Hello, Simone.

You have posted to our inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) site, dedicated to information and issues related to the autoimmune diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. (This is not intended as a general GI disorders informational site.)

However, I can tell you that the actual name for the disorder that you seem to have, is known medically as "bile acid malabsorption." (The symptom of chronic, watery, diarrhea is then often described as bile salt diarrhea.) In one study of sixty-two patients with chronic, watery diarrhea, it was considered to be the cause of diarrhea in twenty-eight (45.2%) patients.

You would do best to eat five or more small meals a day, consisting mostly of low fat and high protein foods, and complex carbohydrates(for instance, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and low-sugar cereals). Concentrated sugars and fats (such as fried foods, full fat dairy products, and fatty meats) should be kept to a minimum or avoided. Fluids should be reserved for between meals. Fiber supplements, along with antidiarrheal medications, can be used as needed to prolong intestinal transit time. Multivitamins with minerals should be taken orally two or three times a day.

Bile "salts" are actually bile "acids."  Bile acids are steroid acids found in the bile of mammals. The two major bile acids are cholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid.

Bile acid diarrhea most often occurs in a diseased small intestine, at the point of the terminal ileum, or after surgical resection of the terminal ileum. There is increased exposure of the mucosa of the colon to bile salts, resulting in increased activation of fluid and electrolyte secretion.

Diagnosis primarily involves excluding more common causes of chronic diarrhea, and a diagnostic trial of bile acid-binding resins; you have reported that is exactly what your doctor has done.

Good luck.

Hope