What does the color, texture, and floating of your poop say about your health? Discover the causes and medical implications of different stool characteristics. Get answers to common questions about normal vs. abnormal bowel movements.

Understanding the Significance of Floating Poop

Floating poop is a common phenomenon that can be influenced by various factors, including your diet. If you’ve recently switched to a completely vegan diet, it’s not unusual to experience more gas and floating stools. This is often due to the high fiber content of plant-based foods, which can result in excess gas being trapped in the stool, causing it to float.

Floating stools are generally not a cause for concern, and they may even be a normal and healthy occurrence for individuals on a high-fiber diet, such as vegetarians or vegans. The stool will typically return to a more “normal” appearance once the fiber content of the diet is reduced.

Potential Causes of Floating Poop

While floating poop is often harmless, it can also be a symptom of certain medical conditions. Some potential causes of floating stools include:

Malabsorption

If the body is not properly absorbing nutrients, the stool may appear oily or have oil around it, causing it to float. This can be a sign of a condition called malabsorption, which should be evaluated by a healthcare provider.

High Fat Content

Floating stools can also signal a high-fat content, which may be a result of chronic pancreatitis or other conditions that affect the body’s ability to properly digest and absorb fats.

Assessing Stool Color and Consistency

The color, form, and texture of your stool can provide valuable insights into your overall health. Let’s explore the different stool characteristics and what they may indicate:

Black Stools

Black stools can be caused by iron supplements or medications containing bismuth, such as Pepto-Bismol. However, if the stools are black, sticky, and have a foul odor, it may be a sign of bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, which requires medical attention.

Maroon or Red Stools

Bleeding from the lower parts of the intestines or the colon can result in maroon or red-colored stools. This type of bleeding may also be caused by certain foods, such as beets or cranberries.

Gray or Clay-Colored Stools

Stool that is gray or clay-colored may indicate a blockage in the bile duct, which can be a sign of a more serious medical condition, such as a tumor or gallstone.

Yellow Stools

Yellow, greasy, or foul-smelling stools may suggest issues with the pancreas, such as pancreatic insufficiency or chronic pancreatitis. This can also be a symptom of celiac disease, a condition that affects the body’s ability to properly absorb nutrients.

Maintaining Healthy Bowel Movements

While changes in stool appearance and consistency can be concerning, it’s important to remember that not all variations are a sign of a serious underlying condition. Factors such as diet, medications, and individual differences can all impact the characteristics of your bowel movements.

If you notice persistent or concerning changes in your stool, it’s always best to consult with a healthcare provider for a proper evaluation and diagnosis. They can help determine the underlying cause and provide appropriate treatment recommendations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is floating poop a sign of a health problem?

Floating poop is not necessarily a sign of a health problem. It can be caused by a high-fiber diet, such as a vegan or vegetarian diet, which can result in excess gas being trapped in the stool, causing it to float. However, if the floating is accompanied by other concerning symptoms, such as oily or foul-smelling stools, it may be a sign of a more serious condition like malabsorption or chronic pancreatitis, and should be evaluated by a healthcare provider.

What does it mean if my poop is black and sticky?

Black, sticky stools that have a foul odor can be a sign of bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, such as from a stomach ulcer or gastritis. This type of bleeding can cause the stool to turn black and have a tar-like, sticky consistency. It’s important to consult a healthcare provider if you experience this, as it may require medical treatment.

Can certain foods cause my poop to change color?

Yes, certain foods can cause changes in stool color. For example, beets, cranberries, and red food dyes can turn the stool red or maroon. Iron supplements or medications containing bismuth, such as Pepto-Bismol, can cause the stool to turn black. These color changes are generally not a cause for concern, as long as the stools are otherwise normal in appearance and consistency.

Maintaining Optimal Digestive Health

Paying attention to the characteristics of your bowel movements can provide valuable insights into your overall digestive health. By understanding the potential causes of different stool characteristics, you can work with your healthcare provider to address any underlying issues and maintain a healthy, functioning digestive system.

Remember, variations in stool appearance are common and often not a cause for alarm. However, it’s important to be aware of persistent or concerning changes and to seek medical attention if necessary. By taking a proactive approach to your digestive health, you can ensure that your body is functioning optimally and that any potential issues are addressed in a timely manner.

Why Does Poop Float – TSMP Medical Blog

Floating poop doesn’t mean you’re sick, but it can be a symptom of various conditions.

