Video
Body Check – Stools Transcript
Dr Christian: Despite not being very pleasant, your poo is important, as not only does it remove waste from the body, it can tell you a lot about your general state of health.
The best way to spot a potential problem is to check yourself and there are some key things to look out for.
When it comes to shape, a sausage like form is normal but if your stools appear in separate hard lumps this can be a sign of constipation.
Width will also vary from person to person but look out for a prolonged change to narrower stools as it may be a sign of obstruction in the colon and it should be discussed with your doctor.
Soft forms or liquid, resulting in diarrhoea, can be a sign of infection like food poisoning – but can also occur after alcohol or spicy food. Thyroid problems can cause diarrhoea too.
If it doesn’t stop in a few days it could be IBS – irritable bowel syndrome – or Crohn’s disease.
How often you go isn’t generally a cause for concern – people differ, ranging from three times a week to three times a day. But if your regularity changes or if you swap between constipation and diarrhoea for no apparent reason these are possible signs of bowel cancer, and it’s really worth discussing with your doctor.
Stools get their normal brownish colour from bile. However, you may find you have various colour changes, which are more than likely to be influenced by something you’ve eaten. But it can sometimes indicate something more serious.
Red colouring can come from food, but blood can also cause it and although this isn’t nice to see, it is something doctors come across quite often, usually as a result of haemorrhoids or a small tear; if it persists make sure to get it checked out.
If the stools appear black, this can be digested blood, which could mean bleeding ulcers or tumours and is something really important to look out for and get examined.
Finally, white stools are definitely worth being evaluated by your doctor because they may indicate a serious problem in the liver, such as hepatitis.
For this body check and others featured on the site we want to hear about your findings. So please come back to share your results and discuss them with other site users.
And if you have any concerns or ongoing problems it’s best to contact your GP.
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.
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Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.
hello. I have recently been noticing long white streaks in my stools. I am sure they they are not worms, because I've had them before. Pleas help me!!!
Thanks for the msg CJ, Likewise,my symptoms seem to be more prominent in the later part of the morning-starting with noises in the abdomen,followed by the'feeling'of needing to go to the loo but mostly just passing colourless mucus,with or without very smelly & runny stools.By late afternoon/evening the problem lessens somewhat. i'm no longer having(dairy)milk as this seems to aggravate the condition so switched to goats milk.have also developed intolerances to both butter & white bread so i've cut these out of my diet to. i've also crossed off lasagne on my shopping list as i had this with some salad last night & had an embarassing reaction to it while i was on my round this morn.a female work friend of mine is supplying me with panty liners to help with the frequent mucus leaks. My colonoscopy back in May proved inconclusive.the biopsy results showed there was inflammation of the intestine but that's all the info i've got.They have so far ruled out ulcerative colitis & celiac disease.My doc has put me on a course of Mebeverine for IBS & have a follow-up app at the gastroenterology clinic next month.
my stool tend to be brown to light in colour, however, i have noticed some small black bits in my stools recently. i have recently started to take thyroxine so i dont know if there is any relation. i was wondering if this is something to worry about as it is not the complete colour of my stool, just small bits in it, could this be blood or something that is not digested properly? i am a thirty year old female.
My stool comes out very long and skinny. I go about every oher day.I used to get conspitated but not now. I try to get alot of fiber. What is a sign of. Thanks T.R.
Hi there, I had a gastric bypass 8 weeks ago and have since had very unusual bowel movements. At the moment they are a grey/green colour, quite loose and smell terrible. It's highly embarrassing and causes terrible pains in my bowels! Does anyone have any advice?
I might be suffering from IBS. Im almost 14 and when i go to the loo, my stools are like rabbit droppings but other days are loose? any advice???
Hey, my name is Sophie and i'm 16 years old. For about two years now I have been going to the toilet less and less. It can range anything from a week to 3 weeks. I've tired everything but nothing works. Is there anything I can do because I have really bad stomach pain for about 2 days before I am able to go.
