Acute diarrhea guide

Acute and traveler's diarrhea treatment online in Virginia and West Virginia

Oral rehydration, loperamide, and bismuth for sudden-onset non-bloody watery diarrhea, plus a short traveler's-diarrhea antibiotic only for a fever-free, non-bloody illness after recent international travel. Bloody or dysenteric diarrhea, high fever, dehydration, severe pain, and possible C. difficile are all referred in person.

Start online

Start a $59 online review for Diarrhea (sudden & traveler's).

Most sudden watery diarrhea is self-limited and improves with rehydration and simple symptom relief. Online care fits only an uncomplicated, non-bloody, fever-free illness under 14 days: any visible blood, fever of 102°F or higher, dehydration, severe or one-sided belly pain, bowel-obstruction warning sign, known inflammatory bowel disease, recent antibiotics or hospitalization, immune suppression, or pregnancy is a non-bypassable stop. Empiric antibiotics are offered only after recent international travel, because domestically-acquired bloody diarrhea can carry Shiga-toxin E. coli and antibiotics can then precipitate hemolytic-uremic syndrome.

If treatment is appropriate, your physician can send a non-controlled prescription to your pharmacy and provide portal instructions for the next step.

Start this visit See response times

Quick facts

You must be physically located in Virginia or West Virginia at the time of request.
Starts at $59
No insurance needed
No app download
Physician review around the clock
Non-controlled prescriptions can be sent to your pharmacy when appropriate
A work or school note can be included when medically appropriate
Response times apply 24/7, every day

Common symptoms

Several loose, watery stools a day without blood
Mild cramping, gas, or nausea
Symptoms that started within the last two weeks
Recent international travel with watery, non-bloody stools

May fit online care

Adults & children 4+ (with a parent or legal guardian)
Sudden watery diarrhea for less than 14 days
No blood in the stool and no fever of 102°F or higher
Able to keep some fluids down with no fainting or confusion
Not pregnant, not immunocompromised, and no recent antibiotics or hospitalization

Look for another care setting

Visible blood, black/tarry stools, or vomiting blood
Fever of 102°F or higher, severe or one-sided belly pain, or a rigid abdomen
Fainting, confusion, no urination for 8+ hours, or inability to keep fluids down
Known IBD, recent abdominal surgery, obstruction signs, recent antibiotics/hospitalization, immune suppression, pregnancy, or diarrhea for 14+ days

What to have ready

How long the diarrhea has lasted and whether there is any blood
Your temperature and any dehydration warning signs
Any recent international travel, antibiotics, or hospitalization
Your allergies, blood thinners, heart-rhythm history, and pregnancy status

What happens next

Standard

$59

Within 6 hours

Priority

$99

Within 3 hours

Rush

$149

Within 1 hour

Start the request on the website, answer a few questions to check that this visit fits you, and choose how fast you want an answer (the response window). If your concern still fits this service, a physician reviews it and sends you a secure update after you sign in. When appropriate, non-controlled prescriptions can be sent to your pharmacy, and a basic work or school note can be included at physician discretion.

Your physician

Every visit is personally reviewed by Ankur Fadia, MD. He is board-certified, has extra training in heart care (a cardiology fellowship), and is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical honor society. He is licensed in Virginia and West Virginia, and your care is never handed off to someone else.

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What can be prescribed?

First-line options (the ones tried first) are oral rehydration salts, loperamide (self-care dosing up to 8 mg a day), and bismuth. For a traveler's illness without blood or fever after recent international travel, a physician may add a single short course of azithromycin (or ciprofloxacin only when a macrolide, the antibiotic class that includes azithromycin, cannot be used, or rifaximin for watery non-invasive diarrhea, the kind that does not invade the lining of the gut) once the drug-safety gates (the safety checks on these medicines) are enabled. Ondansetron may be added for nausea that makes it hard to drink enough fluids.

Why won't you treat bloody diarrhea online?

Visible blood can mean dysentery (a bowel infection with bloody diarrhea), a GI bleed (bleeding in the digestive tract), or Shiga-toxin E. coli (a type of E. coli that makes a toxin). In that setting, both anti-diarrheal drugs and empiric antibiotics (antibiotics given before test results) can be harmful and can trigger hemolytic-uremic syndrome (a serious kidney problem), so any blood in the stool stops this online visit and is referred for in-person testing.

When is diarrhea an emergency?

Seek emergency care now for fainting, confusion, no urination for 8+ hours, inability to keep fluids down, large-volume bloody stools, vomiting blood, severe or one-sided belly pain, a rigid abdomen, or signs of hemolytic-uremic syndrome after bloody diarrhea (much less urine, easy bruising, or unusual pallor).

Do you also need a short work or school note?

The treatment visit and a documentation request are separate. If you need a basic note for up to five days and the request fits that visit's timing and purpose limits, use the dedicated sick-note visit.

Read the work and school note guide

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Not quite what you have? Here are other conditions we treat.

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