Is there such thing as “quality poop”?
What you see in the toilet, and what your bathroom experience is, can say a lot about your health or lack thereof.
Digestion in a nutshell
To get to the “end” we have to start at the beginning. Your BM starts its journey as food. Food starts off in the mouth getting chewed and mixed with enzymes that starts digestion. The food gets pushed down to the stomach where it’s mixed with more enzymes that break down protein. Then into the small intestine where everything your cells need to live is absorbed by the lining of the small intestine, goes into the blood, and gets distributed to all the cells of you body.
Anything left over that is not used by the body as fuel goes to the large intestine.
Your large intestine is about as long as you are tall and it is the place where water gets absorbed and re-absorbed. The waste moves through and collects in the sigmoid colon. The sigmoid pushes the poop further on down the line and it collects in the rectum. Truly healthy rectums are filled and emptied daily.
If all is well, a nicely formed, light brown, somewhat soft, bowel movement is pushed out of the anus (mostly by the internal contractions of the rectum) and voila! A turd is born!
Stool is 75% water, 8.3% dead bacteria, 8.3% live bacteria, and 8.4% indigestible fiber.
But in order for that turd to be “healthy” at the end, it needs fiber and water at the beginning. Without these two important elements in the diet, there can be no healthy poo.
Does this look like your poo?
Everyone should be looking in the toilet to see what you’ve left behind from your behind. It’s only when you know your poo, that you really know you!
Poo #1
You go about 1 time daily usually at the same time. Your poo is soft but formed and it is described as a snake rather than a sausage. It is light brown to medium brown in color. There is no pain or effort. There is no “plopping” sound. When you wipe the toilet paper is pretty clean.
What this says: You have mastered the art of truly zen bowel movements. You are healthy and get plenty of water (goal 64 oz/day) Raw fruits and veggies are a main staple of your diet. You don’t eat a lot of dairy, white starch (white rice, white pasta, bread…) or processed food. You exercise regularly.
Bravo! You are the kung-poo master!
This is wrong on so many levels…..
Poo #2
You feel like you want to go, but it only happens 2 x week or less. When it does happen there are grunting sounds followed by tearing eyes and a huge sigh of relief when it’s over. Sometimes you feel a bit dizzy when your done. Your poop, even though you’ve worked very hard at it, is only a tiny hard marble (or many marbles) and it makes a splash when it hits the water. You might see a little bit of bright red blood in the toilet or on the tissue.
What this says: Your diet probably consists of fries and donuts washed down with coffee. You are a huge coffee drinker (large amounts of coffee, more than 2 cups/day, on a regular basis dehydrate your system). You can’t remember the last time you ate anything raw…..and ketchup is your daily vegetable. Water isn’t water unless it’s a Coke. Your exercise is taking a shower. You probably have a lot of bloating and cramping and are always complaining that you are tired.
How to get a “zen BM”: Start with your water intake. This is a simple way to improve your bowels. Since your poop contains mostly water and fiber, you can’t poop if you don’t put that in your mouth. A daily 15 minute walk would also help.
The smaller your poop is, the more stressed you are. The more relaxed the colon is, the longer (not bigger) the stool is.
Bright red blood, a little bit, means you might have hemorrhoids or tiny tears in your rectum (like paper cuts on your butt hole) that you get from too much straining. (Anything persistent or more than just a little bit should get checked by your doctor right away) When you strain, you are performing a “valsalva maneuver”. This strain puts pressure on the heart reducing the amount of blood that is pumped out. For most healthy people, this is not a problem, but if you have an underlying heart condition (that you may not be aware of) it can cause problems.
Think about it….do you want them to find you dead….like that?
Straining can also cause little tears in your retina causing you to see “floaters” (not in the toilet….in your vision). This usually corrects on its own. But, really, if you’re pushing so hard you are making your eyes bleed, don’t you think it’s time for a change?
Poo #3
Your poop is formed, but you see “stuff” in it. Sometimes they sink and sometimes they float.
What this says: You’ve eaten something that your body can’t digest. For example, the outer shell of corn kernels are made of cellulose–totally indigestible by your body. If you were to pull those kernels out (I don’t recommend this) you would find the inside of the shell is gone.
Floaters are poops with gas in them. If you dink a lot of carbonated drinks, you most likely have floaters. Sinkers don’t have as much gas. Either is fine it just depends on your diet.
Poo #4
You poop fine, but sometimes it’s strange colors like green and yellow
What this says: You eat colorful stuff. Dark green veggies like spinach, will turn your poop greenish. Artificial blue dye like in Gatorade and blue ice pops will turn your poop a bright green (like glow in the dark). Beets will turn your stools darker. (and will turn your pee a beautiful sunset color)
Light or clay colored stools could mean there is a problem with your liver and should be checked out.
Yellow stools can sometime mean there is blood disorder as it is the broken down “dead” red blood cells that are digested that give poop it’s brown color.
Black stools mean that you are breaking down and digesting living red blood cells, that is, you are bleeding somewhere in your digestive tract. (those vampires must have some black stools, eh?) Dark stools can also be the result of certain medications or iron supplements.
Persistant black or light colored stools should always be evaluated by a doctor.
Poo #5
I know poop stinks, but even I can’t take it!
What this says : You are probably a meat eater. Digested meat is stinkier than veggies. Also certain other foods like spicy beans produce gasses in your bowel that produce noxious gasses in your bathroom.
Doody also is loaded with bacteria. (E.Coli is the main one). This is normal and is necessary for normal poop production. These bacteria produce gasses when they grow and reproduce. It is these gasses that smell.
If the smell is bad and strange, and you see fatty snot in your poop, you may have fat collecting in your stool. This is not normal as fat is normally digested by enzymes and processes in your stomach and small intestines. If there’s fat, something in that process is not working and it should be checked out.
Poo #6 I go 3x/day and it’s very soft or liquid. I feel bloated and get cramps a lot.
What this says: This probably happens when you have a deadline at work coming up or have to take a test at school. Acute stress can cause you body to become hyperactive and this also translated to your bowels. If the stool is pushed through too quickly, there is no time for the water to become re-absorbed, so it comes out with too much water in it.
Virusus can also cause inflammation of the bowel and spasms causing the stool to be moved along too fast. Intestinal viruses usually move through your system in a few days.
Prolonged loose stools can cause dehydration. Any prolonged diarrhea that lasts for more than 1 week or that are accompanied by fever or blood should always be evaluated by a professional. Diarrhea in children is particularly dangerous as they can become dehydrated quickly.
Many occasional loose stool problems are diet related. Dairy is the usual culprit. Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol is another.
Some other fun stuff to know about #2
- you can have from 5 to 25 pounds of stool in your body depending on your size and type of diet.
- close the lid on the toilet before you flush. The flushing agitates the water (and feces) so that tiny droplets of water are hurled up to 20 feet. (I’m betting it’s less than that to your toothbrush, isn’t it?)
- using witch hazel, a natural product that has been used for thousands of years, can ease the pain of hemorrhoids. Here is a great and trusted company that has wonderfully pure witch hazel extract. Soak some cotton cloths or cotton balls and place them on your anus (not the planet) for 10 minutes or so. You can also use witch hazel in a sitz bath. Hey, who says being anal is a bad thing?
- Bird poop is white and pasty, because they can’t urinate, so they mix everything together and it all comes out at once–right on your freshly washed car!
- some say processed “chemically enhanced” foods never really leave your digestive tract. That means you probably have some food from when you were a baby in your gut right now.
- In 1998 Friedrich Riesfeldt, a German zoo keeper was killed when the elephant he was treating for constipation crapped on him, covering him and killing him. (OK, many have posted that this may not be true, but c’mon…it’s such a good story…)
Categories: health, health and wellness, healthy living, healthy living blogs
The Savvy Sister 
i started drinking herbal tea hibiscus with ginger every morning and ever since then i have been having huge enormous poop everyday just huge solid ones. they come out very easily no trouble whatsoever but afterwards i feel very empty and kinda weak i get that feeling that i have to eat, is this normal those monster poops
Crap in…crap out. You can’t crap more than you shovel in. Sounds like you’ve found the eternal “Fountain of Poop”. Enjoy!
Hello
My name is Ralph. The other day, I went for a fart and immediately regretted doing so as it was not in fact a fart as I had thought prior to the pool of watery lumps entering my underwear.
The strange thing is I cant fart anymore since, its always wet and sprays down my legs. Oh it’s just disgusting. Sloopy and wet, sometimes even burns a little.
Every time, without fail, a massive splatter. I have been taking extra trips to the jon several times a day and just sitting there awaiting the unheavenly stream of foul smelling waste to exit my gut. This does not take much time out of my day when compared with how much I spend cleaning up the non farts.
I am developing anxiety as I miss being able to enjoy a nice fart without fearing the worst, like the good ol days when I would just let em rip. I just want to fart again Susan. Help me. Please help me to fart again I beg you. With love, Ralph.
Oh Ralph…..to fart…perchance to dream. (I truly believe that is what Bill Shakespeare meant to write.)
As we age, unfortunately this happens, things loosen up down there, and our system just isn’t what it used to be. My saying is “Never trust a fart after 40”
Something you could do, is tighten up the poop a bit. Roughage, my boy, roughage. This is what makes poop solid and formed into that snake-like stream of soft serve we all hope for. If you’re not wiling to lay off the dairy and eat raw veggies, then you could add some type of bulking agent like psyllium (Metamucil-type buling agents) to your daily regimen.
Good luck and please let me know how everything “comes out”.
This is shit
Agreed….
My name is Reece Goodwin I eat six cooked meals a day and when I poo it comes out like foam fluffy chunk lumps that stink.
I drink deer touch and smoke pott too.
What can help my poo sessions…
PS… Follow me on Facebook .
Not sure what “deer touch” is….it doesn’t sound very digestible….maybe there’s you problem?
Hi
Respected doctor
I have a problem please let me know what is that problem I m very thankful to you..I m from india my question is related to my digestion..from last two years I m facing problem with my poop whenever I go to poop I first strike was ok but after that my poop comes with lots of jelly like white transparent substance and foams .
I had taken lots of medicine and two time ultrasound but no results pls kindly help me ….I don’t want to go for poop two times daily but in the evening I have to go for poop…if I won’t go then my stomach swollen likes a balloon..and I daily sits in toilet in half an hour but I can’t emptyi my stomach
Thanks
Waiting for ur answer.
Hello:
I am not a doctor, so I can’t make recommendations for you over the computer. it sounds like you are having some fatty substances in your poop which can be from many reasons. I suggest you get a poop analysis to see what’s going on. I wish you good luck!
I have a question:When I pooped this morning, one piece floated & the other pieces didn’t and I’d like to know if that’s normal or if it’s something that I should be concerned about ?
I take a fiber supplement twice every day & drink Metamucil once every day,
sometimes I poop 3 times a day & sometimes I do it twice a day
(rarely only once during the day or not at all) and most times my poop is
marble-like but it’s also a bit bigger at times.
I have hemorrhoids due to straining to go after I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago and they still bother me-I have hemorrhoidal flare•ups every so often and I often feel like I have to poop when I have them but usually don’t.
By the way, I had been having issues with bloating, gas & nausea for about a month so I went to see my doctor and she did a CT scan which showed that I had
constipation so she recommended that I increase the amount of fiber in my diet
and drink more water plus she suggested that I use Miralax, and it has helped,
I’m still having issues with gas along with acid reflux so my Dr. increased the
dosage of Omeprazole that I’ve been taking for 5 years due to having gastroenteritis and it does seem to be helping because I’m less gassy then I was.
I really hope that this helps you answer my question !!
Thanks very much !!
Great questions and thanks for your comments.
My first question to you would be what kind of diet are you following. There should be no reason at all for taking the Pepcid or anything for your constipation if you follow a mostly plant-based diet. (Taking omeprazole…pepcid…for long period of time for women results in osteoporosis) You can start by just adding a smoothie to your daily or every other day regimen to start. In one smoothie you can get all the fiber you need in one day along with all the protein, vitamins and minerals that you don’t get with fiber supplements like metamucil. Please consider your food…or medicine for like…in your solution! Again good luck and let me know if you need any help with getting started. You can “search” the smoothie that I like to drink in this blog. https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/drink-like-the-professionals/
Cheers!
Hi Susan- i find my stools are normal only when i take high dose probiotic powder with larch prebiotic. problem is the prebiotic bloats me badly but thats the only thing that give me normal stools. otherwise they tend to be thinner and i usually have to wipe multiple times. suggestions?
Are you taking the prebiotic at night? That helps
hey susan i have a question for you im a 60 year old drummer an just 2 years ago my sugar dropped to 63 i fainted hit my head an wound up with a skull fracture subrachnoid hemmorage an a seizure im doing well now but ive been on dialantin or phentoin for over 2 years an was eating alot of frozen yogurt.ive noticed my bowel habits have suddenly changed now just about everytime i go its no warning just a sudden urgent need to go an when i do its an amazing amount!!!looks like light brown in color no pain or blood but stomach gurgles alot,i also eat alot of green veggies no red meats could the frozen yogurt be causing this i feel great otherwise im in great physical condition 32 inch waste slim but muscular!!!i never hardly ever catch a cold an i have more energy then a 10 year old lol what do you think???to much yogurt or could it be the meds an yogurt combo??? any help would be appreciated thank you !!!sincerly ed dilley jr
The only way to see if it’s the yogurt is to stop the yogurt. Frozen yogurt is a scam. It’s not healthy and it does nothing for the health of your gut. Let me know what happens! Thanks for taking the time to comment ❤
Hey, so for the last two months I’ve been having some stomach issues. Started off by a really bad bubbling stomach, after a week I went to Drs and they said I was constipated, I’ve been constipated before, so felt abit fobbed off as didn’t think this was the case. Took the lactulose solution he prescribed to help me clear myself out. After 4/5 days I went back as had uncomfortable bloated feeling at top of my tummy. Dr sent off stool sample, by this point I was regularly going to the toilet, although I was passing some mucus along with stools. Dr said this was common when bowel has been upset. For about two weeks after this my stomach started to settle, but then one day after stool movement I noticed black grain like particles on the tissue after wiping. Phoned the dr as I freaked and he was stumped =\ (stool sample came back clear), a week or so later I went back as still wasn’t feeling overly right, had bloods sent off and they have come back all ok. Tummy is now almost back to normal, although still quite windy. Stool varies from loose-ish to normal and then abit constipated =/ on the odd occasion I get the black grain like bits when I wipe but not everything, then today I went and wiped & there was like a lump of red in the tissue. Now I tried pulling it apart to see what it was (I did have red peppers yesterday) but not sure whether it’s pepper of blood. Panicking all over again now 😦 would it be wise to ask dr to refer me for a colonoscopy? They just seem to keep saying its IBS? HELP!!
HI Kay:
I’m sorry you are having bowel issues and it sounds like you’ve been evaluated by medical professionals but are not 100% comfortable with what they are telling you. That’s because they don’t know. IBS is just a term that the medical profession has adopted to give a name to a syndrome that they know nothing about. they don’t know why it happens or how to help it other than with pills. There are many other illnesses that also have “names” because doctors just don’t know what the hell is going on. ALS and MS are two. They are not diseases, but are a collection of symptoms that the medical profession has given a name because they like to be able to “tag” things. Soooo… as far as “IBS goes. it only has to do with your sensitivity to what you are eating. I would highly suggest you find a good naturopath or integrative medicine doctor who can muscle test you for sensitivity to certain foods. Sometimes it’s dairy, sometimes it’s nightshades (a collection of vegetables like eggplant, potatoes and tomatoes) but whatever it is is causing you issues. You may have to ask around and the best way to get a name is through a referral. Then go to their website or drive by and see if it feels right to you.
BTW if there was blood in your stool it would not appear as a clump.
Now let me say that I am not your medical professional and anything I say is strictly opinion and not medical advice.
Good luck and please let me know what you find out!
Thank you for the quick reply 🙂 you’ve more than put my mind at ease regarding the blood! Heading back to the Drs this week so will let you know how I get on. Fingers crossed it will be somewhere in the right direction 🙂
Yes. Please let me know!
I have less colored stool some times about 1 time in 3 or 4 time I got checked by two doctors and they say I have nothing I just eat too much white food , I am a very anxious and stressed man I get scared and panic a lot about my health thank you for you r help
If you’ve been checked by doctors and there is nothing physically wrong, may it’s the stress you should work on. Do you exercise and practice meditation?
Hello. For the last 2 years or so I not so often have a regular movement. Usually it follows a lot of noise from my belly after eating. Liquid like with some particles or like noodles.
Without really knowing your history and other facts about your health it’s hard for me to say if that’s normal or not.
So, here’s a question. I have what I would generally say is in the “kung-poo master” category as far as the pooping process. No trouble going, it doesn’t take long, I go at least once a day I’d say, and the poo is as described there. The only trouble I run into is in the wiping category. It takes SO long (about 15 min.) for me to wipe to being completely clean! I guess this is a place for detailed posting, so, to explain, the first wipe or so gets most everything, but subsequent wipe after subsequent wipe continues to have just a little bit of poo on it! Literally after about 15 minutes I can usually get to the place of no more poo coming off when I wipe… Exhausting!
