# Color of stool?



## Jen37 (Nov 10, 2011)

Hi everyone. I have been having some issues with my intestines for the last year ever since getting a stomach bug. Anyhow, for the last two weeks I have been feeling awful. It started with just having constant intestinal cramps all day and sitting with heating pad for relief. I did not have any diareha at this point, just more so feeling crampy and icky, especially after I would use the bathroom. This past Friday I had an episode of diareha in the morning. I felt so horrible all day, like I was going to have to go, but did not. Well I started taking this stuff called florastor to see if it would help. Anyhow, I went to the bathroom this morning and the stool was formed, but it was very light in color, kind of like the color of coffee with alot of cream in it. ( sorry if this is too much info or too gross). It also smells icky, I mean obviously all #### smells, but for the last couple weeks mine smells more acidic or sharp, I guess would be the best way to describe it. What would make the stool this color, is this normal? I take alot of probiotics daily, have been for a long time now. I take high doses because I have to be on a low dose antibitoic to prevent UTI's which I have been on for three years. Does anyone else experience this? Also, can IBS make you feel this crappy "all" of the time regardless of diet?? I mean I eat bland as it is. Also I did have my menstrual cycle this past week, maybe that made things a little worse, but I have been feeling crappy for about two weeks now. I am hoping it will pass..... Any ideas??


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

IBS can make you feel "crappy" all the time. Diet is not the one and only thing that causes symptoms and sometimes an all starch all the time bland diet isn't the best one for IBS anyway as starchy foods can make more gas (although people have different definitions of bland).As long as you are light tan you are OK. The stool starts out yellow or green and turns brown over time. The less time it gets for color change (and the fewer of the color changing bacteria you have and I don't think probiotics do it) the lighter tan the stool is.If you are talking white to putty colored you may not release enough bile. If your stools feel a bit acidic you may be releasing a bit too much bile, which will also tend to make the stools get pushed through the colon faster to get rid of them.


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## Jen37 (Nov 10, 2011)

Thanks for the reply Kathleen. Yes, they are more yellowish tan. I notice my stools are usually on the lighter side for some reason. With my diet I have been eating basically brown rice, certain vegetables which differ each day which consist of: carrots or greenbeans, or spinach. Sometimes potatoes which are usually boiled or mashed and as far as meat, usually chicken that is baked, or turkey. Only beef once in a while since I have lately had a hard time digesting it. I have just added the florastor to mt regemin of probiotics. I have heard it is suppose to help with IBS and other intestinal issues. I have read on a couple posts here that a couple people have come down with actual yeast infections from it. IS this common? I read up on it and the info I found says that it is suppose to help irradicate yeast not cause it. What do you think? Do you have any experience with florastor?


Kathleen M. said:


> IBS can make you feel "crappy" all the time. Diet is not the one and only thing that causes symptoms and sometimes an all starch all the time bland diet isn't the best one for IBS anyway as starchy foods can make more gas (although people have different definitions of bland).As long as you are light tan you are OK. The stool starts out yellow or green and turns brown over time. The less time it gets for color change (and the fewer of the color changing bacteria you have and I don't think probiotics do it) the lighter tan the stool is.If you are talking white to putty colored you may not release enough bile. If your stools feel a bit acidic you may be releasing a bit too much bile, which will also tend to make the stools get pushed through the colon faster to get rid of them.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I haven't used it, but it has a pretty good tract record.Some people seem to feel any of the thousands of species of yeast must cause an overgrowth of one specific species of yeast, but I haven't seem a lot of good evidence that somehow one species of yeast specifically feeds or promotes the growth of a completely different species.That is why a lot of anti-Candida diets ban all yeast breads even though that is a completely different yeast. I would think it would be more likely to compete, but yeast infections are very common so you would expect someone that might get a yeast infection anyways would have taken Floraster at some point before it showed up, just by chance.


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## Jen37 (Nov 10, 2011)

Thanks Kathleen for the info, I appreciate it. I may also add align to my bag of probiotics and see how that goes, I have read that some have had good results with it. We shall see. I also have a script for librax that my gastro gave me awhile back. If things do not look up I may try it and see if it works...


Kathleen M. said:


> I haven't used it, but it has a pretty good tract record.Some people seem to feel any of the thousands of species of yeast must cause an overgrowth of one specific species of yeast, but I haven't seem a lot of good evidence that somehow one species of yeast specifically feeds or promotes the growth of a completely different species.That is why a lot of anti-Candida diets ban all yeast breads even though that is a completely different yeast. I would think it would be more likely to compete, but yeast infections are very common so you would expect someone that might get a yeast infection anyways would have taken Floraster at some point before it showed up, just by chance.


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