Hi Sophie, I have had a similar problem since I was around your age - I am now 36 and still suffer. My system will go from funtioning "normally" where I will go to the toilet every day.....then it will just stop and nothing for 3-4 days or more. I eat extremely well, drinks lots of water so cant say its diet related - I know what I am intolerant too and this doesnt really work either. I got some medication from my GP called Movicol which is a god send and although I dont take it all the time, I can tell when I need to and it helps immensely. I have found that all the fruit, veg, water and fibre in the world do not help me but this stuff! Good luck!!
I had a really bad bout of gastroenteritis at the end of Jan & have had bowel probs ever since.At the time,my poo was mostly a very smelly orange-ish liquid & i was going to the loo 7 times a day & about 4 times during the night,...sometimes soiling myself as well.my appetite disappeared overnight & i didn't eat anything for 8 days straight,& when i did go back on solids,...it was just a slice of dry brown bread & bowl of soup a day for a few weeks until my appetite started to creep back.i lost a lot of weight. thankfully,i'm no longer having any night-time accidents but i'm still going to the loo up to 5 times a day,it is wet/stringy & now always floats,whereas before my gastroenteritis,i was a'sinker'.i often get really bad bouts of painful gas with the feeling of wanting to empty my bowel but instead finding only a colourless fluid/mucus,which is very embarassing while i'm on my delivery(i'm a postman)which seems to get more intense when i'm stressed.my doctor thought it might poss be IBD & i'm having a biopsy & colonoscopy next week to confirm. my life seems to have been put on hold with this illness & i can't go anywhere without thinking about the toilet.
Im having pretty much that exact same problem! At first it started out as a week long event, going away for about a month, and now its back and was on a every other week routine and now its pretty constant.. I can only manage to eat about once a day and not until the later evening. Do your symptoms seem to be more prominent in the first half of the day and kinda calm as you get into the second part of the day? What was the outcome of your bio and colonoscopy if you dont mind sharing? Any additional information would be greatly satisfying..
I had a nastey attack of the Norvo virus and it took ages afterwards feel normal. But I did take plenty of probiotics to replenish the gut flora which I am sure was lost when ill.
Hi,hopefully you can help! I'm 30 yr old female,I suffer with anorexia & laxitive abuse! I an currently in process of coming off the laxitives. However for last week every time I go to the toilet my stools are runny (which I know is due to laxitives) but it is now a very dark green/black color. I haven't changed my diet,I eat the same every day. A bowl of broccoli cauliflower asparagus & carrots with bowl of chicken noodle soup. I am very concerned that my stools are highlighting something serious!! Advise welcome please many thanks in advance
I went to see a specialist at the hospital yesterday as i am suffering from Ulcerative colitis now for over 25 years, it is now Diarrhea based. I have to stop my car and jump into the back seat as i have no other option to cope with this bloody problem. i am more a vegetarian and have difficulty in finding replacements of foods etc,dont drink much frizzy drinks etc... have a fairly boring meal everyday. The specialist asked me to get a colonoscopy done,the last one was done over 7 years ago. i hate those things getting into me and done understand what new results could show. The specialist recons that i need to get this done as i might get colon cancer? He says there might be some kind of new growth in the colon,intestines or internally areas where the colonoscopy would reach to get results. Can this be true and if so what percentage people could have Colon cancer because of suffering from Ulcerative colitis and sclerosing cholangitis. Help! Advice... anything... Worried married man with 2 little boys 6 and 4 yrs old!
Check out the nacc.org.uk website. I've got ulcerative colitis and find most fruit & veg to be the cause of my problems. The bad news is we have an increased chance of getting colon cancer and therefore it is recommended that a colonoscopy is done every year or so depending on severity. People at very high risk with primary sclerosing cholangitis or more than 20 years of ulcerative colitis disease should have a colonoscopy done every year. I know it isn't pleasant, but if I were you I'd make that appointment right now.
