changes of diet seem to have only a limited impact on diarrhoea caused by medicines. But your doctor can prescribe some treatments to help control the diarrhoea. These include:

• Imodium, an anti-diarrhoea drug. It can also be bought over the counter from chemists.

• Calcium supplements have been shown to reduce diarrhoea caused by the now rarely used nelfinavir (Viracept) and may therefore work with other protease inhibitors as well

• Oat-bran tablets are also effective against diarrhoea caused by medicines. They work by absorbing fluid and slowing the movement of stool through the gut.

If you have bad diarrhoea, you are likely to lose valuable nutrients. Eating bananas, chicken and fish can help restore levels of potassium which are commonly depleted in people with bad diarrhoea. Avoid coffee, raw vegetables and spicy food as these can make diarrhoea worse.