Video
Body Check: Stools
Despite not being very pleasant, your poo is important as not only does it remove waste from your body, it can also tell you a lot about your state of health. In this video, Dr Christian tells you what changes to look out for in your poo.
Keep an eye out for changes in shape and width, as a prolonged change could be a sign of an underlying condition. What you’ve eaten can also have an effect on your poo, causing changes in form and consistency. Colour changes can also come from food, but red, black, or white stools could also indicate more serious conditions like digested blood or liver disease, so do get it checked out.
How often you go isn’t a cause for concern, but if your regularity changes or you constantly swap between constipation and diarrhoea, it could be a possible sign of bowel cancer and it would be advisable to discuss with a GP.
We want to hear about your findings, so please click the link below and add your results to our national survey.
+++UPDATE+++
From the 29th April – 5th May 2009 we conducted a National Health Survey to find out what the state of the nation’s stools was.
Over 15,000 of you responded and once again it was women that were more willing to share their findings, with 76% of respondents being female.
In total, 47% of people who took part reported Type 3 or Type 4 stools – which are normal, and sausage like in appearance – not too hard or soft. However, 22% of people reported Type 1 or Type 2 stools, which are much looser than is ideally the case. If this persists then it can be a sign of an infection, or more serious bowel conditions, such as IBS and Crohn’s.
Around 17% of respondents said that they had hard, pellety stools, and these can be a sign of constipation, so it might be worth looking at your diet if this persists for long periods of time.
Constipation can result in small amount of blood entering the stool (as can hemorrhoids or small tears to the anus) which will probably account for the 356 or so respondents that reported red blood in their poo. If this persists, it would be worth getting checked out by your GP.
A more serious concern was that around 7% of our respondents reported that they had black stools, and as this can be a sign of digested blood, it should always be checked out by your doctor, as it can be a sign of intestinal problems, and in rare cases serious conditions such as Bowel Cancer.
Yellowish stools have also caused concern for around 5% of you and the most common cause of this is a lack of bile caused by your poo moving too quickly through the digestive tract. Again if this is a persistent problem, then it should be checked by your doctor.
Yes
NoComments
You can share your experiences and thoughts with other Embarrassing Bodies site-users below. Comments are reviewed before they are published.
Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out the Channel 4 Health site or NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.
Hi, im 17 years old and for as long as i can remember i have had very large poo. It recently started to get really bad, so i went to see my doctor and she gave me some tablets (docusate sodium; used in alot of common laxatives) it help me alot for a while but soon started to get worst again as soon as i stoped using them… that soon caused me to get a hemorrhoid so every time i went to the toilet there would be alot of blood in the bowl as well. I got some cream for that and it soon reduced so therer would only be a little amount of blood on the paper. Im taking the tablets again in a higher dose, 2 tablets 3 times a day, this does not seem to be helping alot as i am only going once maybe twice a week and im constantly constipated, gassy and getting cramps in my abdominal. I am also eating ALOT of fibre. Also, the last stool i passed had whitish in colour, sort of white flakes in, is it something i've eaten like porridge or something else? Thanls ever so much.
I am 26 years old, i have been told that I have IBS but still worried that my poroblem with doing a no 2 could be something else? I am constipated a lot of the time. When I do go to the toilet my stools tend to be thick at the begining and then get thinner, they didnt used to be this shape.
Also feel bloated and have cramps most of the time.
Thanks for your help
hi my problem is that i dont go for a poo that often but when i do my poo is very thick and long and is very painful also i do sufer from piles.
Hello i've been having troubles with my bowels for a long time and most of the time I go toilet my stool contains these weird white particals almost looking like an egg yoke, Feels like my insides are burning up and im also taking thesd tablets called Omeprazole for the acid build up but they dont seem to be doing anything anc i've been taking them for about 2 months can you help please!
I RECENTLY EXCRETED SOMETHING THAT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE A SMALL ROUND TABLET, IT WAS ORANGY RED, AND SEEMED TO HAVE A SKIN ON THE INSIDE AND THE "FILLING" WAS VERY MUCH LIKE CHEWING GUM.I HADNT BEEN EATING ANTYTHING UNUSUAL. THANK YOU.
Hello,
Can you please help?
I am 21 and i have been experiencing some while'ish jelly bits in my stools every time i go, iv also been getting some bad pains in my belly? What is this?
hi i have one breast bigger than the other it is quite painful and i have had it checked up by the doctor she said it was ok but i would like to find out the cause to why it hurts so much.please reaply byeeee.
im really embarrassed about going to the doctor's about my problem, but im worrying about it at the same time!
i can go days with out going for a poo!
when i do go though i find it really hard an painfull, my stools are very thick (in width),long ,hard an dark brown
i am a very active person always doing some type of execrise through the week ie gym, swimming, running etc and i eat really healthy food! can you please help?
Hi my son is 20 months old and still does very loose stools, sometimes with mucous and undigested food in it. By the evening his stomach is bloated and by by morning it is fine. He is otherwise a healty little boy. As a tiny baby at 8 weeks old he started loosing weight rapidly, was having liquid green nappies with blood in it. He was put on neocate a lactose free milk and continued to thrive on that until it came to weaning at six months. We began mixing milk normal formula in with the neocate. (RAST tested did not show milk allergy)Should his stools still be so loose or is it quite common?
hi, iam 20,can you please help me every time i go to the toilet to pass stools it is really really painfull like a scratchind,tearing feeling and there is some times blood in the toilet but always on the tissue when i wipe, some times it can be very itchy in that area aswell, iam not sure what this could be, i have looked my self at my bottom and can see no sign of lumps,warts,piles ect so iam very confused as to what it can be and dont know what to do. thankyou.