White specks in stool: Causes, treatment, and tips

White specks in stool usually result from food, medication, or a parasite. Treatment is often straightforward, and adjustments to diet are easy to make.

Changes in the appearance of stool can signal a health problem. However, these changes most often reflect adjustments to diet or bowel habits. If this is the case, the stool should return to normal within a few days.

Nuts and seeds can sometimes go through the body without breaking down completely. The outer shells of some pills can also survive the digestive process and show up in the stool.

Tapeworms or pinworms can look like white specks, and medications are available to treat both infections.

Certain types of food, medication, or parasites can cause white specks in stool.

Diet

The body does not digest some foods as thoroughly as others. For example, sesame seeds and some nuts, such as almonds, are white. Small pieces of these foods may show up in stool as white specks.

These seeds have a hard outer layer that protects the contents inside, and they may pass through the digestive system whole.

White specks in stool that occur soon after a person has eaten seeds are usually no cause for concern.

Learn more about undigested food in the stool here.

Medication

Some pills have hard outer casings. The body may absorb the medication but not this casing, which can appear in stools.

Empty cases are sometimes called ghost pills. Medications that may cause ghost pills to appear in stool are:

• extended-release metformin, a treatment for diabetes
• oxycontin, a pain medication
• venlafaxine, an antidepressant

Some people may be concerned when a drug casing appears in their stool because they think the medication has not worked.

If a person is worried, their doctor may be able to prescribe an alternative medication. For example, some medicines are available as liquids rather than pills.

Parasites

Tapeworms and pinworms can appear as white specks in stools. Tapeworm infection is uncommon, but these specks are a key symptom.

White or yellow specks may be pieces of parasitic worms. These pieces are usually flat, square-shaped, and about the size of a grain of rice.

Some people may not have additional symptoms. Others may experience a stomachache or diarrhea.

Learn more about parasitic infections in humans here.

The correct treatment will depend on what is causing white specks in a person’s stool.

Dietary intervention

If white specks in a person’s stool result from undigested food, then it is typically not cause for concern. However, assessing which foods pass whole and limiting them can reduce the frequency of this occurring.

Medication changes

If medication casings pass through a person’s gastrointestinal tract without proper digestion, doctors may be able to prescribe alternative medicines. Instead of capsules, pills or oral solutions may be available.

Treatments for parasites

Oral medications can treat many gastrointestinal parasites. These medications kill the parasite, which will pass out of the body in a stool.

A person may be required to give a stool sample 2 to 3 months after treatment, to check whether the infection has cleared up.

Remnants of foods and pill casings passing to the stool is typically not a cause for concern. However, parasitic infections can lead to complications.

It is unusual for a person with a tapeworm infection to have complications. However, newly hatched tapeworms can move from the gut to other organs, and this can cause cysts. A cyst is a small sac filled with fluid. Some cysts can stop organs from working correctly, most commonly the brain or liver.

Symptoms include problems with eyesight, headaches, and coughing up blood. If any of these symptoms follow a tapeworm infection, see a doctor.

Changes in the color and appearance of the stool are likely to happen occasionally, and prevention is not always possible.

A person may choose to keep a food diary and check the appearance of their stools. This can help to determine the cause of white specks. Avoiding whole nuts and seeds should cause the appearance of stool to return to normal.

To prevent intestinal parasite infections, people should:

• wash hands thoroughly before preparing and eating
• only drink from safe water sources
• thoroughly wash any garden-grown fruit and vegetables
• deworm pets regularly

Learn about the proper handwashing technique here.

A person who suspects a parasitic infection should see a doctor. The infection will usually require medication.

Some may wish to consult a doctor if changes to diet do not normalize the color of stool. A doctor should ensure that a person is correctly absorbing medication if pill casings continually appear in stools.

If the stool is mostly or entirely white, see a doctor. This may indicate that the pancreas, liver, or bile duct is not functioning as it should.

White specks in the stool are not a serious concern. Small changes can prevent the occurrence and many treatments exist in cases of parasitic infections.