I eat fairly healthily, although by no means perfectly. I eat plenty of whole grains, very little refined grains at all. I work to keep veggies in my diet more than I used to as a busy work-at-home mom, but it is important to me to do so. Very little fried foods (almost none), some processed food but not much I don’t think, no sodas, plenty of water (I think, although again on some days I get so busy that maybe I am not drinking as much as I should).
Any thoughts?
I’m thinking: “bidet” LOL 🙂 Really there is no problem with health if the poo is sticking to your butt. That’s why the bidet was invented. All my European friends are saying “You Americans are gross…you just push the poop around on your ass with a piece of paper without really cleaning it. How do you walk around like that?” Wet wipes are the other thing I would recommend. And the last thing is to soften your ass with a little bit of coconut oil every day. Just take a small bit of coconut oil and rub it on your butthole and all around that area. It’s really nice actually, it doesn’t feel oil-y, makes your ass really smooth and it will prevent stickage. Let me know how that “goes”.
I have the same deal as the C person; however, after I cleaned and I think I’m done, I get up and start walking or even if I go and so down, I leak poop, without noticing that I’m pooping, sometimes I just smell bad and i realized that I have pooped on my panties. It’s probably after 30 minutes after I pooped every day. Please help.
It depends on your age and how the first poop is. If the first poop is good, you may just have anal sphincter issues which happens as we get older. Do you make a noise when you fart? If you’re farting quietly, the muscles around your asshole may be weak. If you’re not leaking all day, I would give yourself some extra time to get it all out. If your poop is a bit soft, and you think that is adding to the leaking, and you need to firm it up, raw veggies (cellulose) is the deal. (metamucil will do the same thing) Good luck!
Definitely an informative read, but I still can’t find out an answer to what I’ve been trying to find out.
Can oversleeping cause softer stool (similar to poo #6)? Also, as written, poo #6 can happen from stress. I can’t find that info anywhere, so I’m hoping you might be able to help. I had quite a scare at work, so that might be the cause instead. That would bring me to a new question: how quickly can a bm happen from a stress related issue?
I can give you the answers to this question based on what I know from my medical and alternative medicine experience. I’m assuming you mean “oversleeping” as sleeping more than 10 hours a day or having to nap during the day even when you’ve slept at least 8 hours? Oversleeping….is this because of depression? Fatigue? Adrenal abnormalities? to oversleep is not normal, so the cause would have to be investigated. Each person is it’s own wonderous machine, so the answer to the question of how quickly a BM can happen can vary, but…have you ever seen movies where someone is looking down the barrel of a gun and they shit themselves? It happens during extreme stress situations so the answer I guess is immediately.
Since I don’t know you or your situation, you may want to self investigate this issue…
So then what if your poos are in the kung poo master category except that you don’t poo daily and occasionally go more than a week with no poo but when the poo finally comes its just normal no more no less than average. What;’s that all about?
If I was pressed for a response, I would have to say still no good. You should be eating enough fiber in raw fruits and veggies to make up a good sized poo per day. That waste must move through or the gut bacteria won’t be healthy. See if you can “up the ante” on the raw foods. An easy way to do it is to eat breakfast and lunch raw, and eat cooked dinner. Thanks for your comment!
Maybe you are passing gallstones/have chronic or acute pancreatitis. I thought I had GERD for over a decade and once even had a several weeks of truly foul-smelling flatulence and feces during the holidays. Seven years after this holiday gas and upper abdominal pain incident (for which I was told I still had GERD and thus likely only had an acid reflux attack), I had to go to the ER (the pain was unbearable). The diagnosis was acute pancreatitis, most likely because of a stuck gallstone. Gallbladder removal was recommended and performed. Haven’t had GERD since. Looking back, the reflux attacks were likely smaller gallstones causing trouble all that time. Get a second or third opinion.
Awesome and humorous. Loved it…And on that note….
Ummmm…I’m guessing you’re going to create a masterpiece?
I wouldn’t say that Susan but thanks for your confidence. 😊👍
Hiii well I’ve seen the link yo this site in my searches many times and finally clicked, and my search for stringy white stuff has brought me here ! Hahaa
But… I cannot find anything on it ? Do you actually have info on it? Or is it just a tag ? Anyway, if you do…
My BM’s are closest #2 they are soft small rocks but are hard to get out ? To the point where I have to keep latex gloves by the toliet to give them some “help” but for small pieces that are so hard to come out, they are really soft! (I know this because Ican literally feel them with the glove) I think it is because they try to come out all at one time, think little tiny balls making a baseball , which is obviously painful and obviously needs assistance…
ANYWAY … My last two BM’s (3 days apart) I’ve found these extremely hard seed- like things in them! They look like a bigger sunflower seed but more round all the wayaround instead of flat on the sides, they come to a point like a seed, usually with a black tip. They are like the same size of a lemon seed just not wrinkly, pretty smooth actually.
And I’ve found clumps of white strings that look like dental floss, also in black. Also I find blood on the stool, which I think is different from ripping the anal skin (its happened) and I’d only see blood after I wiped on the tissue, and the signature staibging and burning— but not this time. Its on the stool AND the paper, and not bright like before…
I know I did not eat these things, its nothing I’ve ever seen. Once I washed all the stool off, they have brown lines and patterns on the outside making it look like it was a bug, but clearly its not, no arms legs head etc and its HARD. The first day i could not break it.
Sometimes there are fragments of them, or halves that are broken, but my stool is filled with almost rock hard pieces.
I haven’t ruled out parasites, or pretty much anything. ANY AND ALL INFO IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
& I don’t want to go to the doctor until I have a pretty confident idea of what I have,and can research my best bet at explaining, because doctor’s are too often trying to dismiss parasitic symptoms as paranoid ideas and try to prescribe an antibiotic and send you on your way,
Also I don’t have a primary care doctor, if its serious I would just go to the E.R and use my insurance.. Thanks !
Sounds like you’re not getting enough water and/or fiber. Most seeds and vitamin capsules do not get absorbed and come out the same way they went in…so if you swallowed them whole, that’s what you’ll see. What you’re describing sounds like a fennel seed…have you ingested any sausage or foods with fennel seeds in them?
Hi. Brilliant and insightful this article.
I have problems with back pain. Hence, can’t push and have to go 2-3 times a day based on the movement. The stool is soft and is not like your sausage or snake shapes..color mostly is yellow..what can be corrected ?
Thanks for your comment. Soft is fine, as long as it’s not water-y…not sure about the color…and without knowing your medical history I can’t comment on that. Have you ever heard of Squatty Potty?(http://www.squattypotty.com/) It might help with the back pain issue of going.
I have a son who is having colon problems. He went for a colonoscopy and EGD today. When he did the prep for these test he had went to the bathroom and he had a bunch of seeds. My son don’t eat seeds, and didn’t have any prior, what caused this, do u know?
My 3 1/2 year old is just getting comfortable pooping on the potty so we’re able to see what his poop looks like much easier than when it was smashed in a diaper. It’s almost always short and stocky/wide not long and skinny. It’s also quite dense/heavy. Brown in color. He’s been on a daily probiotic for about 3 weeks (this one: http://www.orthomolecularproducts.com/floraboost/) and takes this (http://www.orthomolecularproducts.com/ready-set-go/) every other night to help make it easier for him to poop daily (also been taking for about 3 weeks). He can be a picky eater. We’re encouraging him to eat more veggies and he gets no soda pop or candy. He’s in daycare so he does get 50% of his meals there likely processed food, but his meals at home are all healthier made from scratch (kombucha, kefir, einkorn flour, brown rice pasta, soaked granola, raw carrots, steamed beets, apples, bananas, berries, etc. almost always organic and non-gmo). Very little meat except Applegate bacon twice a week or a thousand hills cattle co hot dog once a week. Do you have any thoughts that come to mind? Thanks so much… It’s nice to see someone that actually replies back to comments!
Sounds like you are doing everything right. I really don’t usually comment on kid questions because they are just wired so differently than adults. This may be his normal stool at 3, and as his body changes, so will the poop. I am not even close to even pretending to be a pediatrician, so I would have to leave this to your motherly instincts (which are better than any medical professional) If he is active, in no pain, and gaining weight, growing and developing normally, there may not be an issue, but if you as a mom feel something is amiss, then go see the professionals. Thanks very much for taking the time to comment and trusting me to comment back!
Hi, two months ago, my poos became very thin and soft, but i have this feeling that i cant push them out as if the door is closed at my rectum. I have mild pain at my rectum not related to eating or emptying my bowels. I used to have very good normal poos. I am scared that is this colon or rectum cancer. I dont see blood though as i use a bidet for cleansing. What do u think?
While rectal cancer is the worst case albeit unlikely, I think if you are concerned enough to write to me, then you should get it checked out by someone who can give you a proper exam. please let me know what they say.
So…I stumbled across this great post and thought it was a good way to pose a somewhat embarrassing question of my own. I generally eat healthy and enjoy vegetables. Recently in the past week and a half I went a little overboard on green beans. Ate them nearly daily for days. 2 days ago, I had my first BM of the day and to my horror there was a little ball hanging. (o__O) I wiped and it looked like some sort of fiber. It happened again this morning as well. I got a better look on toilet paper this time and it looks like the outer “skin” of a french cut green bean, same size as well. (which is what I had been eating)
My question is, is it plausible that random beans are passing through my system more intact than not (which can cause them to get “caught” on the way out)? There are no symptoms of illness, problems or anything “off” aside from these 2 instances. I did have my period which sometimes messes with my stomach and how it functions as well. General searches on the internet do not seem to help when you are a natural worrier!
Thanks for taking the time to explain your very unique issue 🙂
Foods are funny as they pass through our GI tract (funny as in strange…not funny: haha) and sometimes there are parts of foods that do not get digested at all and come out exactly as they went in. As long as your pooping, you’re fine. Having your period does mess with things because the hormones can cause the food to move too quickly through the GI tract causing some upset and sometimes diarrhea, so that could have played a part.
I would not worry at all and I would keep eating the healthy green beans (and any other beans for that matter)!
It’s only in the US where we use barbaric toilet paper instead of a bidet are such things even a problem 😉
I am not sure what category I fit in, but here goes. I have been gluten free (2 months), dairy ( 4 months), and soy free ( 2 months). I had a recent visit to the GI, and they took blood work and said I was fine. My concern is I normally have a BM first thing in the morning, and it seems urgent at times. I think mine has fallen bet. 4-6 on the Bristol stool chart. I have changed my diet by cutting out caffeine, fried and fast foods.
This is what I unusually have during the work week :
B: Udi blueberry/oat muffin top
S: Enjoy life chewy bar ( either mixed berry or cinnamon bun)
L: plain salad with lean meat. ( turkey,chicken etc.)
S: enjoy life chewy bar
D: Either toast or bagel.
I also have the urge to go a few hours after eating lunch. On weekends I tend to have salmon with broccoli for dinner, and I only indulge on chocolate Friday or Saturday. It is also an enjoy life product.
My concern is sometimes the urgency to go, and consistency. I go every morning, and my BM appears to be looser and brighter in color. I am not a big fruit eater due to fructose issues, but I do like my green veggies. Could it be the yeast in the bread, and should I consider eliminating it? I follow the alkaline principles on food combinations. I am also a very busy nanny to three children, and I think I have some stress and anxiety issues. I also take digestive enzymes and gas pills before eating veggies. Any ideas?
I always have to preface my comments with the following: I am not your health care provider nor am I qualified to give out medical advice so whatever I say don’t listen to me.
OK Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I would have to say right off the bat that the “enjoy life” bars need to go. Did you know that there are 10 (TEN) sources of sugar in those bars? And they don’t contain anything of any substance. You’re doing great on your dietary changes, but if you like green veggies why aren’t you eating those for snack? Is it because you don’t have access to a fridge during the day? Also if your salad just contains lettuce and meat, that could definately be pumped up with some additions like avocado, walnuts, chia seeds, carrot shavings, apple chunks(low fructose), …you could forget the meat and just “beef” it up with other protein sources.
Your GI took bloodwork and said you were fine, but did they do a fecal analysis looking for parasites or infection? Just curious.
It would not hurt to eliminate bread, but before you do that, eliminate those dang bars! The sugar in those things are killing your gut bacteria. It’s the bacteria that makes a healthy gut. See this post: https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/do-you-need-a-feces-transplant-for-better-health/
I have some great snacks and make-ahead foods that would increase your veggies without increasing the fructose….but think WHOLE FOODS…not in a box or bag
Your dinner sucks. Toast or a bagel is just like eating pure sugar. If you are avoiding fruit because of the sugar and eating bread for dinner, you are getting more sugar that if you ate watermelon and with watermelon at least you would be getting minerals and vitamins.
If I had to make a guess, I would say your micro biome is SCREAMING for food….fructans (no relation to fructose) feed the bacteria in your gut. I would suggest adding some form of fermented food…miso, tempeh, kombucha, coconut kiefer, or such and sprouts. Do some research on “healthy micro biome foods” to see what foods you’re missing.
You can also start taking a high quality pro-biotic. You can ask your GI doc to prescribe one as the OTC pro-biotics are susally not that great.
Hope all of this helps! Thanks for taking the time to write to me and I am honored you trust me with your info Please let me know what happens! Thanks!
Can anybody help i get green bits in my poop whats wrong before i go when my poops like that i get heavy cramps and feels like labour pains and it goes away after about 1 min or until i get a poo
Hi! I’ve been having a tough time pooping these past couple of weeks. When I do it’s at work (ugh) and I have to hurry because I don’t want people to know I’m pooping…..lol. I’m pretty new and I don’t want to be known as the girl that stinks up the bathroom everyday (it’s really stinky, like diarrhea). I’ve been having bad constipation and pain. My diet consists of water and coffee and meat and veggies. Not a whole lot of carbs.
For the past week I’ve been needing to use moist wipes after because it’s not wiping up well (too pasty). Today I wiped away a REALLY long, thick piece of ‘straw’. I haven’t had much luck searching online about it. It’s not stringy, it’s literally like itchy straw. Could you help by providing some insight as to what this is and/or why is happening?
Thank you!
Thanks for your vivid description! I can almost smell the stench! All kidding aside, your bathroom habits start with what you put in your mouth. Maybe that needs a bit of improvement?Without seeing he “straw” I can’t really comment. (please…no pictures) Was it just once? Or does the straw appear often?
I have been searching all day because the same thing happened to me this morning except I had to pull it out and I am totally freaked out!
please let me know if possible if you ever figured what this was
It’s not impossible that you have a parasite. There are thousands of us walking around with parasites, and we don’t really know it. To get tested you’ll need to leave a stool sample in a specific cup at the lab and test has to be ordered by a doctor. Hope that helps!
http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/feces.asp
zoo keeper story seems to be false
My 4 year old’s poo has a string like poo before his big sausage like one comes out. It’s like a tampon sting that you could use to pull the poo out with (if was stronger). It has nothing in it, just poo and about the length of a finger…is that normal?
I don’t do kids because kids are a whole other animal…..but if it’s pretty soft, he may be clenching until it starts coming out making the hole really small at frost giving you a small think strand. (do you have a play-dough factory at home?…you’ll know what I mean) Then once it starts to come out, he relaxes. Just a theory, again, I don’t do kids…
I have poos that aren’t entirely mentioned on the list. I eat healthy, vegetables in every meal and I try to stay away from sodium and fat. I exercise regularly too. My poos are maybe twice a day and are usually rock hard pebble sized turds that float to the bottom of the bowl. Not to mention, for twice a day, there are maybe 6-10 turds there.
It leaves me feeling sad, bloated and I feel that I eat enough to be pooping more than that.
I need a suggestion! I think maybe some of the reasons could be lack of water ( I drink around 2-4 cups a day) or maybe carbohydrate intake, or possibly stress! Please help me!
Sorry for this. These types of poops are almost ALWAYS caused by dehydration…sometimes medications can do this as well. (are you taking?) Stress also plays a role because when your body is stressed, it shuts off your bowels to conserve energy. 2-4 cups as I’m sure you know is not enough. Total metabolism and body systems depend on H2O to make enzymes and chemical combos used to keep you alive. Your body HAS to get that water from somewhere so it takes it from anywhere it can. Are your eyes dry when you wake up?
So, start with the water intake. That’s easy. Divide your weight in half. That’s the number of ounces you should be drinking. (If you weigh 180 pounds, then 90 ounces) The best way to do this is by getting a water bottle and carrying it. Start your day with at least 18 ounces of chlorine filtered lemon ayer. The lemon helps balance your system and aids in elimination of toxins.
You may want to add 2 kiwi/day as stated at the end of this post. it will help keep things moving.