Is Your Poop Supposed to Float or Sink?

I’ve decided to switch to a completely vegan diet. It’s been fine so far because I’ve been a vegetarian for years, so the switch wasn’t difficult. The only thing is I’ve been getting more gas and my poop is floating almost every time I go. Is that’s a problem? Is your poop supposed to float or sink?

Doctor’s Response

Normal, healthy stool is solid and doesn’t usually float or stick to the sides of the toilet bowl. But floating feces alone is not usually a sign of serious illness, and most of the time things will go back to normal with a change in diet.

Feces that float may simply be due to a diet high in insoluble fiber that can result in excess gas in the stool, which causes it to float. People who are vegetarian or vegan may have stools that float from high fiber foods. People who are lactose intolerant or gluten sensitive may notice their stool floats after eating high fiber foods. In these cases floating stool is nothing to worry about-it may even be normal and healthy for those individuals and their particular diet. The stool will return to “normal” once fiber is reduced in the diet.

Floating stool can also signal a condition called malabsorption, when the body is not processing nutrients properly. The floating stool may appear to be oily or have oil around it. See a doctor if this occurs.

Other causes of floating feces include a high fat content in the stool, which may be a result of chronic pancreatitis.

Stool color, form, and texture can change for a variety of reasons. The change may reflect substances that are added to stool, or changes to substances normally present in stool. Some stool color changes may suggest an underlying medical condition, and others may be due to ingestion of certain foods or medications.

Black Stools (Not Sticky, No Odor)

Causes of black stool include iron pills or bismuth-containing medications (such as, bismuth subsalicylate or Pepto-Bismol). If the stool color is dark because of any of these medications, it is typically not sticky in texture and is not foul-smelling.

Black Tarry, Sticky Stools

Bleeding in the stomach (from gastritis or an ulcer) or the intestines can change the color of stool. If bleeding occurs in the stomach or the upper part of the small intestine, the stool may turn black and sticky, and be described medically as black, tarry stool (melena). Generally, black, tarry stool also is foul-smelling. This change in color and consistency occurs because of chemical reactions to blood within the intestine that are caused by digestive enzymes within the intestines.

Maroon or Red Stools

If the bleeding originates from lower parts of the intestines or the colon, blood may not come into prolonged contact with digestive enzymes because of the short distance from the site of bleeding to the rectum. Moreover, large amounts of blood within the intestines speed up transit of stool so that there is less time for the changes to take place. The stool in this type of bleeding may be dark red or maroon in color. Beets, other red vegetables, cranberries, and red food dyes also can turn the stool color red or maroon.

Gray or Clay-Colored Stool

Stool can be gray or clay-colored if it contains little or no bile. The pale color may signify a condition (biliary obstruction) where the flow of bile to the intestine is obstructed, such as obstruction of the bile duct from a tumor or gallstone in the duct or nearby pancreas. The change of stool color to gray or clay typically occurs gradually as these medical conditions progress relatively slowly and stool becomes pale over time.

Yellow Stool

Stool that is yellow may suggest presence of undigested fat in the stool.

This can occur as a result of diseases of the pancreas that reduce delivery of digestive enzymes to the intestines (pancreatic insufficiency), such as:

• cystic fibrosis,
• chronic pancreatitis (long standing inflammation and destruction of the pancreas usually due to alcohol abuse), or
• obstruction of the pancreatic duct that carries the enzymes to the intestines (most commonly due to pancreatic cancer).

Celiac disease: Another condition that possibly may cause yellow and greasy stool is celiac disease (a malabsorption syndrome).

The digestive enzymes released from the pancreas and into the intestines are necessary to help digest fat and other components of food (proteins, carbohydrates) in the intestines so that they can be absorbed into the body. If the pancreas is not delivering enzymes into the intestines, then components of food, especially the fat, can remain undigested and unabsorbed. The stool containing the undigested fat may appear yellowish in color, greasy, and also may smell foul.

Ingestion of very high fat foods also can cause yellow, soft, and foul smelling stools.

Weight loss medications such as orlistat (Xenical, alli) work by limiting the amount of fat absorbed by the intestines. This can lead to bulky, yellow, and greasy stools.

Green Stool

When stool passes through the intestines rapidly (diarrhea), there may be little time for bilirubin to undergo its usual chemical changes, and stool can appear green in appearance due to rapid transit.