Although the appearance of undigested food pill casings in the stool may be worrying, it is often not a cause for concern. It is natural for some foods to pass into the stool undigested and the body will absorb the necessary medication from within casings during digestion.

Pinworm and tapeworm infections are unpleasant but may carry no symptoms. Oral treatments can treat most parasitic infections quickly and without complication.

White specks in the stool may be the result of undigested food, pill casings, or a parasitic infection.

Changes to diet and medication types can treat these cases, while simple medications can treat parasitic infections.

Anyone that suspects they have an intestinal parasite should seek medical assistance immediately.

White specks in stool: Causes, treatment, and tips

White specks in stool usually result from food, medication, or a parasite. Treatment is often straightforward, and adjustments to diet are easy to make.

Changes in the appearance of stool can signal a health problem. However, these changes most often reflect adjustments to diet or bowel habits. If this is the case, the stool should return to normal within a few days.

Nuts and seeds can sometimes go through the body without breaking down completely. The outer shells of some pills can also survive the digestive process and show up in the stool.

Tapeworms or pinworms can look like white specks, and medications are available to treat both infections.

Certain types of food, medication, or parasites can cause white specks in stool.

Diet

The body does not digest some foods as thoroughly as others. For example, sesame seeds and some nuts, such as almonds, are white. Small pieces of these foods may show up in stool as white specks.

These seeds have a hard outer layer that protects the contents inside, and they may pass through the digestive system whole.

White specks in stool that occur soon after a person has eaten seeds are usually no cause for concern.

Learn more about undigested food in the stool here.

Medication

Some pills have hard outer casings. The body may absorb the medication but not this casing, which can appear in stools.

Empty cases are sometimes called ghost pills. Medications that may cause ghost pills to appear in stool are:

• extended-release metformin, a treatment for diabetes
• oxycontin, a pain medication
• venlafaxine, an antidepressant

Some people may be concerned when a drug casing appears in their stool because they think the medication has not worked.

If a person is worried, their doctor may be able to prescribe an alternative medication. For example, some medicines are available as liquids rather than pills.

Parasites

Tapeworms and pinworms can appear as white specks in stools. Tapeworm infection is uncommon, but these specks are a key symptom.

White or yellow specks may be pieces of parasitic worms. These pieces are usually flat, square-shaped, and about the size of a grain of rice.

Some people may not have additional symptoms. Others may experience a stomachache or diarrhea.

Learn more about parasitic infections in humans here.

The correct treatment will depend on what is causing white specks in a person’s stool.

Dietary intervention

If white specks in a person’s stool result from undigested food, then it is typically not cause for concern. However, assessing which foods pass whole and limiting them can reduce the frequency of this occurring.

Medication changes

If medication casings pass through a person’s gastrointestinal tract without proper digestion, doctors may be able to prescribe alternative medicines. Instead of capsules, pills or oral solutions may be available.

Treatments for parasites

Oral medications can treat many gastrointestinal parasites. These medications kill the parasite, which will pass out of the body in a stool.

A person may be required to give a stool sample 2 to 3 months after treatment, to check whether the infection has cleared up.

Remnants of foods and pill casings passing to the stool is typically not a cause for concern. However, parasitic infections can lead to complications.

It is unusual for a person with a tapeworm infection to have complications. However, newly hatched tapeworms can move from the gut to other organs, and this can cause cysts. A cyst is a small sac filled with fluid. Some cysts can stop organs from working correctly, most commonly the brain or liver.

Symptoms include problems with eyesight, headaches, and coughing up blood. If any of these symptoms follow a tapeworm infection, see a doctor.

Changes in the color and appearance of the stool are likely to happen occasionally, and prevention is not always possible.

A person may choose to keep a food diary and check the appearance of their stools. This can help to determine the cause of white specks. Avoiding whole nuts and seeds should cause the appearance of stool to return to normal.