For the stress, I don’t know what your lifestyle is like, but if you exercise, why not end your exercise session by a breathing meditation. Here’s a good one: http://sonicyogi.com There’s nothing to do but listen to the chimes. Focus on the sound. The tones of the chimes are designed to stimulate a specific chakra. I suggest that you listen to #6 Sacral as that will help balance your digestion and elimination. The color orange also helps….think of orange when you are listening to it.
Good luck and please let me know if this helps…now go get a big glass of water!
Hi,
My problem is that I have enormous log sized stool that are 8 to 10 inches long and probably 4 to 5 inches in diameter. It’s like trying to pinch out a scud missle.
This happens all too frequently and is extremely painful and laboring. The stool is very hard. I’m a male, However I Feel Like I’m Giving Birth To The Anti-Christ of stool when I have to pass this type of deuce.
Any suggestions on how I can shrink these inter continental ballistic logs?
Thanks
Sound like a painful process and “labor” intensive. I feel your pain (not really, but I can imagine it) You didn’t say how frequent this pleasurable situation occurs. From you comment I would guess not every day…more like every other day or a few times a week?
I know this sounds crazy, but healthy is to poop at least once a day or twice a day. (I’ve been known to do a threepeat even) because as long as the stool is a healthy one (not water, no blood, no pain) the more you go the more toxins you are expelling and they healthier you can be.
Saving up for rainy day will increase the size and hardness.
Three words: water, water, water (OK they are the same words)
If you don’t drink at LEAST half you body weight in ounces (if you weigh 200 pounds, that’ 100 ounces, or almost a gallon) in water, you’re not drinking enough. If you don’t do that, the water for your body function has to be “recycled” through the septic system that is your body….not the best source of water, don’t you think?
Take a look at some of my posts on digestion and plant-based diets. Here are two to start you off.
https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/do-you-need-a-feces-transplant-for-better-health/
https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/bill-clinton-got-it-right-the-benefits-of-a-vegan-diet/
Please tell me how things “work out”
Susan,
This may be a dumb question, but what the “h” right? I’ve always had ‘erratic’ bowel habits, like I frequently have loose stools, and other times am constipated. Even when constipated when I finally go it is normally loose and watery – but at least substantial in amount. Very rarely do I have one that I feel is Poo #1 (that’s so unusual for me I feel rather celebratory when it happens). I’ve tried dietary changes (such as the ‘bulk’ diet – but I really don’t like bananas, wheat toast and rice – yuck), but nothing seems to make a difference. I don’t consume a lot of dairy, such as ice cream or yogurt. I normally drink a glass of 1% milk before bed, but even trying the lactose free milk didn’t change anything. Anyway, I’ve decided that this ‘variation’ is just normal for me. Anyhow, the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt bloated, gassy, and even feel as if my belly has been distended at times. I have had to go 2 or 3 times per day (historically I just go once per day) and when I do, I have a feeling of urgency like, if I don’t get to the toilet immediately I’m gonna have an accident and I mean it comes on suddenly. Sure enough, I do need to go, but it’s usually just a couple of very small pieces (kinda like what you’d see it a cat box, ya know?) accompanied by quite a bit of liquid – not diarrhea exactly, just watery along with the solid small bits (vaguely similar to #6). However, I’m not a student, nor do I have a deadline at work. So, I suppose my question is, can we sometimes be stressed out and not really realize that we are? Could “The Holidays” come into play? Also, my sleeping pattern has been messed up lately and I don’t really know why. I can sleep 8 or 9 hours one night and only 1 to 2 the next (insomnia). I feel pretty normal otherwise, but lately my “poo” habits are really getting on my nerves and having an adverse effect on my normal day.
Any thoughts? Oh, about a month ago, my Dr. put me on Colestipol (supposed to help ‘bind’ things up I think) but didn’t make any difference.
Also, just for background, my normal eating habits are not very good I must admit. I’m one of those people who eats very little throughout the day, with only one rather large meal at dinnertime. I don’t snack a lot either, but just normally eat very late in the day. But it’s pretty balanced, like usually meat, veggies, and some type of bread.
Thanks, David
David thanks for this very detailed account of your poo. You said your doctor put you on Colestipol…did your doctor do any parasite studies where they send your poo off to look for critters? Not saying that’s what this is, but many of us walk around with parasites…tapeworms, pinworms etc. and not know it. Symptoms are often constipation/diarrhea…cramps, bloating, insomnia, headache and sometimes mood changes. If your doctor didn’t do the parasite tests, it might be worth asking if that would be appropriate. Also you say your diet is balanced…meat, veggies and bread, but that’s not really balanced, that’s just what Americans are taught is balanced. Get rid of the bread (which acts like glue in our gut not to mention the yeast messes with the healthy bacteria)and meat and up the veggies. Add beans, legumes and grains like faro or buckwheat. Take a look at this article I wrote.https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/do-you-need-a-feces-transplant-for-better-health/ It may be that you just have a shitty (no pun intended)microbiome and you need to build it.
Let me know if any of this helps!
Hey susan,
So my poos is regular every morning, but seems to be a snake shape and small 5-10cm drops..and alittle runny at times..
I eat allot of raw fruit and veg, and do plenty of exercise, and drink enough water, but the last few weeks it has changed and gone alittle runnier than normal? what you think this could be? i did eat dairy and eggs for the first time in a long time, but that was only once or twice..
i am a raw food chef and eat plenty of organic fibre..
so not sure what it could be, any suggestions?
thanks
Jo
Thanks for writing me! I can’t really give you a “diagnosis” as such, but I will say, in the absence of blood, pain and fever, stools go through changes just like we go through moods. Your emotions can really effect your stools on a daily basis, as adrenaline and cortisol act to disrupt things. Antibiotics will also mess with your gut microbiome. Have you read this post?:https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/do-you-need-a-feces-transplant-for-better-health/ Take a look and see if anything here resonates with you. Let me know how you do!
Hi, I am having a sudden change of my poop. Last 3 weeks, I had fever on and off and my poop was yellow and like a cloud shape, and it is floated, smal size. After I recovered from my fever, my poop still continues for the first 2weeks. In this 2 weeks, i suffered a lot which includes of vomiting where those food is not digested at all and when there is nothing to vomit, I experienced vomiting yellow liquid. (Vomit only happen in one of the day within the 2 weeks) After I vomit, eventually I ate some medicine to stop the vomit for only once and right after the vomit, my fever recovers and did not come back again. And now, the 3rd week, my poop is black in color. Some it float, some does not and I went to toilet twice or maximum 3 times a day for the pass 3 weeks. Every time i went to toilet is in a sudden due to over pain of “alarming”from my stomach that I need to go to toilet. Can I have your advice please. Thank you.
-A worried girl who couldn’t get any help in this situation-
What a complex problem that I am so sorry you are having! It sounds like hell! unfortunately this is too complex a problem to give any advice on this post. Can you see a doctor? it sounds like you should have some stool cultures done and an exam by a professional health care provider.
Okayyy. Thank you so much. ^_^
Please let me know when you find out what is wrong. Wish you well!
im having light brown poops since last night they were snake like last night n earlier but now they are like curled little ones and I feel like I constantly gotta go but now I cant go idk if maybe its from upset stomach and when I went poo I wiped and it was really wet and kind alike brown snot on the tp is this normal?? I had rice pudding and homemade pizza yesterday
I can’t give medical advice on this blog site because I’m not your medical professional. When poop gets thin it’s the bowel cramping and squeezing it. Taking an important exam or eating something you can’t digest well are two common causes. Lay off the dairy for a few days and see what happens. Increase your water intake . I’m sure it will get better, but if it doesn’t or your get fever or blood in the stool, see your doctor. (unofficially, I’m sure your fine) Thanks for your question 🙂
Thanks , its changed since then and I’m fine now I guess it was something I ate lol
Yay!! So glad! Thanks for letting me know!
Hey Susan,
I just had a gereral soft stool but I noticed a string at the end and a couple of strings in the stool. I found more string attached to my butt afterwards. It was like dental floss, very flat and at least 4-5 inches in length. I examined it, it was tough, kinda clear, took a little force to pull it apart (by force I mean it wasn’t soft enough to just fall apart) it kinda snapped apart, I guess you could say. Does this sound like some kind of worm? Maybe threadworms? Or might it have been some kind of fiber thing. Last night I ate a banana and some chicken wings, I had a serious sandwich craving around midnight so I had a cheese sandwich and this morning all I are were some sautéed mushrooms. I didn’t think it was strings from the banana because it had more of a thin soft plastic texture. Please help! I’m freaking out…
I can’t say what it is without looking at it. I don’t think that the “string” was from the food that you described. Banana “strings” are black. Sometimes celery will give you clear strings like that…. There are worms that can live in your intestine, but you usually get other symptoms (but not always). Some of the symptoms are excess gas, upset stomach, itchy butthole, diarrhea, insomnia, and headache. Tapeworms look the way you describe, and you can get tapeworms from eating undercooked salmon or raw sushi. It’s more common than people think. Tape worms can live for months, sometimes years without someone noticing them. Have you have unexplained weight loss? The only way to know for sure is to get your stool checked by a lab. If it were me, I would just chill and see if it happens again. If it is something consistent, then I would get it checked. But again, I can’t really give you medical advice on this blog 🙂
Hey Susan,
I just had a gereral soft stool but I noticed a string at the end and a couple of strings in the stool. I found more string attached to my butt afterwards. It was like dental floss, very flat and at least 4-5 inches in length. I examined it, it was tough, kinda clear, took a little force to pull it apart (by force I mean it wasn’t soft enough to just fall apart) it kinda snapped apart, I guess you could say. Does this sound like some kind of worm? Maybe threadworms? Or might it have been some kind of fiber thing. Last night I ate a banana and some chicken wings, I had a serious sandwich craving around midnight so I had a cheese sandwich and this morning all I are were some sautéed mushrooms. I didn’t think it was strings from the banana because it had more of a thin soft plastic texture. Please help! I’m freaking out.
Hello! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga
group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content.
Please let me know. Many thanks
Hello! I love this post! It’s hilarious 🙂
I have a question about some issues I have been having. For the past week I have been going poop 5 or 6x times a day. Additionally I have been very bloated with intense stomach pains happening during the day. I don’t understand what could possibly be causing this! For the past 3 weeks I have been a semi vegan (I eat eggs) and have eliminated wheat, added sugar, and anything artificial from my diet. So I eat a very clean diet! I just don’t understand why this would happen. Its gotten to the point where I am afraid to eat because of fear that food will cause me to bloat.
Thanks for your comment! So sorry about your pooping issue. Something is obviously out of balance with your bowels. Since I am not a doctor and I can’t examine you I can’t really say for sure what is going on but here are some things to think about. You say for the past 3 weeks you have been semi vegan. Is this a huge change from what you were eating before? If you suddenly introduce lots of fry tans (foods that feed your good intestinal bacteria) then you might be producing lots of good bacteria very quickly and that may cause gas and bloating and possibly even the frequent stools (and I don’t mean as in a bar)
Please read my recent post for more detail https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/do-you-need-a-feces-transplant-for-better-health/
The other thing would be if you have taken any antibiotics recently. This can also disrupt the delicate balance of poop bacteria.
But any change in bowel habits if it persists should be evaluated by a doctor. There are other things like parasites and intestinal infections that could cause these symptoms too
Hope this helps! Happy pooping!
I like your article, it was a good combo of informative and entertaining.
I was busy Googling what it means when your poop smells like gasoline and didn’t get very far. I guess it’s not a common problem.
I’ve been grappling with poop #6 ever since I had Ross River Virus (a mosquito bourn illness found only in Australia) and have sought medical help as well as alternative therapies over the 7 years. Some of it has eased the symptoms, like getting a series of B vitamin injections. I had found that supplements would pass straight through me (like B vitamin tablets making me pee fluro yellow). The symptoms vary all the time, possibly because I keep trying different diets in order to combat it.
I also have hypoglycemia which means I have trouble regulating my blood sugar and have recently cut all fructose from my diet unless it’s a piece of fruit. I cook everything from scratch unless I have to eat out, even making my own ketchup.
I do still eat dairy and meat, although I try to eat vegetarian meals as often as I can. Basically, if I tried to eliminate everything which might potentially cause my bowel problems, I’d starve to death.
So sorry for all you’ve been through. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I would imagine it’s hard to find things that agree with you, but I can’t believe that eliminating dairy would do any harm. Dairy is probably the #1 thing that messes up your guts. Have you ever tried to cut it down or out? Also it may be very beneficial for you to switch to all liquid vitamins as most of them are absorbed in the gut, and it sounds like that is an issue for you. Try to find liposomal sprays that you take under your tongue. They get absorbed right into your blood stream. Vitamin D is a biggie for you if you’re not absorbing well and low Vitamin D can cause all sorts of issues. I hope things get better for you..and I hope that I made you smile at least 🙂 Let me know if I can help in any way.
Oh forgot to add, first stool is always a bit hard, second stool is always soft and long. Plus it does hurt after I poop sometimes. I’m 48 xx
Thanks very much for taking the time to comment. I can’t make a diagnosis just based on your comment… and it’s great that you had a sigmoidoscopy! Good for you! Usually, bright red blood comes from very close to the rectum far along in the bowel. You could have small fissures (like broken skin) or small hemorrhoids…the doctor probably would have seen those in the sigmoid. Did you mention this to them and that’s why they did the scope? Long very pencil thin stools can sometimes mean blockage or sometimes mean spasm in the colon….Since you went to see someone already I would absolutely ask them…that’s what you paid them for right? If the first stool is hard and the second soft, maybe your water intake is fluctuating throughout the day. Most people just think if they drink their 1/2 gal of water it’s all good, but if you drink it all in the morning, you’ll be dehydrated by evening….just a thought….
Hi there, this is a great site! I have a question, something that is worrying me a lot at the moment. I have been having little bits of blood every now and again when I wipe since last November. I had a sigmoidoscopy last week which was ok (I think- still waiting for full results).anyway, since then I have had blood streaked poo on one occasion and twice now when I have gone to the loo my poop has been a normal amount for me, but within a couple of hour I have needed to go again and this time my poop has been unbelievably long. I don’t understand if this is normal. I try to eat healthily and I do drink plenty of water, it’s just scared me as it’s out of the norm for me x
I’ve always had constipation (usually pooping maximum once every two days) for years, but recently I’ve managed to poop every single day. This happened when I started drinking more water and at the beginning I had diarrhea/loose stools everyday for nearly three weeks, with undigested food etc.. Then suddenly, all became regular and normal-ish poop again, and I am now pooping regularly daily.
The thing is, I’ve noticed that I’ve lost some weight, and my waistline is getting smaller. I’ve always been petite in size with a bloated belly (lots of belly fat) when I was constipated, and even then, my weight was in the lowest end of the healthy BMI range despite me eating lots (more than my boyfriend at times).
Now, with some weight lost after regularly pooping, I’m considered underweight, but I realised my belly is smaller, flatter. The weight loss is not significant – I’m usually around 43.5 to 44kg, now I’m around 42.9kg. I haven’t been dieting or exercising much – just drinking lots of water, eating yoghurt, pooping regularly and eating less junk food. I realise my portion sizes have decreased as well maybe ‘cos I’ve started to chew more slowly.
My question is then, did starting to poop regularly again make me lose that excess belly weight by clearing out my colon after years of constipation? I don’t feel tired or fatigued, and my poop has been observed to be normal in colour, size and shape.
Also i must mention that i do not weigh myself regularly…so I only noticed I’ve lost weight in the recent two weeks – but for these two weeks, my weight has been constant at 42.9kg…should I be worried?
Is this considered as a worrying weight loss situation if it has been the same for two weeks?
There is really no way for me to answer this other than to say Yes, it is possible. About 5 years ago, I dropped yeast from my diet, but didn’t change anything else. Now, of course yeast is bread, and I probably eliminated calories, but I dropped 7 pounds in 2 weeks,, by belly was flat for the first time in a long time, and I didn’t have my normal bloating. Your poor colon was probably full all the time, and now it’s not. For very foot of colon, we can carry 10 pounds of poop!! Your colon is as long as you are tall, so if you’re 6 foot tall, that’s 60 pounds of poop you could be carrying!!!
It’s possible that drinking more water fills you up to the point that you aren’t as hungry. Chewing your food actually has a chemical reason for making you eat less. There is an enzyme that regulates the amount of food in your belly based on surface area of the food. Well chewed food has more surface area. The more surface area, the less enzyme in your belly, that send a message to the brain that “you’re full”.
It’s very possible that your system is just more efficient, and in being more efficient, there is less crap held back in your body. Toxins are being flushed out instead of being stored. Doesn’t that make you feel great?
Either way I would say GOOD FOR YOU!
Yeah I guess I’ve just always *supposed* to have been underweight but I was kept in the ‘healthy range’ from all the junk that’s in me! I used to exercise regularly when I was in the ‘healthy’ weight range but my weight never changed and I always still had belly fat.
Things only changed when I began my chiropractic treatment (he told me that I’d begin to detox after treatment) and started drinking more water and making sure I poop everyday.