Eating excessive amounts of green foods, foods with green or purple dyes, and vegetables also can cause stool color to turn more green than normal.

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Got Floating Poop? Here Are 5 Reasons Why It Happens

The shape, size, and color of your poop says a lot about your health. But what about it’s buoyancy?

You’re probably used to your poo sinking to the bottom of your toilet bowl. But now it’s floating like a foul-smelling log. What gives?

An occasional floating stool usually isn’t a serious problem. But if all of your bowel movements are floaters, it could be a symptom of a digestive health issue.

5 Reasons Why Poop Floats

Let’s examine the common causes of floating poop and whether they warrant concern.

1. A High-Fiber Diet

Eating enough dietary fiber is essential for your health and wellness. But one weird side effect of a high-fiber diet is floating poop. That’s because your body doesn’t fully digest fiber, therefore making your poop lighter and less dense.

Types of foods rich in fiber include:

• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Green leafy vegetables
• Beans
• Legumes

Takeaway: You’re in the clear—stick to your fiber-rich diet.

2. Excessive Gas

The gas in your gut makes poop less dense, which allows it to float. It’s kind of like inflating a balloon, except replace helium with flatulence and swap the balloon for feces.

Farting up a storm can happen when you eat high-fiber foods, overeat, make sudden changes to your diet, or swallow air while you eat. There are also certain foods that are notorious for producing excess gas, such as:

• Fizzy or carbonated drinks
• Gum
• Hard candy
• Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol

Takeaway: No need to worry, but keeping an eye on your diet might make your poop more dense.

3. Malabsorption

This is the medical term for when your gut doesn’t absorb enough nutrients from food. Some common causes of malabsorption include:

• Lactose intolerance: This means your body has trouble digesting lactose, a type of sugar found in dairy products. If you experience diarrhea, gas, or bloating when you eat dairy, it may be a sign of lactose intolerance.
• Steatorrhea: This means your poop has a high fat content. Steatorrhea may be a symptom of celiac disease or a bile acid deficiency
• Liver diseases and biliary problems: Your liver makes bile, which is essential for digesting food. But if your liver doesn’t send enough of this fluid through your bile ducts into the small intestine, it can cause fatty stool that floats. Gallstones can also block bile ducts, leading to fatty stools.

Takeaway: If your poop floats frequently, malabsorption might be the culprit. Talking to a health care professional can help you confirm and treat the underlying issue.

4. Gastrointestinal Disorders

More than one out of every four people with functional bowel disorders experience floating stools, according to a 2015 study. That includes medical conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and dyspepsia (indigestion).

Moreover, another 3% of people in that study with gastrointestinal disorders had floating stools. These include celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, gallstones, and other disorders that affect the digestive system.

Takeaway: If your floating poop coincides with other tummy troubles, one of the above conditions may be at play. But it will take a gastroenterologist to confirm.

5. Pancreas Problems

Quick anatomy lesson: your pancreas is a long, flat gland behind your stomach that regulates your blood sugar levels. Health problems that involve the pancreas are linked to malabsorption, which can cause poop to float.

One condition called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) (due to cystic fibrosis or chronic pancreatitis) has been linked to fatty, floating poop.

A more serious issue is pancreatic cancer. If a tumor blocks the pancreatic duct, a shortage of digestive enzymes can lead to undigested food passing through the gastrointestinal tract. “If this happens, stool may float due to the higher fat content, appear bulky, greasy, and unusually pale,” explains the Columbia University Department of Surgery.

Takeaway: Consistent floating poop may indicate pancreas problems, but you can’t diagnose them based solely on what your poop looks like.

When to See a Doctor About Floating Poop

Floating poop is usually the result of something you ate; it’ll sink again once you recalibrate your diet. However, if you notice any of the following symptoms, talk to your doctor:

• Your stool floats more than a few days in a row: this might signal an underlying health condition.
• Blood in your poop: some causes of bloody poop include inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis, hemorrhoids, and colon cancer.
• Unintentional weight loss: chronic malabsorption prevents your body from getting the nutrients it needs to sustain a healthy weight.

Whether your poop floats, smells worse than usual, explodes out of your butt like lava, it can tell you a lot about the inner workings of your body. Pay attention, dude—your poop is smarter than you think.

What to Know About Floating Stools

Normally, floating stools aren’t a cause for concern. Read on to learn more about why stools float, what floating stools say about your health, and more.