To prevent intestinal parasite infections, people should:

• wash hands thoroughly before preparing and eating
• only drink from safe water sources
• thoroughly wash any garden-grown fruit and vegetables
• deworm pets regularly

Learn about the proper handwashing technique here.

A person who suspects a parasitic infection should see a doctor. The infection will usually require medication.

Some may wish to consult a doctor if changes to diet do not normalize the color of stool. A doctor should ensure that a person is correctly absorbing medication if pill casings continually appear in stools.

If the stool is mostly or entirely white, see a doctor. This may indicate that the pancreas, liver, or bile duct is not functioning as it should.

White specks in the stool are not a serious concern. Small changes can prevent the occurrence and many treatments exist in cases of parasitic infections.

Although the appearance of undigested food pill casings in the stool may be worrying, it is often not a cause for concern. It is natural for some foods to pass into the stool undigested and the body will absorb the necessary medication from within casings during digestion.

Pinworm and tapeworm infections are unpleasant but may carry no symptoms. Oral treatments can treat most parasitic infections quickly and without complication.

White specks in the stool may be the result of undigested food, pill casings, or a parasitic infection.

Changes to diet and medication types can treat these cases, while simple medications can treat parasitic infections.

Anyone that suspects they have an intestinal parasite should seek medical assistance immediately.

Coprogram with identification of helminths for ferrets

Coprogram is a type of laboratory study of feces that allows you to evaluate some aspects of the functioning of the digestive system.

What is feces?

The test material is a product resulting from the movement of food masses (and digestion/absorption of liquid) through the gastrointestinal tract. Feces – the contents of the large intestine, released during defecation. In a healthy animal, feces contain 75-80% water and 20-25% solid residue. The dense part consists of 1/3 of the remains of food taken, 1/3 of the remains of the discharge of the gastrointestinal tract, 1/3 of microbes, about 30% of which are dead.

Why is it necessary to do a coprogram?

In addition to other laboratory tests on animals, fecal analysis is performed at our veterinary clinic. This type of study, together with a biochemical blood test, is necessary to identify pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. With its help, inflammatory diseases, invasive (helminthiasis) diseases, protozoa, intestinal absorption disorders, impaired bile flow to the duodenum, and pancreatic dysfunction are detected. Also, fecal analysis is included in the list of standard studies conducted during the annual clinical examination of animals.

How to prepare an animal for testing?

Fecal analysis in most cases is carried out without special preparation, however, it is recommended to avoid taking drugs that change the nature of feces and cause functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (iron, bismuth, laxatives) 2-3 days before the study. The time from defecation to examination should be no more than 12 hours (when stored in the refrigerator), and in some cases no more than 20-30 minutes (when diagnosing parasitic diseases).

What tests does the coprogram include?

Analysis includes macroscopic, microscopic and simple chemical examination. Microbiological examination of feces is performed if an infectious intestinal disease is suspected.

1. Macroscopic examination

• Consistency and shape of stool: The stool of a healthy animal has a dense consistency and a cylindrical shape. A simple examination of the feces allows you to detect adult helminths, segments of tapeworms, determine the nature of the animal’s feeding, the presence of undesirable components (sharp bones, sticks, ropes, polyethylene, etc.). The consistency depends on the amount of water, fiber, mucus and fat. Dense, formed feces are excreted in healthy animals. The ointment-like consistency is due to a violation of the secretion of the pancreas (acute pancreatitis, pancreatic necrosis, cystic fibrosis). The feces become hard when the rate of chyme movement through the intestines decreases. Liquid feces accompany insufficient digestion in the small intestine with enteritis, accelerated evacuation, colitis with ulceration. Kashitseobrazny feces becomes with fermentative dyspepsia, colitis, chronic enterocolitis. Foamy character is acquired as a result of fermentative colitis, dysbiosis, dysbacteriosis. A ribbon-like, pencil-shaped form of feces acquires in the presence of hemorrhoids, spasm of the rectal sphincter, anus fissure, rectal tumor.

