# What causes skinny stools?



## TaniaF

My stools change from day to day. Some normal size and other days skinny pencils. Is this caused by spasms of the gut? Lack of fiber? Is there something to take to normalize BM's?Tania


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## LotronexLover

Fibrercon pills help bulk them up.


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## Kathleen M.

Unless they get really skinny and stay that way there isn't much to worry about with stool size.However a couple of things seem to be involved.Fiber and water. It takes both of these to have bulk. They can get smaller when they dehydrate as well as when there just isn't enough fiber for bulk.How long your rectum stores the stool. It seems sometimes that some people have rectums that do not like getting filled up (rectal hypersensitivity) so they dump stool before enough accumulates to give a "normal" width, whatever someone is calling "normal" vs "too skinny". Which may vary a lot between people.K.


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## Snitmom

i get that too - ribbon turds too. it seems that poop is mooving out too soon or something, but I am allways glad to poop when the skinnies happen, like I needed too. At least its not the little rocks and pebbles - ya, its not the worst so don't worry it much. Thats my attitude now - but i do stay vigilent.


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## TummyDepressed

I find this an interesting thread. I thought I was the only one who worried about things like this.I note above that it is stated that stools can form in the rectum, making them bulkier. Is this the case? I always though stools were formed before they passed into the rectum.It would make sense if they did form in the rectum. This would explain why if you hold off from going, you often get bulkier stools.Does anybody else here start with bulky stools and then finish off with tiny, penny sized ones. Is this where more liquid stools are being held up by ones with a slower transit time.Often it will take me 40 minutes to complete a bm. I know there are stools left in me, but they can take a while to come out.... Towards the end they can be minute.


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## Kathleen M.

Most of the stool size has to do with stool consistency. That and how sensitive your rectum is when a small amount of stool gets in there.You aren't likely to have a full width very small stool. If you get a big "gotta go" signal any time even a small stool gets to the rectum rather than waiting you will go and it will be thinner and smaller than what you see in someone that won't go until the rectum is really full up.The looser the stools are the narrower they tend to be as they are squishy and don't hold their shape.Since this thread someone researched where the "thin stools are from cancer" thing and found it was all some idea some guy had in the 1800's and while it seems logical (which is why this medical myth has been around a long time and commonly stated as truth) the thing that determines stool width is what the consistency of the stool is.


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