What Are Floating Stools?

When stools float, it means the poop stays on the surface of the toilet water instead of sinking. Normally, poop sinks to the bottom of the toilet bowl.‌

Floating poop doesn’t mean you’re sick, but it can be a symptom of various conditions.

Why Would Stools Float?

There are several reasons why poop floats and never seems to sink.

Too much gas. You may have too much gas in you due to your diet, which can make your stools float.

Some people think that floating poop is caused by fat, but it’s usually caused by gas. Research has indicated that once floating stools were degassed, they weighed the same as sinking poop. This indicates that gas was responsible for making floating stools float, rather than fat inside the poop.

Gas in your digestive system is usually caused when you swallow air or eat certain types of foods that break down into gas.

If you eat a high-fiber diet with a lot of vegetables and fruits, you may get floating stools because digesting high-fiber foods releases more air during digestion. This leads to air or gas being trapped in the stool, making it float in the toilet bowl.

Medical conditions. If your poop floats, there’s a slight chance you have steatorrhea, which means you have too much fat in your poop. Steatorrhea indicates you can’t absorb fat properly, and it can be a symptom of the following conditions:

• Celiac disease
• Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) due to cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis
• Diseases affecting small intestines such as tropical sprue, Whipple disease, and lymphoma
• Bile acid deficiency

You may also have the following conditions if you have floating poop:

• Gastrointestinal infection
• Malabsorption, which means you’re not absorbing nutrients as well as you should

When To See a Doctor

Floating stools don’t necessarily mean you have an underlying health condition. To determine if a health condition is causing this, you should be on the lookout for other indicators.

If your floating stools are smelly, sticky, or bloody, for example, you should see a doctor. Your doctor will give you a proper diagnosis and walk you through the process of understanding your condition if you have one. Here’s a closer look at what might cause these symptoms.‌

Smelly and sticky stools. Smelly and sticky stools are typically a symptom of nutrient malabsorption. This means your body isn’t able to completely absorb and digest nutrients from your gastrointestinal tract due to damage to the small intestine, not having enough pancreatic enzymes, liver disease, HIV/AIDs, or other conditions.

If your floating stools are smelly and appear sticky, you should contact your doctor.

Blood in your stool. If your floating poop is accompanied by blood, it could be caused by:

• Bleeding in your anus or rectum
• Cancer of your digestive system
• Blood vessel abnormalities
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease such as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis
• Ulcers in the stomach or small intestine
• Polyps
• Diverticulitis ‌

If you find blood in your stools, you should see a doctor. If you’re experiencing weight loss, dizziness, or fever in addition to finding blood in your stools, you should talk to your doctor immediately. You should also get emergency medical help if there is a lot of blood in your poop, or if it is maroon or black and tarry.‌

Your doctor will be able to determine what is the exact cause of bloody poop through imaging tests and physical exams.

Treatment

When you visit your doctor, they will likely ask you several questions about your medical history and your current health to determine why you have floating stools. They will also ask you about your diet and how long you’ve been having this issue so they can make any needed diet and medication recommendations.

Prevention

Unless there is a medical condition causing you to have floating poops, there is no need to do anything to treat or prevent them.

Monitor your pooping habits. Always be aware of any changes to your stool and bowel movements. If you’re suddenly pooping more or less, or your poop looks very different, you should report these changes to your doctor. Your doctor will find it easier to diagnose any health conditions you may have if you keep an organized record about your pooping habits.

Changing your diet. Sometimes, preventing floating poop can be as easy as changing your diet, since floating poop can be caused by eating foods that cause you to have more gas.

You should avoid the following foods if you have a problem with too much gas:

Keep a food diary so you can keep track of what you eat and narrow down what foods are giving you gas. You should bring this diary to your doctor so you can talk to them about how you can change your diet.

Show Sources

‌Azer, S.; Sankararaman, S. Steatorrhea. StatPearls Publishing, 2021.

‌Cleveland Clinic: “Rectal Bleeding.”

‌Columbia University in the City of New York: Go Ask Alice: “Floating stools — What do they say about my health?”

‌National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: “Gas in the Digestive Tract. ”

‌‌Penn Medicine: “The Scoop on Poop: What Does Your Poop Say About Your Health?”

‌MITMedical: “It Happens.”