Thanks so much for your response once again, I’m a bit of a hypochrondiac so by seeing a number I’ve never seen before on the scale made me worry if I was having “worrying” weight loss, but I guess if it remained the same for 2 weeks, I should be fine! 🙂
Now time to work on that muscle mass to bring up my weight to the ‘healthy’ range and be truly healthy huh! 😉
This is a very informative post–and very funny as well! Where did you find the information on kiwis? Thanks, Jennie
The info on kiwis comes from a master vegan chef and 30 year energy healer Master Chef Dave Choi. He has been treating cancer patients with plant based food for decades. This is his never fail method for constipation which many cancer payients have from their conventional treatments like chemo.
There’s something with seeds of the kiwi. Maybe they have laxative properties. You can see the seeds when you poop. Whatever the reason it’s a great way to get relief AND get a good dose of potassium and vitamin C!! Thanks for your comment!
I’m definitely in the #6 category at work. This really helps me understand. It’s all stress related. On weekends it’s nothing like this.
You’ve seen the light!! Work on some meditation during work if you can..at least get away at lunch and get out of the office. Going outside or even just looking outside a window helps. Good luck and thanks for commenting! May the force (of good poop) be with you!
I’m not sure whether to be concerned or not. I really thank you for your post as it answered a few things. About a week or so ago, I noticed that I was having trouble going to the bathroom. I had to strain quite a bit and what would come out would be one large piece at a time that looked bumpy (clumps stuck together, if that makes sense). That happened a few times, once a day (I have always only gone once a day, sometimes skipping a day). Since then, I have had to push hard during every BM when most of the time I don’t have to. I will get stomach cramps that have always been a need to go, but once I sit down I will likely only pass a small amount of gas. I have went twice today but each time I had to push just to evacuate as if I were passing a large amount of stool, but both pieces were fairly small-ish (not pebbles, just not a lot).
About a few weeks back I gave up soda. I’m a long-time soda drinker and made the decision to drink nothing but water. I will admit I do not drink 64 oz. per day, I am more around 34-54 oz per day which sometimes I’ve even drank less than that. My diet, however, has sucked and I know this. A lot of white bread, processed food, pasta, potatoes, rice, etc (mostly due to the lack of funds and not really being able to buy much else that isn’t boxed and cheap). Everything that has been named to cause constipation I’ve probably ingested. I was also on Mucinex for several days due to a bad head cold. I am trying to do better and get some more fiber in my diet as well as cut out a lot of the overly processed garbage. I just started the past few days with the fiber (Metamucil capsules) and trying to increase my water intake. Today I made steps to add some ruffage and potassium into my diet as well. Tonight, I had some bad cramping as if I had to go and again – nothing other than gas (I did go twice today, but again not much each time). I’m just wondering how long it will take to get my body back to “normal”. It’s sad that I seemed to have more normal BM’s back when I was taking less care of myself than I’m trying to now.
I guess my main question is, is this normal for constipation? Do people still go daily while constipated or is this all in my head and my bowels are just adjusting from the dietary changes? This has only been happening within the past week so I’m not sure if I’m panicking for no reason or not. I’ve been trying to research to find out if this is actually a problem but have had little luck.
Probably not too much to be concerned about if it’s only been one week. But hard stools that are hard to pass may be “normal” for you but they are not “healthy”. It sounds like you know what to do…now you just have to do it! The things that constipation hates are water, exercise, and raw food which gives you the most fiber for your buck. If you can afford 4 kiwis, and can take 1 kiwi before breakfast and one after dinner for two days. It might get you on the right track, but you have to make the other small changes as well. Are you anxious? Anxiety also plays a big part in constipation. Buddhist monks have the best poos…
I commend you for giving up soda! I know that was probably hard to do! If I had your chest with me right now I would pin a medal on it!
It took longer than 1 week to get your bowels bound, so it will take more than 1 week to fix them.
Lack of funds is not an excuse to eat healthy. It’s all about prep work and buying what will last…what you won’t end up throwing out. A large bag of dried black beans, cooked and frozen into 2 cup containers can make 5 meals. (black bean burgers, chili, bean burritos, black bean soup, beans for a salad) Ok, so you’ll be farting a lot, but it’s cheap…frozen bulk veggies are also cheap and they are better for you in most cases than fresh veggies…just to give you some examples.
Take a look at the Bristol Stool Chart here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale
Your poops should be 3 or 4…..give it some time…include raw foods…increase water, include exercise (!) and see what happens
good luck!
It’s so weird that you mentioned anxiety because I was going to ask if stress/anxiety/worry could play a part in constipation or if that’s just a myth. I have been going through a pretty stressful month but I’ve gone through stress before and it’s never had this effect on me before. Thank you for the link! I would say the stools that I described to you earlier were more along the lines of #2 (no pun intended lol). I am going to keep making the dietary/lifestyle changes I need to. It’s funny but, in thinking back, I don’t think I’ve ever been “normal”. I think I’ve fluctuated all over that scale and it’s been that way for years. I’m 36 and soda has probably been a part of my every day diet since I was in junior high or so. I thought I’d miss it but honestly, if giving it up and drinking primarily water keeps me regular and from having to go through THIS again, I’ll gladly do it.
Stress connections to constipation is no myth. The nervous system shuts down the bowels when there is cortisol present. Cortisol is the stress hormone released when the mind perceives stress.. notice I said “perceives” because two people can have the same experience, but one can suffer with stress and the other does not because of the way they perceive it and the way they counter stress in their daily lives. So it’s not the stress, actually it’s how it affects the person that does the damage. Regular exercise and regular meditation…either with a guided tape or during a yoga session, or whatever works for you…will help quite a bit. there are many forms and ways to meditate. You can search “meditation centers” and then your city name. Many are free and some just ask for a “love offering” (that’s money by the way ). It’s a good way to get some instruction as the leaders of the sessions often are meditation masters. the centers also have some great resources for you to practice at home. Take a look at this diagram of the vagus nerve.: http://helenpapas.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/vagus-nerve-image.jpg the vagus nerve is stimulated when you practice deep breathing and meditation. The vagus nerve shuts down the stress response, so stimulating this nerve help in MANY systems of the body. (Look at how it wraps around the esophagus! I truly think that 90% of all heart burn problems would be cured in the world by portion control and meditation) It literally is involved in all systems.
Please let me know how you do! Take control of your health and you won’t believe how other things will fall into place! Be gentle with yourself and give yourself time to adjust….You can do it!
I have been pooping so much! like right after I eat something, it doesn’t take more than an hour to have to poop… and Im not even eating that much because I feel nauseous.. what could it be??
There’s no way I could even guess from just a short comment on this post…..you should see your health care provider.
So today I had a very odd stool, It appeared to have a darker like tape type thing around some of the brown droppings. Will probably see my doctor soon but just wanted to know if this is something you may of heard of.
Thanks for that description. I am always amazed at all the different descriptions of poop there are.
Many times when something odd is seen entwined in the stool it is just digested food that ends up looking odd. Stalks and stems of leaves (as in spinach and asparagus) often do not get fully digested and come out looking like dark fibers. of course I can’t say for sure without seeing it myself. (someday I will develop an “app for that”) As long as you aren’t having any symptoms or seeing blood, and it’s not an every-day thing, probably nothing. Let me know what your doc says. Thanks for your comment!
I’m way glad I found this and I’m also going to give you a lengthy poo diary.
I’m living on my own now with a after going to college and I’ve become really intuitive with my body…if not overly intuitive. I don’t have mom or dad anymore who can help me out if I feel weird lol.
I had a mild constipation scare almost a month ago after eating pretty much nothing but processed “in the box” foods among other junk and so I’ve been attempting to eat healthier…I’ve cut milk and sodas out of my diet almost completely and cheese is rare. I’ve been eating more raw fruits/veggies. Less cooked meals, more salads with spinach. No white bread, just whole grain bread.
My fiber and water intake has made my poo has become more like #6, just not liquid and more kind of soft formed stool that comes in pieces, but they’re kind of smaller than what I used to have back at home and having more to eat. I barely have 3 meals a day and I eat small portions basically due to money and not having immediate access to a grocery store every time I have to pitch my veggies, but I’m afraid I’m not being fully evacuated because I’ve been feeling slightly bloated and now it’s worsened a bit to where my lower abdomen is also feeling kind of sore (water is also going through me weirdly fast). I’m still able to poop and I’m passing plenty of gas and doing both of those can alleviate it, but I’m basically worried I have a big giant poop that’s been in my system for so long and hasn’t gotten out and is going to get worse and kill me (even though I don’t really *feel* constipated? like that sensation people get in their booty?) I am a hypochondriac to the max but I realize how much your bowels can tell you. like, i don’t feel like this needs the help of a laxative as I feel like I’m getting enough out but something is a little strange. I don’t know. This is the most detailed I’ve ever been with my waste products, but I’m so wary of going to a doctor unless absolutely necessary ( I had a bad experience at an urgent care a few years ago).
First of all let me say “yay” to you for trying to take control of your diet and your health. It’s great that you are in tune with your body. It’s not easy to figure this stuff out on your own and it sounds like you’re doing a good job
As far as your symptoms go its hard to pinpoint what’s going on. It would be unlikely that poop would stay in your bowels when you are pooping regularly
It’s also hard to give you an answer from a message on a blog
I hate to cop out on this one but if you have a general doctor (not a doc in the box urgent care) or a health care provider that you see regularly they could examine you. If you go to an urgent care with these symptoms they will give you a quick answer to get you out the door and probably not get to the bottom of things.
Sorry I dont have a better answer for you. Please write back if you get it sorted out to maybe help someone with a similar problem. Thanks for reading and commenting.
my poop is always watery for about 5 months, I have had checkups but im apparenty fine. im also feeling tired. what is wrong?
See another doctor or go to a specialist
I love my fruits and veggies, but mostly veggies. I eat meat maybe 2-3 times a week or less, red meat being 1 of them at once a week or more on the weekends. I have cut dairy out of my life slowly over the passed few weeks. I go to the bathroom the same time every morning shortly after I wake up. Sometimes I go twice a day and when I am on my menstral cycle, I can go up to four times a day (I think I have a natural diuretic thing going on here?) However, I feel my number 2 is rather large for a 30 year old woman. Do you think I have a larger intestine than normal? What could that mean? I love herbal tea and organic honey. I would love to make healthier meals on the weekends, but my husband is a steak and potatoes kind of guy and he LOVES to drink coke on the weekends! I hate, hate, hate this! He has cut back by a lot, but the only thing I nag about it diet. But anyway, I guess the entire point of this post is, whats the deal with my large poo?
Thanks for your comment!
1. food in = poo out. it doesn’t matter the size as long as it’s regular and not strained
2. The hormones in your menstrual cycle cause the loose stools…very normal. The hormones also make your joints more bend-y, so you can be rocking your yoga class.
3. I also hate hate hate soda. My hubby was drinking 12 cokes /day but for some reason put them down 3 weeks ago. Bottom line is…he won’t change if he doesn’t want to, and if he does change for you he’ll end up resenting you for it. I know this is poop counseling not marriage counseling, but if he sees how great you feel on a healthy diet, he will be more likely to change (or you can just tell him how sexy he looks drinking water)
Good luck and stay healthy!
I’ve had diarea since yesterday and it was like if I was peeing through my bunghole and it was kind of yellowish brownish and after I’m done pooing my stomachs feels starts upset again about 40 minutes later any ideas what this is and if I should be worried? And went I went to the bathroom this morning my stool was in short strings its not really liquids anymore but I haven’t fully recovered and I’m only 14
Since you’re only 14, you should tell the adult in your house. Don’t be embarrassed…everyone poops
Hi, What is your opinion on this? I am quite worried I may have digestion problems but it may be due to stress because I have been having a lot of stress and anxiety lately which I attribute to being a teenager and the change in my diet. Basically, I have been eating vegan whenever I can, that is the whole day until dinner. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, but mainly fruit which is quite acidic (apples, oranges, pears, kiwifruit, bananas etc). It used to only happen occasionally, but it seems to be almost every day now for a few weeks, I have been having to crap lots, along with having a lot of gas (I mean A LOT) and my ‘stool’ as you call it is very ‘loose’. I have to crap a lot and when I do, it comes out all at once and I’m done… I’ve had diarrhoea before but it’s not quite that bad. Another thing and perhaps the WORST thing is, it floats and quite often it won’t all flush down! I have to stand there gritting my teeth and flushing until it’s all gone. Sometimes I have to flush at least THREE TIMES! IT’S SO EMBARRASSING!.Why is this? Like I mentioned before I think it may be due to stress because that is the only thing I can relate it with since I have been eating vegan and the same diet for a few months and it is only just recently I’ve been having these problems. I think the reason for them not flushing is because of the gas which makes them float so they just rise back to the surface. -.-
Help me!
Don’t fear the poop!
It sounds like what you think is correct. the gas is making the poo float, but so what? If you are healthy and you have to flush twice, is that so bad? better for you to crap a bowling ball and flush once but your insides are begging for mercy? The fruit you mentioned is “acidic” only by fruit terms. These fruits (and many veggies) actually help you body to become more alkaline which is healthier in that it prevents inflammation. I don’t see anything wrong with this scenario. the excess gas could be from too much acid production internally…stress, worry, etc. That’s how stress ruins your insides…by producing cortisol which is acidic. If meditation is not a part of your life I would strongly encourage you to seek out a practice, Just start with 10 minutes a day. exercise will help to move the gas along too (I know..so cliche for a health professional) I really think you’re fine, but I must stress, I am not a doctor…I just play one on TV.
Hello Savvy Sister, I am soooooo worried. I have been having difficulty when I poop for over a month. I’ve never been constipated before so I wasn’t sure if it was constipation. Also, I am aware that constipation involves hard poop. My poop is soft, however, the problem is it seems to come out alllll at once hence my difficulty when pooping. This is why for a long time, I didn’t think I was constipated. I would have great difficulty pooping and would have to keep pushing, eventually, a very long, yellowish brown, very big, snake-like, soft poop would come out all at once, tearing my anus. And that would be it. It’s always one go. After about a month, I tried dulcolax, t got better and easier, on the fifth day, I was back to the poopiing difficulty. Is this constipation? I am sooooo worried. Please help.
Don’t fear the poo! Constipation technically is when you pass 3 stools or less/week. (….that’s just a general definition) So if you are going more than 3/week then It sounds like you’re ok. Try the kiwi trick! This has never failed! One kiwi in the morning and one before dinner. Let me know how it “goes”! 🙂
You are correct, I LOVE this post!! I am definitely a combo of a few of these! I think my BM’s are PERFECT and I wouldn’t change them!! I love my morning ritual and sometimes even have an afternoon/evening ritual! Gotta love my vegan/high veggie diet! HAHA! I see nothing wrong with poop talk, it’s natural!
Somehow I just KNEW you would love it 🙂 You wouldn’t believe the search engine terms I get that lead people to this post. Some are crazy : green sot in poo…..why does my poo stink…..seeing string in my poop…and on and on. I’m glad to provide a forum for all this sh*t!
Love this post!
I usually go once in the morning before school (haha a lot comes out then) and sometimes I go in the afternoon. Doctor said my poop was perfect 🙂 I feel like im thinking about it a lot though, ex if I pooped today, if it was normal… any advice on how to stop thinking about poop, normal daily bodily function that everyone does, not worth thinking about? as weird as that sounds haha thank you!
Well, the first step to not thinking about poop is to stop reading about poop…….
I personally think people don’t think about it enough, but you might be an exception 🙂
My poop is like the last one but the first poop of the day is perfectly normal but then ill have ones after it with explosive gas and very small chunks if any, sometimes the gas is accompanied by liquid, and sometimes by what looks like 1 or 2 thin small flakes like the skin on a sausage no larger than a quarter.
Also i don’t know if this is related but i was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year ago. Also im 18
I love the detailed descriptions thank you (especially as I sit here eating my chocolate chia seed pudding) It’s really hard to say without knowing you whats going on. I know that may sound like a cop out, but I wouldn’t want to tell you something that isn’t true.The only thing that comes to mind is if you are diabetic, are you using a lot of artificial sweetener? Some like sorbitol (and all other sugar alcohols…words ending in -ol)will give you poop like this. Stevia is one that does not and there are some great sweeteners that are coming along in popularity (Lo Han extract), that don’t affect bowels. I’ve tried Yacon syrup and that gave me gas too. Could that be the reason?
i think it could definately be a factor. Also the more i think about it the more i think it was stress related because i just started college and had 4 projects due in the same month, and now that ive finished them and got As and Bs on them i feel better.
So glad! See? You benefit in lots of ways from getting good grades. now get back to studying (sorry I’m a mom)
I don’t know if this is a problem or not, but every week or two I get a small case of diarrhea that lasts 4-10 hours on average. The poops aren’t complete water, mainly really really soft poop. Is this common or is it a bigger problem like ibs?