• The smell of is mainly due to protein breakdown products. A putrid smell appears with insufficiency of gastric digestion, putrefactive dyspepsia, ulcerative colitis. Fetid (the smell of rancid oil) – in violation of the secretion of lipase by the pancreas, the absence of bile. The sour smell is due to fermentation processes in the large intestine, malabsorption of fatty acids in the small intestine.

• Color – with a mixed diet – brown, with a meat diet – more dark, with fermentative dyspepsia – yellow feces, with putrefactive – dark brown. The color of feces is normally brown, normally becomes yellow with a milk diet, dark brown with a meat diet. Black feces acquire when bleeding in the anterior gastrointestinal tract (stomach, duodenum and small intestine). Dark brown is observed with insufficiency of gastric digestion, putrefactive dyspepsia, colitis with constipation, colitis with ulceration, increased secretory function of the colon. Light brown feces becomes accelerated evacuation from the colon. The reddish color is due to the presence of bleeding in the posterior gastrointestinal tract. Yellow color is observed with insufficiency of digestion in the small intestine and fermentative dyspepsia. The gray color is due to pancreatic insufficiency. White stool becomes with intrahepatal stagnation or complete obstruction of the common bile duct.

• The reaction of feces is slightly alkaline, less often neutral or slightly acidic (PH 5.5 – 7.0). A pronounced alkaline reaction – with putrefactive dyspepsia, due to the intensification of the processes of decay of proteins. The acidic reaction is due to the presence of free organic acids in the feces, resulting from the fermentation of carbohydrates and the disengagement of fats by microbes of butyric fermentation during fermentative dyspepsia. The intensification of the processes of bacterial decomposition of proteins (rotting) is accompanied by the formation of ammonia, which gives the feces an alkaline reaction, and the intensification of fermentation processes is accompanied by the release of CO2, organic acids and a shift in pH to the acid side.

Inadequate digestion of proteins in the small intestine or pancreatic insufficiency, as well as the release of inflammatory exudate (colitis) into the intestinal lumen, activate the putrefactive intestinal flora, and the stool reaction becomes sharply alkaline.

Insufficient digestion and increased intestinal peristalsis in enteritis contribute to the activation of the fermentative microflora, and the reaction of feces becomes acidic.

Mucus in stool. In healthy animals, the stool is always covered with a thin layer of mucus with single cells of cylindrical epithelium. The appearance of mucus in the form of flakes with a significant amount of intestinal epithelium, leukocytes and erythrocytes indicates an inflammatory process in the intestine.

2. Microscopic and bacterioscopic examination

• Helminth eggs, protozoa or their cysts are detected using the flotation method. You can also detect artifacts (get into the feces from the outside, such as fleas, ticks, etc.). Examination of feces for parasites reveals helminthiases (toxocariasis, toxascarosis, various types of tapeworms), as well as giardiasis (giardia is a small protozoan that lives in the large intestine and causes inflammation). This study allows you to effectively select anthelmintics (preparations for worms) and draw up a scheme for therapeutic deworming, as well as monitor the effectiveness of treatment for helminthiasis and giardiasis.

• Muscle fibers – usually divided into: changed and not changed. A characteristic feature of altered muscle fibers is the absence of transverse striation. Normally, only altered muscle fibers are detected in a small amount. Detection of unaltered muscle fibers in the feces indicates: insufficiency of the function of the stomach and pancreas, insufficiency of digestion in the small intestine and accelerated evacuation.

• Vegetable cellulose – distinguish between digested and undigested fiber. Digested fiber is that part of the fiber that is broken down under the influence of the microflora of the ileocecal intestine. Normally, it is usually not detected. The amount of undigested fiber in the feces depends on the amount of food rich in indigestible fiber entering the digestive tract. A lot of digestible fiber with fermentative and putrefactive dyspepsia.

• Fat in feces. Dietary fats, both animal and vegetable, are absorbed almost completely under conditions of normal digestion. In the stool of a healthy animal, fat is detected in small amounts in the form of fatty acids, their crystals and soaps. The appearance in the feces of neutral fat or an abundant amount of fatty acids, their crystals and soaps indicate an insufficient function of the pancreas, liver, obstruction of the biliary tract or rapid evacuation of food masses from the intestines, insufficient digestion in the small intestine. A significant amount of soaps and fatty acids is found in fermentative dyspepsia.