‌‌The New England Journal of Medicine: “Floating Stools — Flatus versus Fat.”‌

How Dangerous Is Floating Poop?

We need total honesty now. Do you carefully examine what ends up in the toilet after a bowel movement? If so, you would not be alone. An extraordinary number of people pay careful attention to poop. They want to know if it sinks or floats. What color is it? Is it long and firm? We often hear about “loose stools.” Darned if we know what loose means, though we suspect most people interpret that as diarrhea-light. Because people are so vigilant, we frequently get asked questions about floating poop. Here is just one example:

Is Floating Poop A Cause for Concern?

Q. I am totally confused about floating poop. I had always heard that it was due to a high-fiber diet and not a cause for concern. Then I read in your column that it could be an early warning symptom of pancreatic cancer. Now every time I have floaters in the toilet I wonder if I should worry.

A. Floating poop is a never-ending source of comments on our Web site. People seem fascinated with this topic.

Doctors have been arguing for years about why stool sometimes floats. One school of thought attributes this to gas. Other experts maintain that a high-fiber diet leads to floaters. Some experts believe that a GI infection can contribute to floating poop. If that’s the case and the problem persists, a stool analysis might be called for.

When to Worry:

In most cases floating stools are not worrisome. There are, however, some situations that require medical investigation. People with celiac disease (an intolerance to gluten in wheat, barley and rye), cystic fibrosis or short bowel syndrome may produce stools that float. You can learn more about the celiac connection at this link.

Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is a rare but deadly cancer. Randy Pausch filmed his “Last Lecture” and mentioned floating poop as one of his symptoms. If you have not seen this amazing video, please take some time to watch. It will bring tears to your eyes. Here is a link.

Not surprisingly, the mention of floating poop as a symptom of pancreatic cancer scared a lot of people. Most have nothing to worry about. If, however, the floaters are pale, bulky and greasy and accompanied by abdominal pain, weight loss, jaundice or generalized itching, a person should seek medical care promptly. In fact, any major significant change in bowel habits calls for a check-up to rule out a serious problem.

Be Prepared with Answers:

If you do visit a gastroenterologist because of a change in bowel habits, do your homework. Come prepared with answers to the following questions:

1. When did you first notice a change in bowel behavior?
2. What is the color of your stool?
3. Approximately when did your stools begin to float?
4. Do they smell bad?
5. Do they always float or is this an occasional thing?
6. Did a change in your eating patterns proceed the floaters?
7. Are you a vegetarian and do you eat a lot of fiber?
8. What other gastrointestinal symptoms do you have?

Protect Your GI Tract!

We hope you have not taken offense at our use of the word poop in this article. What ever you call a bowel movement, it is a perfectly natural process. We do want you to take prevention seriously. Colonoscopies save lives. We think that this procedure is important, especially for people at high-risk for colorectal cancer. That means if someone in your family had this kind of malignancy, make sure you are tested periodically.

We also think that an upper GI endoscopy is important for people who have severe heartburn or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). If the cells in the esophagus become “dysplastic” or pre-cancerous, there are now procedures that can be done to reverse the condition. We are especially impressed with something called radiofrequency ablation (Techniques in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, July, 2017).

Take good care of your GI tract. If you are worried about floating poop, please discuss your concerns with a knowledgeable health professional.

When feces stick to the toilet

Articles › School › What to do if I ate poop

Patients with malabsorption usually lose weight. If fats are poorly absorbed, the stool becomes discolored, soft, bulky, and smells bad (this is called steatorrhea). Stool sticks to the sides of the toilet or floats and is difficult to flush.

• With malabsorption, the stool becomes discolored, soft and voluminous, and also has an unpleasant odor.
• If the stool sticks to the sides of the toilet, this may be a sign of poor processing of fat in the body.
• Prolapsed poop may indicate problems with the liver or the presence of stress, sedentary lifestyle, colitis or ulcers early in development.
• The most common cause of feces not flushing down the toilet is high water pressure in the building’s plumbing system.
• Steatorrhea, increased excretion of fats from the body in the feces, may be the reason why the feces are poorly washed off with water.
• The rate of fat loss with feces per day is 7 g, more than 15 g is a sign of steatorrhea.
• The physical properties of faeces, including sinking and floating, are related to the microbiome and the nature of microorganisms.
• Too much fat in the stool can be a sign of malabsorption of nutrients.
• The mass of feces produced by a person in a year is about 109.5 kg, and in 70 years – already 7665 kg.
• Baking soda and a mixture of baking soda, vinegar, and boiling water can help dissolve feces in the toilet bowl.
• Clogged sewerage can be manifested in the fact that water rises in the sink or toilet, as well as in poor drainage of water from all points.