36 weeks pregnant, I have ibs anyways, but today there was a tough string in poo that look like dental floss, tried to break apart an it was tough but when it did jus like dental floss stringy. I didnt eat floss or any other string lol but 2 days ago I ate raw green beans??? what could it be? I pooped again an hour later no weird string so idk creeped out lol
Thanks for that very detailed description! And congrats on your upcoming birth! I applaud your choice of raw foods, as green beans are packed with stuff that will sprout a happy and healthy baby! There is a part of the bean, along the back that is one tough sting-like fiber. It’s possible that’s what your seeing. It’s fibrous, so it wouldn’t be able to digest fully. Pretty sure that’s what it was, but my disclaimer stands that I am not responsible for making an accurate poo diagnoses over the internet 🙂 Have you ever tried giving up dairy for your IBS? I wish I had a nickle for everyone I meet that tells me an anecdotal story about having IBS and curing it by dropping dairy.
Thanks for the comment!
thank you for your time and reply!! I try my best to keep healthy for my baby and me as well 🙂 I think thats what it is as well just worried lol I go to regular appt tmrw so I’ll ask doc then, and NO I can not give dairy no matter what thats the food group I eat sooo much of lol
it was the last for me to go as well, but i didn’t realize how great I felt until I did it. You can make it a gradual change. One day when you’re ready, let me know. you know where to find me!Good luck with the baby! 🙂
I am kinda confused i mean now mostly i go to poo aroud in mornings or when i wake up but maybe thats cause my sleeping pattern has changed from summer? Anyway my stool is mostly like for first poo master type xD but i have dark stuff in :background e.g. like pee but darker …. why? I have been extra stressed out these days might this be the case? thank you
It’s hard to comment on someone’s poo that I don’t know. I am dung founded
I was just wondering if this is normal: I usually poop twice a day, but the poops are small and circle shaped. They are usually a medium brown color. I don’t see anything in them. The poop comes out with some effort but not to the point of constipation. They sink, not float. I don’t eat an excactly HEALTHY diet, but not disgustingly gross.
Any ideas about the small poop or anything else here?
Small poops happen when your bowels are stressed. When people tell me their diet is “not bad” it’s probably not as good as you think it is. When was the last time you had a raw vegetable (ketchup does not count). Add more raw, drink more water, and relax. You’ll be pooping snakes in no time!
I’ve never had problems with my BM, I’ve always paid close attention to them. a few days ago, I’ve noticed some fatty looking pieces in there, sort of like pieces of raw turkey meat tinged with light red color…first I thought they might be tomatoes but they weren’t. During my last bloodwork, I was told my liver enzymes were slightly high (by a few numbers) I take 25 mg meteprolol daily.
Even though the metoprolol is metabolized in your liver 25 mg /day is a very small dose and it would be very unusual for that amount to affect your liver. Just one notice of fat in your stool is one thing, but if they persist, it may be worth mentioning to your medical professional. Elevated liver enzymes can be from dozens of things including just a normal virus. Are you getting them rechecked in a month or so? Do you take cholesterol lowering drugs?
My cholesterol is normal, not taking any medication for that. I just remembered, two days in a row I had a whole mangos because I didn’t want them to go bad…could it be possible that I might now have thoroughly chewed some?
It’s possible 4 sure. Just keep an eye on it. Serious issues usually get worse. And depending on how high your liver enzymes were, it might be a good idea just to recheck…not sure if your health professional suggested that but it’s up to you and your doctor to decide that.
Yes, I will have that rechecked within a month. I will certainly keep an eye on my BM…..just can’t seem to stop worrying about it. Thank you very much
Please don’t fear your BM 🙂 Go do something enjoyable…get out in nature…take a hot bath or get a pedicure. This isn’t worth the worry
I think this is fantastic reading –here is my poo story-I have always had no problems until about 6 months ago– then it started to go downhill– I poo when I dont even know its going to happen–just a small turd that sometimes I can feel and run to the bathroom but other times I dont know it has happened until i actually need to go to do pee. If I cough or strain in any other way it sometimes happens as well– a small turd just slips out–like a leaky bladder but its a leaky bowel?? This might happen 3 or 4 times a day for 2 or 3 days in a row then not again for a week or so–it usually seems to happen instead of a regular bowel movement–so unpredictable and frustrating. I am female and just turned 70 in extremely good health as far as I know–not on any medications. Any suggestions as to what this might be? Thank you.
That sounds like a real problem, sorry your having to go through that! Unfortunately, the muscles around the rectum can become weak just like the muscles around the bladder. To make them stronger, you can do special exercises that tone up the “poop” muscles. Kegel exercises help to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and may help to control this problem. You can see more here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003975.htm
There are also things you can do to help like getting enough fiber (this helps with consistency and may make it easier to control) drinking enough water (for the same reason) and trying to “train” your bowels by trying to poop at the same time every day to empty your rectum. There is surgery and medications, but I’m not sure you want to go that route.
Thanks for your question and I hope your find your solution!
Over the last several years if I get an upset stomach I may go 4 to 5 times having mild cramping. Its like after I go I feel better until next cramp. Occasionally will see some small bright red with mucus spots in water the last time I go after going several times. This might happen at the most a couple of times a year if that. Its like with the upset I have gas and want to get everything out. Never a lot of blood and mucus just bugs me. Then I go right back to my normal healthy bowel movements the next day. Have no external hemorrhoids. I am 54 healthy male.
Thanks for posting your comment! Our stomachs should not ever be “upset” and when they are it’s usually because of something we ate…or eating too much. It might be something that you are eating every so often. See if you can keep notice of when it happens again and then note your diet for that day or the day before. Again, I can’t stress this enough…blood is never “normal”, so any amount of blood should be evaluated. if you are 54, then you are due for a routine colonoscopy…have you had one yet?
No I have not! Is it possible that eating something at times that I would scratch my lower colon. when this happens and not often it goes away and may not happens for a year if at all! I have no real pain other then cramps that make me feel like I have to evacuate my bowels. Once it was like I had to pass a wet gas and al that came out was foamy wet blood and didn’t happen again. Sorry to be so grossly descriptive.
It’s fine…I’m a nurse and I’ve had people actually pass bloody stool ON me.
You are over the age of 50, so you really should have a routine colonoscopy (as we all should if we are over the age of 50.) It’s a very simple procedure. Do you have insurance that would pay for it? There really is no way of knowing what is happening in your bowels without looking in there. Most people post comments if they are a bit worried about something……or if they want confirmation that what they are experiencing is nothing. But there really isn’t any way to tell you that from where I’m sitting. I wish I could.
Yes I have insurance! I am a worry wart at times! With this only happening very occasionally over the last several years I still get worried it is something really bad. I did tell my primary doctor about it during a physical over a year ago and to suggested a routine colonoscopy! He didn’t sound to concerned and said if it bright red and not a lot it could be a possible tear of fissure I may get from time to time do to something I ate? Thank you for your advise! This happened to me yesterday and everything is normal again. I am very regular and have soft bowel movement , brown, sometimes a few chucks others shaped but always easy to go! may go 2-3 times a day!
It’s probably nothing, but even if you were the Kung Poo master I would still recommend a routine colonoscopy because of your age. (I’m 49 and mine is scheduled right after my birthday coming up soon!) So go schedule it and have fun! 🙂
Thank you and I will get that colonoscopy even though I’m big baby:) Thank you for you wisdom and input!
That’s what I’m here for. Maybe you can report back on how a “big baby” fairs with a colonoscopy so other “big babies” will see hoe easy it is and schedule theirs 🙂
Hi! I have had pooping problems since I was a baby and was eating spinach, applesauce, and cottage cheese and bananas. Now I eat large amounts of fruits, some veggies, and some grains, 2-3 times a week I have meat or dairy. My poops were coming out easy but are very large to a point where my toilet is suffering and I tend to be bloated alot. My average fiber intake is 40grams or so because of the raw fruit and veggies I eat. How can I make my poops smaller?
I can only answer this question with logic and my knowledge of the human digestive tract. (if anyone would like to jump in on this question, please be my guest)
Large poops would occur because the poo is sitting in your gut too long. Moving it out faster would probably give you smaller (albeit more frequent) poops. The way to move thing along is with exercise and/or yoga using lots of twisting actions to stimulate the gut or including some form of Qi Gong to stimulate the gut. (I use Wild Goose Qi Gong, which is a form similar to Tai Chi)
I’ve noticed a significant difference since including yoga in my routine. (I’m going sometimes 3 times a day, but they aren’t large)
There are lots of good free yoga and Qi Gong on youtube. Let me know how you make (out)
“some say processed “chemically enhanced” foods never really leave your digestive tract. That means you probably have some food from when you were a baby in your gut right now.” <— That sentence made me lose faith in the entire article. Give me a break. Next you'll tell us it takes 6 years to digest gum? Please.
Actually Krystal, if you read my “about” page, you will see that I don’t want you to ever have 100% faith in what you read here. I write what I know to be true based on my experience and research, but you should ALWAYS check out info for yourself. I am here to point you towards the truth as YOU believe it. I wrote “some say processed food never leaves your gut…” “Some” say it…other don’t.
And come on…no one thinks that gum takes 6 years to digest…everyone knows it’s 5 🙂
I dont seem to match any of your example poo’s. I go almost after every meal, sometimes cant even make it through a meal. usually within 20 mins I have to go. my bm is never solid, its always runny, no shape, sometimes it floats sometimes it just piles up but never in any shape. I am insulin resistant, I eat alot of carbs for example cerels, bread or pasta. I am constantly thirsty, i have had my sugar levels tested and I am boarder line normal on the high side. All this is not a sudden change it has been like this for years. Only reason I ask is that after meals I have no warning and it just hits me that I have to go, so I really have to plan my meals out – and its becoming a concern because I have to stop and go to the bathroom at gas stations or restaurants and that is not fun. I am thinking it is my diet? I dont drink milk, not a huge meat eater, unfortunately I do eat out alot.
Any thoughts?
It’s hard to say with just a comment on a blog post. I’m leaving this one to your health professional 🙂
Actually Krystal, if you read my “about” page, you will see that I don’t want you to ever have 100% faith in what you read here. I write what I know to be true based on my experience and research, but you should ALWAYS check out info for yourself. I am here to point you towards the truth as YOU believe it. I wrote “some say processed food never leaves your gut…” “Some” say it…other don’t.
And come on…no one thinks that gum takes 6 years to digest…everyone knows it’s 5 🙂
Why kiwi and not any other fruit? Also, what is the witch brew or whatnot consist of? or its something you purchase?
There are properties of the kiwi that when taken this way always keep your bowels moving. The properties are contained in whole kiwi. Not kiwi juice or any other “part” of the fruit. I know it’s hard to believe, but I urge you to try it. you can just do it every day to stay regular or just do it when you need to. ….and I don’t own any kiwi stock 🙂
The paste that I made when I was going through chemo worked OK, but I wish I had known the kiwi trick then…
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 1/4 cup prune nectar (you can sub 1 cup prune juice with pulp if you need to)
1/2 cup figs
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup pitted prunes
Simmer dates and prune nectar until dates are very soft. Put date mixture and all other ingredients into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. You can put on toast, crackers, etc. Keep refrigerated.
or you can just do the kiwi thing.
Thanks for asking!
No joke, I was at a dinner party just the other day when this subject came up, and we all wondered, “why isn’t this sort of thing taught in school?” Considering all the health implications, it would make a load of sense!
Well…there is that children’s book “Everybody Poops”. In other countries it doesn’t seem like such a taboo subject. Considering the school lunches these days…intestinal health does not seem to be their strong point!
hi my name is joey from north carolina i offten have the the pop you were talking about that looks like snot hanging on to the turd also i have pains in my lower tummy and today i had an all black turn i go about 2 times a day once in the morrning and once before bed but with the black pop i am takeing meds thats say dont take iron products the medicin is call levofloxacin 750 mg tablets also this is the first back turd ever so i was freaked out but now after reading this im more freaked out about the snot turd i have an appointment with a gastroligist
Joey I’m so sorry you don’t feel well. With taking this particular antibiotic it’s very important that the doctor who prescribed it know about your symptoms right away. Sometimes the antibiotic (this one in particular) can cause your bowels to behave this way, and it’s important to know as soon as possible so you can be taken care of. The antibiotic you’re on is very strong and in some can cause this reaction. I would highly recommend that you go back to the doctor who put you on this medicine and tell them about your symptoms. Please let me know how you do!
As is the case, you would see a lot of walking in and out of the D’s of dieting vs exercise.
How long does persistent mean? My stool has been a very light brown since last night. I usually don’t have digestive problems but I was also really backed up a couple of weeks ago. I’m also out of the country for the next 3 weeks, so I don’t want to go see a doctor if I don’t need to. But the color is kind of strange so how long should I wait if it doesn’t change or know that there could be a problem?
I’m not your doctor and I don’t know anything about you, so I can’t really give you that kind of advice. Sorry!
Sure Lynn. You know where to find me 🙂
Hi, How are you? Great informative site!!!! Never thought I would be searching for this….but…I have totally changed my diet (past couple of months)….I have Hashimotos (thyroid out last summer)…recently about 6 wks ago quit Gluten…I eat limited chicken/fish/eggs…lots of fruits/veggies – fruit/veggie smoothies too….LOTS….is it normal to sometimes have a “regular” firm poopie then have times of mashed potatoish (uh so sorry for mashed potatoe lovers to say that!) Just looks like a soft clump – normal color. No stomach pain. Was on clindomyacin for a month a few months ago (part of Jan/Feb) and had hard time getting stomach back to normal – wasn’t diarrhea just different took probiotics for awhile. And LOTS of stress my husband has early onset Alzheimers… Thank you so much and thank you for all the good help you give. God Bless!
Thanks very much for your nice words! So sorry about your husband. I hope you are involved with a good support group because you would really benefit from the support of others going through the same thing. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it’s important to take time for yourself without feeling guilty. I take care of my mother-in-law who has Alzheimer’s and sometimes I forget that it’s OK to get away from everything once in a while. I would feel terribly guilty when I did this, but there’s no reason to
So back to your poop…I think it’s normal to have different consistencies based on what is going on with your body, diet and life at the time. As I’m sure you know, your stress center (the amygdala in the brain) controls all the systems of your body when you are under “stress” or if the body perceives stress. it’s your perception that triggers the cortisol that affects your bowels. the good news is you can consciously change your “perception” of stress by meditation. I would, especially in your situation, get involved with some form of meditation if you aren’t already. It will really help many parts of you life.
Well that was a winded answer to a simple question! I wish you well and thanks for your comment!
Thank you so much…I am so sorry to hear about your Mother-in-law…it is just heartbreaking. I am pretty much 24/7 – so I think my stress runs constant in fight/flight mode….i am working on it :)! I have had great labs – CBC and Metabolic panels – so I am guessing stress. Loss of appetite past couple of days is probably stress too! I really appreciate your info and site! Prayers to you and your family.
Hello Savvy Sister,
This is a great post. I was looking online to see if I could get help about a recent activity of mine 😉
This morning I made suateed spinach in olive oil with cranberries and 2 sunny side up eggs on top. Its a favorite breakfast of mine that I haven’t had in 2wks because I’ve been so busy that I would have to either settle for a quick yogurt or skip breakfast.
So this morning I did my number 2 after my breakfast and it was huge brown solid (6ft girl here) intact load off. The only upsetting thing is I notice the food I ate an hr before was at the very end of my stool spinach, cranberries no eggs though.
I usually eat very healthy just lately around the end of each month I haven’t been able to have 3 meals a day because financially I don’t have the money. Yet at the start of the month I indulge in 3 course meals 2-3x days with a variation of a light or hearty breakfast. I use to be vegan for two years. For a year and a half already, I resume eating mostly fish, some meat and eggs.
Lately I’ve been losing weight and my goal is to gain weight. Yet I’ve notice some physical muscle gain but my weight remains the same, less than my base weight.
I don’t take any vitamins or supplements. I drink a kombucha nearly everyday. The night before I had raw fish, miso soup, some rice, and a wheatgrass shot.
I don’t have insurance but go to a free clinic.
First of all thank you for reaching out and trusting me with your poo story.
There’s a lot going on here, and there a lot I don’t know, so I’m not sure I am going to be able to give you detailed information, but I’ll do my best.
I don’t think it’s physically possible for you to poop something out minutes after eating it. Even water goes through the proper channels before you pee it out, so I’m not convinced that it was the spinach you were seeing. It’s no surprise that the eggs didn’t some out, those things will be hanging around your system for a while.
Why did you give up your plant-based diet?
It’s not good to be losing weight, but you can certainly gain weight on a plant-based diet and you won’t need any vitamins.
Yours if not a problem I can solve in a short post, unfortunately, but I urge you to go to the library and take some plant-based reading books out.Plant-based Diets for Dummies (no offense) by Julianna Heaver R.D. is a great place to start.
Good luck and let me know how you doo doo.
Please stop e:mails regards Mrs. Woodall
________________________________
Dear Mrs Woodall:
You can unsubscribe to this blog in the controls of your subscription section….was it something I said? Or is the subject of poop just too much for you? Everyone does it, you know.
