# undigested food in stool



## fedup (Oct 28, 2004)

hi, just hoping for a little advice,I noticed on occassion when i've had a soft hard to wipe bm that there is little bits of red matter on the tp when i wipe. I am being treated for health anxiety and have been improving a lot but i still get spells of bad anxiety and fear. I do my best to rationalise but sometimes i struggle. I am assuming what i'm seeing is tomato or red pepper, i had both last night. I've heard that if blood was in the stool it would be black, is that right?Also is 14 hours too quick for food to pass through my system?Thanks for any replies.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

A bit fast but not really clinically worrisome fast. Normal transit time runs from 16 to 72 hours and you do all the digesting of food in the first few hours anyway. Time in the colon is just processing the waste.All humans have undigested food matter in their stool. Veggies often have enough structure we can't break down at all that the structure makes it through intact (nutrients we can digest will dissolve out of it).Blood doesn't stay red for very long after it bleeds out. What color depends on where the bleed is. The higher up in the GI tract the more likely to be black and tarry when it comes out.If you do not wish to see any undigested matter in your stool at all there is something you can do. Chew more. The more you break the food up into tiny bits in the only part of the GI tract you can grind up tough parts of food, the less you see coming out the other end.


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## Matilda001 (Oct 18, 2011)

Tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn etc can all pass through the intestines and out the other end, pretty much the same way they went in. I too panicked when i saw a long red sliver but remembered I had eaten red peppers the day before. Certain foods with 'skins' pass through the system without being totally broken down by the digestive juices.


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## fedup (Oct 28, 2004)

thanks for your replies,Maybe i just should'nt look so closely! I'll try chewing better. Just need to keep my anxiety in check. Anyone else noticed this?


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

> Maybe i just should'nt look so closely!


No you shouldn't look so closely.. especially with a health anxiety diagnosis.


> Just need to keep my anxiety in check.


Yes that would help.


> Anyone else noticed this?


Asking this and coming here in general is NOT helping to keep your anxiety in check. You HAVE posted in the past that you shouldn't really be ON this bulletin board in the first place with health anxiety.. so.... Don't mean to tell ya to go away... but.. you know it is in your best interest to NOT be on here.


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## fedup (Oct 28, 2004)

you're right BQ,I'm struggling just now but i know i have to help myself.


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