• Starch – starch is normally absent in feces. In the pathology of digestion, it is found in digested fiber in the form of intracellular or extracellular grains. In a significant amount, starch appears with insufficient digestion of carbohydrates due to pancreatic disease: extracellular starch is of particular diagnostic importance. A lot of starch in fermentative dyspepsia.

• Connective tissue – there is no connective tissue in the feces of healthy animals in conditions of complete digestion. Its appearance is associated with insufficiency of gastric digestion, i.e. the absence of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice.

Main syndromes of gastrointestinal disease and interpretation of the coprogram

3. Chemical examination of feces

• Occult blood reaction (Gregersen district). Determination of occult blood in the feces is of great diagnostic value, especially with so “hidden” gastrointestinal bleeding, when macroscopically blood in the feces is not detected.

• Reaction to bile pigments (bilirubin, stercobilin). Stercobilin is the end product of the reduction of bilirubin released into the intestine from the common bile duct, giving the animal’s feces a characteristic brown color. Stercobilin is present in the norm (secreted depending on the weight of the animal 20 – 350 mg / day). The absence or a sharp decrease in the amount of stercobilin in the feces (acholic feces) most often indicates obstruction of the common bile duct by a stone, squeezing it with a tumor, or a sharp decrease in liver function (for example, in acute viral hepatitis). An increase in the amount of stercobilin in the feces occurs with massive hemolysis of red blood cells or increased bile secretion. The detection of unaltered bilirubin in the feces of cats and dogs indicates a violation of the process of restoring bilirubin in the intestine under the influence of microbial flora. The most common causes of this disorder are: suppression of the vital activity of intestinal bacteria under the influence of large doses of antibiotics (intestinal dysbacteriosis), a sharp increase in intestinal motility.

• Triboulet test – determination of soluble protein. During digestion, proteins are broken down and absorbed. Therefore, in the feces of healthy people, soluble protein, as a rule, is not found. It appears with inflammatory processes or ulcerations in the small and large intestines.

Symptom of semolina – PrimaMed Multidisciplinary Medical Center

0173 symptom of semolina “. What does it mean? Should I be concerned and take action?

What is a symptom of semolina

The symptom got its name due to its external resemblance to all known semolina – white groats, from which porridge was cooked in kindergarten.

During gastroscopy, when examining the duodenum, the doctor may notice small white dots on its mucosa, as if someone has powdered your mucosa with semolina.

Causes of symptom

The anatomy of the duodenum is such that it is adjacent to the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, right flexure of the colon, and right kidney.

If any pathology is observed in these organs, then it can cause changes visible during gastroscopy in the duodenum.

Especially such changes often give chronic inflammation of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis). Being located in close proximity, the inflammatory process begins to cover the duodenum.

Is it dangerous?

Any inflammatory process in the body is a danger to your health, disrupting the functions of specific organs and spreading the infection through the bloodstream throughout the body.

What threatens the presence of inflammation in the pancreas?

First of all, a violation of its secretory function – the production of enzymes that are necessary for the breakdown of food.

With a long inflammatory process, special cells that produce enzymes are replaced by normal connective tissue and lose their function. As a result the body begins to fail to cope with its task and the whole process of digestion suffers, and with it your whole body.

12 The duodenum is the central node of the digestive system. Here the main processes of splitting food for its subsequent assimilation in other parts of the small intestine take place.

Naturally, the inflammatory process significantly complicates the work of this biochemical station, interferes with the full processing of food, as a result of which its absorption then begins to suffer. Not to mention that there are risk against the background of an inflammatory process development of duodenal ulcer.

What to do about it?

Most likely, the endoscopist will recommend that you contact a gastroenterologist to identify the underlying disease affecting the condition of the duodenum.