The most famous is the red beet. Often people think they have blood in their stool and then they will come in, so we will test their stool and find out that there is no blood. When I ask, “Did you eat a beet salad two or three days ago?” They will realize they forgot and everything is fine. Seaweed is a surprising new thing — people eat a bunch of seaweed snacks, which can cause fluorescent green poop.
Pepto-Bismol also changes the color of the stool to black. Black stool that is sticky and tar-like is an indicator of bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, because as the blood is digested, black comes out. But some people may forget they took Pepto-Bismol, see a black stool, and worry about an ulcer. The way to differentiate is this: If you take Pepto-Bismol and then get a hard, black, gravelly stool, it’s probably just Pepto-Bismol, but if you take a bunch of aspirin and then your stomach hurts along with the tarry black stool that smells, you probably it is about bleeding from an ulcer. In this case, you should consult a blood doctor. Iron supplements can also cause black stools, but they will look black and grainy instead of black and sticky.
If you have pain in your upper right abdomen, such as a gallstone attack, and you have pale, white, or stool-colored stools, this may mean that your bile ducts are blocked, so you should see a doctor. Gray stool is an indicator of a problem with the pancreas. If your urine is dark and your stool is light, it could mean a pancreatic problem or a bile duct problem.
Red stools may indicate hemorrhoids, cracks, or deeper diseases in the gastrointestinal tract, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, colon polyps, or cancer. The red stool should be examined by colonoscopy.
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