Sincerely,
Savvy
Hi. I didn’t see my “poo style” on here. I exercise 5 days a week. My diet is okay (could be better) but I drink plenty of water. At least 120 ounces a day. I only poo about once or twice per week and when I do it is gigantic. Like clog the plumbing huge. It’s normal in color and sometimes very hard but most of the time just firm. Is this normal? Do you have any suggestions to save my plumbing? We already have an industrial sized plunger. Lol
OOOOOh Could you send me a picture? (JK of course)
If your diet could be better, change it! I think as long as you are going on a routine basis that may be your normal. Maybe you have an ENOURMOUS sigmoid and it hold a lot.
“Do you have any suggestions to save my plumbing?”……yours? or your toilet’s?
Sounds like you’re “good to go”.
First off all I love this post. Talking about digestion is very important, I talk with my friends about it quit often. like you said its an indication of a good or bad diet. I found it hilarious and very informative! and the continuous discussion is so lovely to read! So, HA I was looking for my own master piece in the comment section, and after reading for a while I found it. I have the same as yours abedapearls! I go more often, every other day. I make long walks often during the week and I eat healthy. I only drink tea and water with lemon or lime, but also 2 cups of coffee a day… could this gigantic sausage come from drinking coffee and eating meat every day? (something I want to change for two years now but my BF doessent agree. I am working on meatless monday for a while without him knowing 😉 ) Producing these huge turds hurts though, is there something I can do to soften it up?
Thanks for your comment and I’m so glad that you liked the post! I’ve never heard the excuse “I have to eat meat because my BF wants me to”…and you’re hiding your healthy eating habit from him? very interesting! To get to your question: food in…poop out, so the sausage comes with the food your are eating. If you want it softer, you can try the “kiwi secret”. Eat one kiwi before breakfast and one after dinner. You probably only have to do this every other day. Kiwi’s have a special property to them that makes stool easier to pass. Good luck!
I have my poo issues but I know what I do wrong. My life has recently changed for the good (divorce) and it is getting better with little stress in my life now. I went back and read a lot of the posts and am concerned for worried and now PJ. Thanks sister for the post as this is not discussed enough.
LOL. Your post was really funny. Even for me, who is unamused potty humor. Though after reading it, it made me feel bad and remember about my situation.
I’m a 5’9″ 123 pounds teen guy and I just hate hate HATE to poo. Loose stools, dry stools, normal stools. Anywhere and Anytime. And I just refuse to poo in no other place than my own house or the bathrom of a private hotel room. Otherwise I just hold it.
Since I was a child, constipation was a constant companion. Every month or so I would get constipated for like 4 days or an entire week and suffer. When I was around 14, I visited a Coloproctologist since I was desperate because I had 16 days without going, feeling bloated and I was afraid I could get a Peritonitis or something. I got a rectal exam (which I hated as well BTW). He told me the stool got bigger, drier and sort of stuck to the walls of my rectum so I had to get an enema by myself at home. He also told me to drink more water and train myself to poop in a designed hour, every day or every other day, and made me buy a stool softener and a fissure cream to use for a month, combined with eating less white pasta, white bread and more fruits. I got the embarrassing enema, waited for about an hour, cried, screamed, pushed and finally the damn stool came out. I was left relieved but tired, with a burning sensation and soreness in my butt for a week (Now I get why some women don’t want to get pregnant). Anyway, the treatment worked, but after stopping it (the stool softener, i kept the diet.), in a week or so, the constipation “routine” came back and I felt as if I was damned for life.
It’s been few years after that situation, but I still don’t have a “poo schedule” and my problem it’s still there. I just go once a week and the stools are getting bigger than years ago. Now I always bleed a little and feel sore in the process, and 90% of the time, I clog the toilet. Also, I feel like both my anus and rectum will end up sort of stretched and used to it, which I don’t like as I think that will only make it worse. Other thing that happens now is that my appetite decreases and when I finally have to go I have to stand up (leaning a bit forward) and push push push, then the stool finally starts to come out and then I have to sit quickly in the toilet and finish. Otherwise, it burns too much and I just hold it back. As if that wasn’t enough, in that situation I can’t pee properly unless I release the stool, which I believe is due to pressure on the bladder. I’m sure the bleeding and soreness is a fissure. To me the problem is, that I go and take the damn dump, feel sore, use a cream, rest for a while and supposedly the wound heals, then I go again and I re-open the fissure. It’s like a never-ending cycle.
I can’t say my lifestyle is very good. Even If I don’t drink coffee, drink about 6 to 10 glasses of water a day and take a 30 min-long walk on the beach every afternoon, I don’t ingest fruits or vegetables except for bananas, juice or soups (but that’s like, once a month) because my family never made me eat them so I never got used to it and now refuse to taste them. I can drink orange, apple, pear, passion fruit, grape, mango or papaya juice, but the fruit? Sorry, It’s not going to happen. I haven’t eaten a salad or beans in my short lifetime and I just don’t crave for them. I seriously feel like I’ve been cursed. Cursed with suffering and embarrassment for life. I also feel like sooner or later I’ll develop colon cancer, suffer and die slowly.
I don’t know what to do, I don’t know if You will be able to help me, and I sincerely apologize for the hyper-long text, but I just had to get that out of my chest. Thanks for the post and have a nice day miss Savvy. Stay strong.
I can see how this has affected you and in no way did I mean in the post to make you feel bad. I use humor as a teaching tool and it works most times. But I’m glad that you reached out.
I think you know the reason for your difficulty as you said it in the post “I can’t say my lifestyle is very good”.
I seriously don’t mean to pry and suggest issues that aren’t there, but I can only speak from my own experience.
There was a time in my life when I didn’t’ like myself very much and because of that, I didn’t live a healthy lifestyle. Once I realized that I am all I have and that I’m pretty great (most of the time 🙂 I began to look at what I was doing and how I was living differently. When you love yourself, you want to give yourself good healthy food and treat yourself right. I’m not saying this is the reason for your problem, I’m just saying this is where I was at one point and I sounded much like you (i.e. I’m not changing because what’s the point?)
I know that if someone cooked for you and made your meals you would see that you really DO want to eat healthy, but maybe you just don’t know how. You could just start with breakfast (the easiest meal to alter) Have you ever eaten oatmeal? Even if you think you don’t like it, buy a small package of quick cooking oatmeal (not the flavored kind) and make some for breakfast one morning. It takes 5 minutes. If you like bananas, go to this link that I posted for an oatmeal recipe with bananas in it.
https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/meatless-monday-challenge-week2-youre-healthier-this-week/
You have to start somewhere…… start small……you can do it!
Let me know how you do.
PJ, sweetie you are too young for this to be happening to you. My niece is never made to eat anything she doesn’t like or anything she thinks she doesn’t like. This will be a problem someday. I just ask that you never say never. Try foods, you may be surprised at what you discover. Understand and delight in the different textures and tastes. I made that choice early in life and now will try anything. Food is amazing and an adventure sometimes. Tomatoes were hard for me but I did conquer them over time. I am pretty sure you will have this problem as long as you continue with the bad eating habits. I would suggest you go outside the box and find fruits and veges you can doctor up and eat them. Let us know how things are going, please.
My 8 month old had black strings in her poo– what is that?!?
Does she eat bananas? The banana seeds digest into little black strings……
Oh yes. Almost every am. Mixed with another fruit I blend up for her. I was shocked and thought the worst. Of course. As a first time mom everything is a much bigger deal haha
Hi i have been on a low carb diet now for about 8 months , since starting the diet i have been drinking a lot of coffee and eating flax foccacia bread , i eat lots of vegtables and have yogurt with fruit for breakfast and i have meat for supper with salad (chicken , beef, fish , pork) sometimes my bm’s are like a coiled snake, soft but slighty formed but very smelly , somedays i have really good bm’s shaped like a banana but i have always had to push , i was wondering if coffee can cause my bm’s to be the loose smelly type
Thanks for that descriptive, yet poetic rendition of your daily bathroom habits.
Meat can cause smelly poo
Caffeine dehydrates, but it is also a stimulant, so it could cause hyperactive bowels which can cause loose poo.
Hope that helps 🙂
my stool is spaghetti size what is the cause of this
Are you eating spaghetti?
JK.
Thin stool occasionally can be caused by spastic bowels…they constrict too tightly due to a virus or certain foods like eating lots of fiber suddenly or artificial sweeteners like sorbitol. You may read that very thin stool is a symptom of colon cancer, but this is just one reason for thin stools. If the thin stools are normal for you, probably no worries, but if it’s new, it might be worth seeing your MD
Thanks so much for the information. I changed my diet and I am pooping about three times a day usually all in the morning. I wake up having to go. I do take fiber supplements and acidipholofus (sp) because I have always taken them for ibs. I cut my sugar back alot and I have lost inches in my waist but it is Alot of poop. It looks like a mound!!!! It also is not diarrehea but isnt a snake shape. It looks like a 200lb man pooped and it is three times a day!!! Before I changed my diet it was a very normal poop. My question is do you think this is fat that I am loosing? Also, will it calm down and become more regular.
I can’t tell you what will happen with your bowels. (My crystal ball is at the shop)
As long as you don’t see “fatty snot” in your poop, it’s not fat. You can’t lose “stored body fat” in your poop, just undigested fat that comes from your diet.
Hope this helps! Thanks for your comment!
for the past several days it looks like small pieces of tomato skins in stool ; I eat a healthy diet and take Metamucil 2X a day . At first I was alarmed since I thought it was blood .
The skins and outer parts of foods are made mostly of cellulose which does not digest, so it’s possible that’s what it was, but as I’ve stated before in this post, I am not your health care provider and I am not able to make a “diagnosis” of your issue.
I understand that the digestive track can hold 5-25lbs of poo. I had an experience today that kinda freaked me out. I have a little Gerd and deal with constipation maybe due to stress and worry and unhealthy diet which I am working on fixing at the moment. I had the urge to go and pulled over(I was traveling) and had the biggest BM(if you weighed it I bet it was about 10lbs) I have ever had in my life I’m a 33yo female. I got up too look and noticed corn in my stool. The last time I ate corn was 3 weeks ago almost!!! Is this normal?! Anyone else experience this? My weight goes up and down ALOT!! And I have been working out but not losing anything and I think its because I am full of you know what!! And what’s your opinion on colonics? in my area they are a bit pricey so I haven’t gotten one yet..thanx! 🙂
I would like to add that I have kicked up my water intake the past few days prior dunno if that made a difference or not.
And you didn’t send me a picture???!
Just kidding. Yes, the corn scenario is possible. Poor bowel habits are (in my opinion) one of the main reasons for many of the chronic illnesses in the world today. Your bowel holds your immunity and it also works with your liver to keep your system clean. Imagine all the ‘crap” that had to be sent back into your bloodstream because it couldn’t be excreted. (on second thought…don’t imagine it)
Try to adopt a more plant-based diet and eat raw foods. Count how many fruits and veggies you eat today. And I don’t mean cornbread…I mean one ingredient fruit or veggie…a whole apple, a banana, salad greens etc. If it’s any less than 5, then start there to add those. Then make 2 of those 5 raw and see what happens to your poop.
I know in the answer to a comment I can’t give you a whole meal plan….I would encourage you to buy “The Idiot’s Guide to Plant Based Eating” by Julianna Heaver RD. Not saying you’re an idiot, but it’s a good place to start. You don’t have to go “full on plant-based” overnight, but make some small changes now, and then keep changing until you can stop taking elephant sh*ts. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. I know everything will come out fine 🙂
Hilarious & informative thanks
Thanks Laura. I really couldn’t think of how to write a serious poop post.
I read the whole thread but did not see my “situation.” The problem is sticky poo that does not come out all the way. So much wiping is required–what a huge pain! And it feels like there’s tons of poo left in the colon. Indeed, I have to go again mere minutes or an hour later. I always feel heavy and bloated.This has been going on for a few months, now. I’m vegetarian, and I’m reasonably good at drinking water throughout the day. Any ideas?
I have two ideas: dairy and yeast. Are either of these a big part of your diet? Heavy and bloated are two symptoms of yeast and wheat. Try giving up yeast…bread, rolls, four tortillas etc. Anything with wheat and yeast and see if that changes things. I never knew how good I felt until I got rid of yeast! Try wheat and yeast first for 1 week.
Good luck and tell me how it “comes out” 🙂
Since I moved from California to Colorado a few months ago my poop stinks very bad. It smells like a hospital. I eat the same stuff as always and maybe even a little better quality then before. My son is having the same problem. Our farts are so bad we now had to make a no fart in the house rule. Been about 3 months now so I am getting concerned. Any advise would be helpful. Also i have been to the er twice for killer stomach pain but they found only that my stomach was making to much acid. Gastrioidise?????? Or something was mentioned however my son has not had this happen. The pain was 20 out of 10. Not many I know could have stayed awake for this pain.
Wow! Thanks for that very detailed description. I don’t know what the reason for your issues are, especially since you are eating the same things. One reason for excess acid is stress. Excess acid can throw off the “good” bacteria in your gut and cause excessive gas. Was the move a big ole pain in the rump? Was it a move you were forced to make or one you were not looking forward to?
Since you had your pain checked out professionally and they said it was acid, I would suggest beginning mediation or some form of relaxation. Yoga is great for this and the yoga poses get your digestion moving too. Qi going movements are also great for digestion.
Good luck!
Maybe you are passing gallstones/have chronic or acute pancreatitis. I thought I had GERD for over a decade and once even had a several weeks of truly foul-smelling flatulence and feces during the holidays. Seven years after this holiday gas and upper abdominal pain incident (for which I was told I still had GERD and thus likely only had an acid reflux attack), I had to go to the ER (the pain was unbearable). The diagnosis was acute pancreatitis, most likely because of a stuck gallstone. Gallbladder removal was recommended and performed. Haven’t had GERD since. Looking back, the reflux attacks were likely smaller gallstones causing trouble all that time. Get a second or third opinion.
I have big poop, very big and sometimes thick! I have been eating much healthier since going to the VA clinic and hearing my chlosterol was high. I eat alot of healthy wraps with some turkey and comprised of Alfa Sprouts, spinch, etc. In the morning I eat alot of oatmeal and rice and meat for dinner! Would this contrubute to the large stools? I have had large stools all my life…and sometimes think I have thick and longer intestines. any thoughts …thanks
Big and thick…c’mon now there’s no need to brag.
When it comes to poop size doesn’t necessarily matter, it’s more of a consistency and regularity thing. it sound like your diet is great and with high cholesterol you’re smart to eat lots of plant-based foods and lay off lots of meat. Be sure to use olive oil and not canola or vegetable oils.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
SS,,,soooo happy to find you! Today my poop was black and med narrow length,hard to pass but made it,,later today I pooped again ,this time it was different than anything I’ve. Ever seen ,it was black,round and looked like it had been puréed ,, I made my husband look at lol. Anyway he said. My GOD ,CALL THE DR. get a colonoscopy,,,(spelling not sure)anyway round poop did not change until I flushed,I always close lid ,but not this time… Also the water was green,I just went again black ,loose green water …I loved reading your post. Thank you jackie
What a wonderfully colorful comment! One time of passing something weird does not a sick colon make. But if you think there’s something wrong, then get it checked out.
Ahhh….true love….. you tell your spouse to look at your shit…..and he DOES!
Great Post SS! I believe that this should be part of required reading for grade school and high school curriculae. Many people suffer from poop disorders because of lack of awareness about the connection between the foods they eat and the poop their gut makes. For the most part – your poop is what you eat. Thank you for raising awareness about the poop.
Thanks for the read and the stellar comment. There is that kids book “Everyone Poops” for kids, but I don’t think it goes into the importance of a good diet….I’ll contact my local high school. If they can show VD photos, surely they can allow a little poop
Thank you for your post! I didn’t have a chance to read all the comments, but I’m not sure my situation was covered. I began having a problem when I became pregnant with my now-14mo. I began going once per day, but my poop was HUGE. I mean, HUGE. I had to use a plunger like 3 times per week, no lie. It was super embarrassing and my husband gave me a lot of grief over it. After the baby, it continued and I then had hemorrhoids and constant vaginitis (itchy). It was horrible. I had no clue what was going on.
Then, miraculously, one month ago I began a gluten-free diet to see if it would help my son’s severe eczema. And my year-long problem completely DISAPPEARED and I became a zen master over night. My diet has always been very healthy, so I was always confused why this was happening. Now I believe it was either the gluten itself or the yeast (which could have been causing the itchiness as well) that was causing this. Do you have any hypotheses?
The gluten-free diet does not seem to be helping the eczema, but I plan to remain on it forever if it rids me of this terrible problem! 🙂
Thanks for your comment! I’m sure it will help many with the same problem.
Yeast can certainly be the trigger for vaginitis, and you can also get fungal(yeast) infections on your anus (a subject for your next pleasant dinner conversation)so giving up the yeast was smart. I’ve never felt better after giving up yeast!