1. What if feces stick to the toilet
2. Why feces are not flushed down the toilet
3. Why is the feces poorly flushed
4. What does it mean if the feces do not sink
5. When the feces are fat What does it mean
6. How much stool can be in a person
7. How to dissolve feces in the toilet bowl
8. How to understand that the toilet is clogged
9. Why you shouldn’t sit on the toilet
10. What does the perfect feces look like
11. Which feces should alert
12. What is the feces for pancreatitis
13. How to treat Steatorrhea
14. Why feces have a strong smell
15. What is Malabsorption Syndrome

What if stool sticks to the toilet bowl

1. Stool sticks to the sides of the toilet bowl, so fat is not being processed. 2. Spherical poop like sheep droppings fell out – the liver does not work, stress, a sedentary lifestyle, colitis or an ulcer at the beginning of development.

Why feces won’t flush down the toilet

In most cases, the cause of this problem is that the water rises too high and flows into the overflow pipe. This is usually caused by increased water pressure in the entire building’s plumbing system. This can be corrected by adjusting the position of the float handle on the valve as described above (see

Why feces are difficult to wash off

Steatorrhea – increased excretion of fats from the body in feces. In steatorrhea, feces have an oily, greasy sheen and are difficult to wash off with water. It is believed that that the patient has steatorrhea if there is a loss of 15 g of fat in the feces per day or more.The norm is 7 g per day.

What does it mean if the feces do not sink

By introducing microorganisms into the intestines of sterile rodents, we managed to physically change the properties of feces from “sinking” to “floating,” the scientists said. From this, they concluded that “fecal floatation” is related to the microbiome and the nature of the microorganisms themselves – some produce more gas than others.

When the stool is fat What does it mean

Too much fat in the stool can also be a sign of malabsorption, which means that you are not absorbing nutrients well when food passes from the stomach to the intestines. Persistent steatorrhea is a sign of a problem with absorption in the body.

How many stools can be in a person

During the year, the mass of feces produced by one person is 109.5 kg. We multiply this number by 70 years of life and we get 7665 kg already.

How to dissolve feces in the toilet

The use of soda requires placing ½ pack of the substance into the toilet bowl, followed by rinsing with water after a few minutes. A mixture of soda, vinegar and boiling water involves the use of ½ pack of soda and 1 cup of table vinegar 9%, pouring boiling water into the drain 20 minutes after the procedure.

How to tell if a toilet is clogged

One of the most obvious signs of a clogged drain is when water rises in the bathroom while filling the sink. If you suspect you have a clogged drain, check the toilet, tub, and kitchen sink at the same time. If the water leaves badly from all points, then there is a blockage in the main pipe.

Why you shouldn’t sit on the toilet

There are a lot of harmful bacteria in public toilets, both in the air and on hard surfaces. E. coli, salmonella, coliform bacteria, rotavirus, and the common cold virus—the list sounds ominous.

What an ideal stool looks like

Shape of stool

Normal stool is sausage-shaped (cylindrical)1. There are the following changes in the shape of feces: “sheep feces” (separate balls) – with constant constipation, with a lack of water in the feces; ribbon-like, pencil shape – due to the presence of any obstruction in the rectum.

Which feces should alert

White stools should alert – this may indicate pathology of the liver and gallbladder. Red stools – fresh bleeding (for example, due to anal fissure, bowel disease, etc.). Black stools can mean chronic bleeding with damage to the stomach, small intestine.

What is the feces in pancreatitis

Diarrhea or constipation – stool in acute pancreatitis is most often frothy, often with a fetid odor, with particles of undigested food. There are, and vice versa, constipation, bloating, hardening of the abdominal muscles, which may be the very first signal of an acute attack of pancreatitis.

How to treat Steatorrhea

Enzyme preparations containing high concentrations of lipase, an enzyme responsible for the digestion and breakdown of fats, play an important role in the complex treatment of steatorrhea. Micrasim® is one of such means that promotes the digestion of food and facilitates the work of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

Why the feces have a strong odor

The bad smell is due to a violation of the secretion of lipase by the pancreas.