Diarrhea and indigestion

Folk advice for diarrhoea is astringent: blackberry and raspberry leaf, with German chamomile and plantain to soothe. The eight species the catalogue lists here make up exactly that set.

The traditional logic is to 'draw together' and 'quieten'. About replacing fluids, which today is the main thing, the old instructions are mostly silent.

Acute diarrhoea is most often infectious and clears by itself within days. The documented priority is not to stop it but to replace fluids and salts — that is what rehydration solutions are for, not tea on its own.

Medicines that slow the bowel are not always suitable: with fever or blood in the stool they can do harm. This is a field where the gap between 'quieten' and 'cure' is especially wide.

Blood in the stool, high fever, severe abdominal pain and signs of dehydration — a dry mouth, little urine, dizziness on standing — mean an examination, not another infusion.

Do not delay with diarrhoea lasting over a week, diarrhoea after a recent course of antibiotics, and any diarrhoea in an infant or a very old person.