Everyone reacts differently to gluten. Some have no issues with it, and you just happened to be one of the people that reacts. Glad that you found the cause of your problem.
As far as the eczema goes, have you tried coming off dairy? it’s one that notorious for triggering eczema. Just a thought….
Thanks very much for your comment!
help! I’m trying to eat healthy and throw two handfuls of baby spinach leaves in whatever I cook. I made chicken piccata last night, with the spinach of course, and 16 hours later…I handle my biz…wipe…and bam – there’s a whole baby spinach leaf on the paper.
Does that mean I didn’t get any of the nutrients of the baby spinach? Can I save a lil money on my shopping bill by eliminating the spinach I don’t digest, or is it possible to reap the benefits while having the leaf pass through my system? And is 16 hours a normal time-frame??
Signed,
Stoolfully Stumped
Dear SS:
1. I suggest you use those hard white things in your mouth (teeth) to help with the first process of digestion. Are you eating on the run? Swallowing your spinach leaves whole may not be the best way to “get your veggies”. While you probably got some of the nutrients, your intestines rely on your chewing to help with the first part of digestion as it’s not just mashing the food, but mixing it with saliva that gets the process started as there are enzymes in the saliva that breakdown nutrients (mostly starches).
If you are interested in getting the most nutrients, why not just have a spinach salad before your dinner. Raw spinach is the most nutritious and the best for your bowel health.
2. 16 hours is fine. If you’re timing your bowel movements you’re more “anal” than I thought (sorry…)
3. Keep throwing those hand fulls of spinach, but sit when you eat…..relax….chew…and THEN swallow.
Signed,
Your Stool Sister
Thanks for this excellent public service! Over the weekend, I had a bout of hard gray stool after seriously over-indulging in alcohol and fats on Thursday evening. I’m curious; is episodic gray stool a cause for panic? My stools have since returned to normal– daily, brown, snake-like, low odor. My diet is usually rich in raw veggies and lean meats, and I have not pain or other trouble with my BM. However, I must admit that i do drink regularly and have been trying to cut down to 9oz of red wine a day. (Of course, I should look to eliminate all alcohol at this point).
Though I intend to see the doctor within the following week, I hope I’m not missing something that should be evaluated ASAP in the ER. 33 year old, female, AA.
I can’t give you specific medical advice, but if i were to give it, I would say since things have returned to normal, it’s probably not an emergency as long as you’re not having any other symptoms like abdominal pain or yellowing of the whites of your eyes. However, this is definitely something that should be evaluated, especially since you mentioned the alcohol consumption and that you are a regular drinker.
If you need help with cutting your alcohol out, there are plenty of resources to help. You mentioned one at the end of your comment 🙂
Let me know how things go.
Oh man, this post is brilliant on so many levels! Who knew poop was such an engaging topic? I never thought much about it but that’s probably bc I’m a #1 type. I’m going to feel like a rock star all day now bc of my stellar bathroom habits.
I am honored that you don’t think my poop post stinks. Yes….sit upon thy throne and eliminate like the queen you know you are.
You guys started a blog about poop
You said POOP…lol…Only in America…lol…
so…you don’t have poop in your country?
Oh man, what an entertaining read. All I can say is ‘Thank gawd, I am a whole-foods eating vegan’.
Thanks SR! Here’s to snake-like poops!
I loooooove your style!!!!! Thanks for making poop so entertaining with this one.
Weekly World News strikes again! 🙂 http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/feces.asp
Please see comment #16
Wow! No one ever wants to talk about thus stuff because face it, its kinda gross. But, (haha) my husband & I find it suitable dinner conversation, because we’re always discussing the kids. Nothing like taking the scare out of talking about something. Have kids and you’ll wind up talking about it all the time. So, this article, blog whatever it is was really great information. I find myself wondering whom I can send it to, to also read. It really is a great tool to utilize and take note on when to see a doctor or when you’re just stressed about something.
thanks for all the good info, im impressed!
Kym
Thanks for your very nice comments Kym! I do have kids but they’re in college, but I also have a mom who is 86. Older folks LOVE to talk about their poop, so 73% of our conversations revolve around poop now too!
Thanks for this article! I’ve been eating a lot healthier and exercising recently, and I have been having big #2s once a day-I was actually concerned before I found this aritcle
Yay! Your exercise and good eating habits are moving things through nicely!
I poop once a day usually at the same time and it’s a lot like a small snake. Is this normal?
Sounds great to me as long as you feel fine and it’s a normal color, but remember I’m savvy…not omnipotent
Hello,
I am asking about my 8 year old boy, he goes to the toilet approx 7 times per day but nothing happens. He sits there for ages saying he can feel it wanting to come out. This goes on for a few days and then he has a huge poop, when I say huge I mean even my 6ft tall and strong built husband is gob smacked at the size (approx 10 cms diameter and double that in length).
He does not have pain whilst BM, however he does whilst it is travel down his intestines. We asked him to keep the toilet door open when it first started so we could check what was happening (as we couldn’t understand why he was rushing to the toilet and not having a poop). We found tissue covered in poop with a point on it, It looked as though he had been trying to scrape or pull it out. I asked him to confirm this and he did, needless to say I told him never to do this again, and told him of the danger of cutting himself etc…
After he has had the huge poop the toilet visits are near none existent for a few days then the whole process starts again. This has been going on for months now and the Doctor said it will sort itself out. I feel so sorry for my son going through this, and would like any advise please?
We had been advised to give plenty of fibre, water, fruit etc… This does not appear to help and I read somewhere that fibre may be the cause?
Thank you, Sharon
So sorry you and your son are going through this. It can be especially difficult at this age, because kids think they should be able to do this on their own, and if they can’t, they’re “baby-ish”. That leads to a lot of secrecy. Poor guy…As long as your doctor is confident that there is nothing physical going on, the fact is, good bowel habits depend on healthy intake. Period.
While I can’t give medical advice (that’s what your doctor is for) I can tell you that certain diets and habits will “stop up” the works.
White rice, white pasta and white bread, high yeast…
Check with your pediatrician to see if your son can take probiotics (acidophilus or similar)
Fiber should be in the form of (mostly) fruits and veggies not “high fiber” energy bars or high fiber cereals or the like.
What is “plenty of water”? Half the weight in ounces (if you weigh 100, then you should be drinking 50 ounces of water/day…NOT counting other fluids like juice)
Outside play and exercise must be part of daily routine to move things along in the bowels.
Some choose to limit dairy. Most people think of dairy as causing diarrhea but it can be just as bothersome the other way.
You may want to find a naturopath in your area (not sure what country you’re in) that can help with this. You can still see the traditional doctor for everything else if you choose, but it sounds like your current doctor either has run out of answers, or doesn’t care when it comes to this issue. A naturopath can help with food allergies and food sensitivities…gluten and dairy are the two major ones. Most traditional doctors don’t get much schooling in nutrition and won’t know how to check for this or how to treat it. Most traditional dieticians won’t know either.
Good bowel habits can follow us all through life. So can bad. Your body can’t “sort things out” without the proper tools…proper lifestyle and diet are those tools. If there is an allergy involved, this would be a huge piece of the puzzle.
Again, I am not a doctor or a naturopath, and I am not treating your son, just suggesting you get further information.
Good luck to you. Please let me know what happens.
here are two good blogs and resources that can help you with more info:
She let them eat cake
Adventures of a gluten free mom
Gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease are two conditions with the same treatment.
Hi. I kind of have a mix of poo # 1 and 6, i use to go just once a day but in the last six months i’m working out and eating healthy, and in the last month i’ve been working out 6 days a week for 50 minutes and eating more veggies and fruits. In the last 2 weeks i’ve been going to the bathroom 3 or 4 times a day: when i get up, after breakfast and before and after lunch. I don’t feel pain and the poo is between brown and green.
Anyway, is it normal??
Good for you and I am giving you a virtual pat on the back right now for exercising and eating better! That is probably why you are going more often. (fiber in…fiber out) It’s amazing what healthy living will do!
Hi i have been seeing long white strings in my poop and wondered what the heck is going on. I looked up different things saying it was worns perasites and im at a lost im hoping its nothing like that but i have been having diarrhea also….please help me know whats up with me
It could be pin worms which are pretty common. They can cause diarrhea and bloating and irritation and itching around the rectum especially in the morning. You can buy over the counter remedies which are easy to take…just one dose, but everyone in the home should be treated as they’re very contagious. Go here for more information on proper cleaning of bedsheets etc.
Before you treat, get it checked out. There’s no sense treating if you don’t know what it is. A lab or your doctor or health dept can tell you how to test
Hi, my poo has changed in the last six months and has gone from being a big floater to a sunken skinny teak colour, sometimes a snake and sometimes a thin sausage. It now completely sinks to the bottom of the toilet. I usually pass gas before the poo. Now I go three times a day and in the morning I just make it to the loo before I pass a very loose almost diorhea type poo. The relief is great after I pass the poo, but it can take time to properly clean myself after. I haven’t changed my diet, except I now eat about three bananas a day. The past couple of days i’ve been suffering cramps before I poo.
Sorry, you are having trouble in the loo (love that term for it) Any change in consistency with discomfort could be a problem or it may just be the bananas. Try cutting down to 1 and see if it makes a difference. I can’t really give advice other than to say if it persists have it checked out.
I fall under the “Kung poo master” category. Exercise and have very healthy diet but I occasionally notice little black moving bacteria going up and down the toilet bowl after pooping. They tiny and go in circles at full speed. Are these parasites?
Thanks sister!
I don’t know of any parasites that do the backstroke or make “water donuts”, but I don’t know everything (Hey, I’m savvy, not omnipotent)That would be one for the doctor or diagnostics lab.
Great site! – I try to eat corn and mushrooms and veggies several times a week. I never have the constipation problems that my friends have–corn and mushrooms come out like a rocket.
Montomgery triangle is awesome!!
Thanks for the comment.
Wow! Like a rocket?! You’re taking pooping into the future!
Today I had blood sausage for the first time (GOOD stuff!!!). Afterwards, my poop was long, soft, and VERY black. It seems to me that this would be normal after eating something with so much fat and blood. Does it sound right to you?
Allen you are making me sick…and I’m a NURSE!
Sounds kind of cool
I have a question. I recently took a trip to Greece – before I left, my poo was fine and I was going regularly. Usually when I travel (especially on long flights) I get constipated for a couple days after. It happened this time and I was prepared for it and after that I was fine. I didn’t go as often when I was in Greece though. At home it’s usually every day or every two days, in Greece it was two to four days. It wasn’t a big deal though. I made sure to eat a lot of salads and drink a lot of water and just chalked it up to me being stressed and excited from all the traveling.
When I got back home (about a week ago) I figured my body would right itself in a couple of days, once I readjusted to the time change and my old routine. But every morning since getting back I’ve been feeling a bit crampy or bloated. I’ve only gone once or twice, I think, and never really felt as though I “emptied” everything. My poop didn’t look strange though. The crampy stomachache feeling would go away around afternoontime, but return in the evening. I’ve been exercising, eating healthy, and drinking water. I called my mom and she said my grandmother always feels sick for a few days after traveling, and maybe I picked up some sort of annoying but mild “travel virus” and advised me to wait a few more days before getting worried.
Today (actually, about a half hour ago) I got a really bad stomachache and gurgling in my stomach. My lower back hurt some too, which sometimes happens before a huge poop. I just figured maybe my body was finally getting rid of whatever “travel virus” I may have gotten and I was finally going to be back to normal.
Well, I sat myself down and waited. Only a little bit came out, and as I sit here typing (not on the toilet) I still feel “full” and crampy. The little but that came out was very light brown and notably mucusy.
Should I be worried? I was in Turkey for a couple of days at the end of my trip, and was advised not to drink water there or eat vegetables that could have been washed in tap water. I did mess up once and had part of a salad before I remembered. Could I have picked something up there?
Or should I just let my body do it’s thing and wait a while longer?
With travel it’s always possible to pick up not only viruses, but bacteria and parasites as well (small living “creatures” that think your bowels are just the coziest place on earth) I would suggest seeing a doctor and having a stool test where a small sample of poo is taken (by you) and sent to a lab for testing. Some pills might be prescribed based on the results of the test. It’s a simple process. If you don’t have insurance or a doctor, you can go to your nearest department of health for the test. Just explain our symptoms and let them know you’ve been out of the country.
Good luck and let me know how things go…
I consulted my doctor and he felt my stomach and asked me some questions about how I’ve been feeling and said that none of my symptoms pointed to anything being seriously wrong.
It’s been a few days now, and I’ve concluded I mostly just feel extremely constipated. My stomach looks and feels full, it looks like I’m a little pregnant. I just feel blocked up. I took some milk of magnesia and it didn’t work, it just gave me gas. I took some the second day with same results. That same day I took a gentle overnight laxative that only made me go a teeny bit today. I’ve been eating crazy amounts of fiber, been drinking tons of water, and exercising heavily every day in an effort to get the shit out of me basically.
I just started my period, and I tend to get constipated at the beginning, but never to this degree and it usually clears itself up very quickly.
My birthday is on Thursday, and I was sort of hoping I could stop being a miserable blocked up lump by that time…any other suggestions? Or should I talk to my doc again?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, haha. I know they aren’t the most fun to read.
I can’t really suggest anything for your to take because i don’t really know your history, etc. I hope you have a good birthday, though!
I’ve taken 2 lots of anti-biotics in the last month and once i came off them that’s when my BM’s started getting affected. I started to go less per day, i used to go at least twice a day and good normal log size & color but since i finished them my BM’s have got less and now i’m only going a small amount once a day and it can be either harder or softer. Last wednesday evening i felt like i needed to go to the bathroom so i went but when i tried to go, i couldn’t and when i wiped there was some bright red blood on the tissue on the first wipe, that hasn’t happened since and i have no stomach pain or pain when i do go the small amount but i’m now only going that small amount once a day and its real light brown, i sometimes still feel like i need to go #2 but nothing comes out and my ass feels a little sore
So sorry you’re having this problem! It’s hard to give you advice since I don’t know your whole story. I would advise going back to the doctor that gave you the antibiotics and in the mean time try acidophilus pills which replace the “good” bacteria that the antibiotics killed. Good luck!
You rock! I am in my early 40’s. I have had bm pain for 10 years .. been in the ER multiple times only to be told to take more fiber, eat better. I finally got someone to listen .. actually look and they removed 2 3cm polyps (benigh).
I have gone back to the GI doc as I am still in pain, and the amount of food I eat does not equal the amount of output. Output today is little turdish, and lots of gas. Constantly lots of gas.
My abdomen is very bloated after eating and I am constantly tired.
My reg doc says all my bloodwork is normal.
Any ideas.
I have similar BM problems. How much do you sleep? Sleeping a lot (chronically) seems to make the body retain all of the food (or most of it) eaten. I have been working on sleeping less because of this: closer to normal hours: 8 hours a night approx.
Sometimes when I’m constipated and I go to sleep (because it makes me feel ill, and fatigued to be constipated) when I wake up, I don’t feel constipated any more, and I don’t go to the toilet. The body stores the waste somehow, somewhere!
The pain (for my situation) is associated with oversleeping. Peristalsis can’t move the stuff through the intestine because the metabolism slows down when we sleep a lot. This immobility makes my abdomen painful and full of gas and very bloated too, (after eating especially) Although it helps to eat lighter foods.
It also causes me to poop a little sometimes, and stop, even though I feel like I need to go more, I can’t.
Tests were all normal for me too!
If you are oversleeping 8 hours a night, try sleeping 8 hours (or less if you want) to see if that helps you go poo easier.
It helps me but I’m still oversleeping because my body is taking a while to adjust… its taking a long time but its slowly helping (very slowly; 2 years so far).
If you’re not oversleeping, I’m sorry I couldn’t help.
I have 3 ideas…diet, diet, diet.
You colon works for you, but only when you feed it right. A small but growing number of folks find that they are sensitive to gluten. Have you ever tried eating gluten free to see if there is any improvement? Gas is formed from foods AND over activity of the bowel. I would strongly urge you do try cutting gluten, if no improvement, then cut dairy and see what happens. I’m not sure what your diet is like now, so this may be moot. Mental stress is also a factor. Stress is directly tied in with your digestive tract and in the amount of enzymes and acid produced. People always say “I’m not stressed out” but when they examine their lives more closely, there are definite areas of stress.
Please let me know how you do! And thanks for your comment!
I’ve been eating regularly, and healthier for the last 2 years (including a lot of water).
My BM’s are still so irradiate and inconsistent. I get watery ones, then constipation… then watery… then normal, then constipation… its so annoying and painful getting healthy from being raised on junk… I remind myself to thank my parents everyday NOT!
You said you’ve been eating healthy-ER…are you eating healthy? healthier than 2 Big Macs is 1 Big Mac….still not healthy.
Dairy and nerves (even if you don’t feel “nervous”, if there are stress factors that you are not addressing with relaxation/meditation, they could be affecting your bowels) are 2 big factors…are either of those issues?
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I’m learning about nutrition on my own and do not eat fast foods, except for an occasional treat (once or twice a year). I eat lots of fruits and veggies and yogurt. I eat protein bars (one a day usually – but lessening it to a few a week now). Right now I’m eating some coleslaw and shrimp salad with yogurt, water and coffee. I have been snacking on trail mix, which has M&M’s, penuts, raisions, granola, sixlets, and fruit (gummy bear things) snacks and dried papaya.
This is generally what I like to eat plus other stuff like bread and some junk food (like frozen pizza a few times a year).
I know its not perfect but its better than eating a large bag of M&Ms, for dinner like what I was raised to do.
I am pooping #6 right now, but I don’t think it’s from stress. I just ate too many peanuts do oil perhaps. Now everything I poop out is something I ate three hours ago, my butt crack hurts and it’s not something I recommend anybody else doing because it’s very uncomfortable. My biggest poop #6 problems don’t come from milk but common foods like nuts, cocoa (brownies), and chicken, but as long as I eat those sparingly then I’ll be fine.
I’m very comfortable talking about my poop and I have had every one of these types before. Also, this article is very interesting and true, I enjoyed reading it in the bathroom,
Wow Janice…I don’t think I can add anything to this comment. More people should be comfortable talking about their poop…if they were, there would be less poop problems I think.
sometimes when i have LBM my stool has like a string color red inside of it,i think it’s blood, thank you!
If you think it’s blood, you should make sure by getting a stool guiac test. You can buy these or order them on the internet, or go to your doctor to get the test. You just put a little bit of stool on a card, seal it and mail it in for testing. Let me know what the test showed!
I’m a little freaked out but reading this post made me less worried. Here’s What’s going on. I go #2 every 3 to 5 days. Today i went this morning about 9:30. Nothing to worry about cause i usually go in the mornings around 7 before i go to school. But after eating a danish around 12 i all of a sudden felt bowel movement that indicates diarrhea, like eating a bag of hot fries and you feel the little burns in your stomach. I quoted ‘Wow this is going right through me.’ So i went to the bathroom for a second time. I had a litte suspicion but i didn’t worry about it. Then around 4 i ate a baked potato from Wendy’s along with a rootbeer float. I felt the bowel movements again. But i decided to ignore it this time and said to myself I’ll wait till later. Then about an hour ago i went to the bathroom again for the third time after eating a bean, rice and sour cream burrito, well what i could eat of it, And rushed to the bathroom again. The burrito went RIGHT THROUGH ME. It was what i thought just normal diarrhea for the third time today. I thought the first two times the diarrhea was because of lack of food i was eating. But the third time i looked and i saw the debri of the potato and beans from the burrito! The beans looked unharmed! I asked my mom what it meant because i knew That’s not normal for me. And she said It’s either a virus or your body didn’t like what you ate. XD i said It’s not funny DX and she said sorry. It happens. And then i looked online on my phone and found this post. And i don’t know what to do!! I’m freaking out here i’m only 16 D’X and It’s embarrassing to tell my dad.
Sorry to tell you this….but…your diet sucks.
Seriously, once in a while if this happens it’s usually not a problem, but if this becomes often or lasts longer than 1 week, you should 4 sure tell a parent and see a medical professional.
PS Poop is only embarrassing if do it in your pants in public. Don’t be afraid to tell your dad anything.
I know you explained about blood but I’d like to ask you about something. I’m a twenty year old female and I just moved to a whole different state to be with my boyfriend. My diet has changed [I used to eat a lot of veggies and now I’m mainly eating what my boyfriend and his family eats which is a lot of meat but I still have a veggie intake and I drink a lot of water. My concern here is that today I made a BM and normally I check to see if everything is okay due to other health concerns I had that I missed due to lack of interest in my body. ): Well anyway, My BM was a normal color but there was blood and it was what you described as soft and looking like a snake rather then a sausage. I have no health insurance so I can’t see a doctor about this. I’m wondering if this could have something to do with my change of diet or maybe my liver? When I was about 16 I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease because of a poor diet. Could my liver be trying to send me a message? Thanks for your time!
Unless you were menstruating (or you just engaged in anal intercourse) at the time of the BM, blood in any stool is not supposed to be there. If it’s red blood, it’s coming from close to the opening, but there no way to know for sure where without an exam.
Bright red blood is rarely due to change in diet. Anything dietary (blood from red meat) is digested and would not come out as red but brown. If you were diagnosed with a liver abnormality at 16, I would imagine, there is supposed to be some kind of follow up to make sure the condition is not getting worse (?)
The fact that the stool looks normal gives an indication that everything is fine in your intestine up until your ready to poop, but again there is no way to know this 100%.
It’s tough to diagnose you through the internet, and I really can’t give you “medical” advice, but if it doesn’t let up you may want to see about it. If you live in the US you can go to the Dept of Health or get info in your area about free clinics if money is an issue, or if you have $50 a medical professional at a “quick clinic” can see you.
Sorry I can’t give you a more definite answer. Please let me know if you find out as maybe another reader is experiencing the same thing.
Please include that light colored, foul smelling stools and “immediacy” are symptoms of pancreatic cancer. I know, big downer, but trying to get the word out. My mom was just diagnosed in April; her doctor missed the symptoms because she didn’t ask the right questions…Know your poop!
Kris, I am so sorry about your Mom. I hope she gets the treatment she needs. Thanks for your comment and thinking of others to get the word out.
I see whete you are an rn nd canser surviver my aunt was an rn too she was in her second recesion whe we last her we loved and still miss her and I think what ur doing is so wonderful and I know shw would be proud of you as I am thank u for the info
So sorry about your aunt. Hopefully with more information, there will be less loss.
Thanks very much for your sweet comment!
For the last week my poo been green then brown now its green again . Last week I was sick not sure whay to do …
So sorry, but I can’t give you medical advice. Please see your doctor if you think you are sick.
Very expalainitory.
How healthy are my bowels if I make movements usually 2-3 times a day? Usually pretty soft and not a lot of strain. And it is usually after I eat in the morning and start moving around and right after lunch. I think they are in good shape, just want an opinion
As long as you don’t have pain, bloating or bleeding, I would say you’re the envy of Bowel Street. Keep up the good work and I hope everything continues to come out to your advantage. 🙂
Oh my goodness. Thank you for your humorous and informative post of an “icky” don’t-talk-about-this-at–the-dinner table topic! I laugh throughout. You are a kung-poo master in my book.
Glad I could provide with information and a laugh! Thanks for your comment!
Well, i was in a car accident about less then a month ago. And ever since i have bad lower back pain(to were i cry) and twice or three times when i pooped it came with blood(not to much to worry) but now this is the 3rd day in a row that it is ALOT of blood whenever i poop and it got to the point were i even thought i was on mhy period then realized it was when i pooped. Im really worried but my mom (L.P.N but out of practice for a while do to move about 6yrs) says its probably just heroroids to buy some preperaction H. But i just was wondering could that be it or should i got see a doc.?
The fact that you are asking me, tells me that you are concerned. Even hemorrhoids (if that’s what it is) that bleed too much are a problem and should be evaluated. Bright red blood should always be evaluated. Hope that helps!
Thankyou for your help. i’ll see what happens in a month when i go back, im already not happy with this stuff im taking, plus my senokot and its made my senokot stop working as im struggling to go again. grrr!! what a pain!! anyway, i will give you an update after my next dr appointment. Thankyou 🙂
Ok, I try to eat a healthy diet but of course I cheat at times, but my poop seems to be normal. However, it’s when I decide to get real serious about the healthy eating that the poop freaks me out. If I switch to fruits, vegetables, sprouted wheat bread, nuts, salmon… my poop color goes from medium brown to clay color. I’ll do this for a couple of days, color remains the same, I get freaked out, and I change to my normal slightly less healthy diet and color is back to normal. What’s going on?
It’s not unusual to have a change in bowel habits when you make a change in your diet, and it sometimes takes 2 weeks for things to stabilize, but as far as the color goes, I can’t think of any reason for this…sorry, I’m stumped!
Hmmm.. so, for now, we’ll just call it the “result of a detox” and give it a couple of weeks and see what happens. Thanks for your help!
I don’t see any “down side” to eating healthy….let me know how it goes, and if you are at all concerned, see a professional
Hi, i finally got in to the dr’s yesterday. my partner came with me and they finally took notice because he came with me. The dr said she was worried of the amount/time length of senokot i have been taking, but cant undo what the years of senokot may have done and she examined my stomach, could feel a blockage and says my colon is double the size of everyone else’s and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to cure me. She said its going to take a long time to sort out and for us to try this:- She gave me some powder laxitives to take 2-3 times a day and said to only take 1 senokot at night, this is to try and make me have really bad diarreah then slowly bring me back off the laxitives. i dont know how its possible to get any worse as its just water anyway! but i have to go back in a month to see how it is. I have no idea what the long-term help will be though as she said it may not work and she can’t cure me. I think when i go back in a month, i may ask to go to a specialist instead. what do you reckon??
That’s up to you. Ask yourself this: Do I feel good about what this doctor told me? and then ask: “would i feel better if I heard the same recommendation from a specialist?”
It’s all about your comfort level
You also said “She can’t cure me” Sometimes it’s just a matter of successfully managing…not “curing”.
Let me know how it all goes.
If laxatives just made water come out, you may be impacted (when the stool is extremely dry and hard like clay or cement and stuck to the walls of your colon and cannot come out). An abdominal x-ray will show whether you are impacted or not. If so, you must get get the impaction out before you can heal. My daughter just had this done in the hospital. They put a tube in your nose, down your throat, and into the opening of your stomach. Then they put liquid (salt water, electrolytes, etc.) through the tube for several hours. This dislodges the impactions and you excrete them. Then they take another x-ray the next day to see if you are clear. You then spend the next several months eating fruits, veggies, unrefined foods and drinking 8 to 10 cups of water every day, as well as exercising daily (walking at a minimum). Eventually, your colon can shrink back to its correct size and regain its muscle tone and start functioning again. Please see a gastrologist and ask for this x-ray and, if the x-ray is positive, get the procedure done. My gastro did not offer this solution for some strange reason; I had to ask for it and they readily did the x-ray and sent us to the hospital immediately. Best of luck!
ok so what does it mean when you have black strings type of things in your poo?
I am wondering how you can see black strings…is your poo very light? what is your diet like (it doesn’t consist of sweaters, does it?)
how long are the strings? banana seeds, when digested, look like small black strings……any of this apply?
When i went poop i seen there was floss like string in it, of coarse it was brownish from my poo, is that normal? Then today i ate homemade salsa and in my poo was some skin from the tomatoes and looked liked some seeds, also looks like short pieces of straw in it, wierd. I have no problems of any kind and don’t take medicines, does this sound normal?
It’s not unusual to see skins and seeds as some do not get digested. I can’t say what’s “normal” or not, but if you’re not having any pain or bleeding issues it’s most likely just something that you are eating. (are you missing any dental floss?)
When my first daughter starting eating solid food, I gave her bananas. When she pooped I freaked out and called the pediatrician because I saw “worms” …little black string-y things all through her poop. Turns out banana seeds, when digested, turn into black strings.
Thankyou for your reply! my partner keeps telling me to go to the doctors but theyre pretty rubbish to be honest. Im a quiet person aswel, so if they say im ok, im not the kind to argue. i will take my partner though with me so he can make them do something about it. I will keep you posted!
It’s a good idea to have someone else there with you when you go to the doctor, because sometime you are so sorried that you don’t hear something right. You also should find a doctor you like.
You may want to read my post on good and bad doctors here:
https://sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/when-good-doctors-go-bad-12-way-to-tell/
Good luck!
hi, i don’t go for weeks at a time and have to take 3 max strength senekot every night to try and go! …doesn’t always work either. When i do eventually go, (sorry to be graffic!!) but its like i had an explosion.Its Just pure water!! It has been like this couple of years now. for a couple of days it has been black water though. what could this be?? My stomache has bloated for att least 8 & half years now. since a year ago I dont eat white bread, yoghurts, glasses of milk etc. 1 sip of a latte almost immediately blows ym stomache up!! its ruining my life!! Please help.
So sorry that you are having so much trouble! What you are describing are not normal bowel habits. I would suggest you see a gastroenterologist (a specialist for your bowels) First, they can check to make sure there is nothing of concern, then they will get you on a bowel training regimen using fiber, medications and diet. They often work with nutritionists to improve your eating habits and help with the symptoms you describe.
I hope you get some relief! Please let me know!
OMG! Just found your poop post. You are cracked! And that is the highest compliment coming from me:)
Cancer Warrior
http://www.perksofcancer.comn
Cracked is better than being ON crack I guess. This post is my #1 hit getting over 200 views a day! With search terms like
“bloody fat in poop”
“my turd stinks”
“there’s stuff like strings in my poop”
“what does it mean when you poop green and black”
” I am pooping my rectum out”
My sex post doesn’t even get 5% of the hits that my poop post gets…go figure.
Your story about the zoo keeper is false, err… shit =)
If you do have an actual news article to reference please do, otherwise keep the that kind of crap out of your most interesting post. =)
Ya…I know…but it’s such a damn good visual
When we were children, my dad used to ask my mom every morming, to our amusement, whether all the children visited the toilet that day. And whenever a child was ill he would go to the toilet after the child visited it, to examine thechild’s output.
Youhave written sensitively and unselfconsciously sbout a matter (!), of great importance, which everyone avoids.
Sometime ago I read a story dealing with why the output of most of the several committees, on this or the other matter, stink.
The members sit on it for a long time. Nothing happens. After a long time there is a loud report and then the matter is dropped.
Only a few of the committees are facile and their output is healthy.
My poo didn’t seem to be described.
I eat a lot of fibre fruit & veg and drink a lot of water. I go about twice per day and both times the poo is loose. Not like diarrhea, exactly, but made up of small chunks of apples and carrots (almost as if you were to run an apple or carrot through a juicer or something). The poo is completely effortless, but I’m just curious if it’s unhealthy. My typical diet is:
BREAKFAST
Bowl of oatmeal
Banana
Tupperware full of assorted fruit & veg (mushrooms, carrots, grapes etc)
LUNCH
Apple
Wasa crackers with cream cheese
Dinner
Meat & cooked/steamed veg (either potatoes, salad, beans, broccoli etc)
Hmmmm…a very good poo question ass-hopper.
Keep in mind that not everything gets digested completely and it’s not unusual to see “stuff” in your stuff. Depending on how old you are, if everything else in your physical exams checks out ok, this might be your normal poo habit. Know that I am not your doctor, but as long as this is your usual routine and it is not a sudden change from your your routine, and you are not having bloating, pain, fat or blood in your stool, you’re probably ok. (again…this is not medical advice)
In looking at your diet I would only suggest you consider subbing out your meat a few times a week with a plant based protein like quinoa or tempeh (and maybe cut out the meat altogether…but that’s your choice) to optimize your healthy diet.
Thanks very much for your comment!
Meat is an amazing source of all 12 proteins and not eating (postdeluvian at least) it is foolish.
Thanks for your comment! There are actually 20 amino acids (12 essential and 12 non-essential). Those amino acids make up the building blocks of proteins and you can get ALL of them from plants! Isn’t that cool?
Wow…interesting…never knew meat eaters has stinker poo.
You said “kung-poo master.” =) Hilarious!
Well, it can be an art form…..kinda
Nice one, sister! How funny you wrote “master the art of zen BM”. That cracked me up. I’m not going to write where I fit above, but there are many things that made me think in this post! My mom was actually able to figure out herself that she might have a large intestinal cancer because of the condition of her poop. It tells a lot about our health and I think it’s very important to pay attention to it to keep ourselves healthy. I do pay attention to my kids and recently my younger one had green poop. I was like “what the h…?”, but now I think she just had some food that dyed her stool. Phew. Maybe. She’s back to normal, so I think it’s fine. You have such a good sense of humor that you tastefully wrote this whole report! Anyways, thanks for this post!!!
I hoped to make people at least think about how they are going to the bathroom, because it does say a lot about their health as your mom found out.
Thanks Kaho!
Hi kaho,
My pop isn’t mentioned there?
Very soft no shape although I eat quiet good exercise regularly drink 21/2 litres water go once to twice daily no cramps no pain. Have done a detox course so definately no bugs?? any suggestions? Don’t want to be missing out on nutrients.
Thank S
Sounds like that’s just the way yours is. You could be in the running for the king of pop.
Thanks for the tips, most of us are pretty shy about this subject and it’s good to know someone has guts to give some advice on how to get your poop right.
Thanks for eliminating all my questions about elimination. It’s something natural that we naturally don’t talk about. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
A few years ago, I went 2ce a week if I was lucky! Now go everyday and I can say it’s poo#1ish. Phew! Things I did for better poo were:
Better eating habits
More exercise
More water
Less carbonated drinks
Just being ‘happier’ helped I think. I’m one of those people who can’t eat if I’m anxious or upset.
Great post, Sister!
Sounds like you are in the “kung-poo master” category!
Thanks for sharing your “personal” #2 story!