# Stools - sink or swim?



## Vicky19 (Mar 17, 2003)

This may be a bit strange, but does anyone know whether you can tell anything from whether your stools float or whether they sink to the bottom of the toilet bowl? i read something ages ago about this but have totally forgotten what was said!Thanks everyone.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There is the "conventional wisdom" you get on some medical sites/books and then the results that one group got when they actually did measurements on stools and got a different answer.The "conventional wisdom" was that one reason for floating vs sinking was how much fat was in the stool.However in looking at actual stools it appears that what matters is how much gas is trapped inside the stool.One confirmation of that for me is that whan I started probiotics and dramatically lowered my fart frequency my stools started being sinkers rather than floaters.K.


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## Heather83 (Jul 8, 2003)

This is a really interesting topic.. Next time i hit the bathroom i will definately pay more attention to my bouyancy.How'd you even think to ponder something like this?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think that many people when they have IBS tend to look in the toilet more than when all the BM's issues are normal.Looking for something anything that either explains their symptoms, or indicate something other than IBS may be going on..or other things. Sort of a strange sort of divination....If I could just understand the signs in the toilet then I would know what to do to fix this.So people often notice stuff about their stool after IBS and do not realize that it did that before (like variations in colors, small bits of undigested material...floating...sinking) and do the "I never saw that before







" even when it is what they have done all along, just not paid that much attention.And there are various websites that make a lot of inferences about stool. Floating stools are the healthy ones....or floating stools mean your pancreas is no longer working....etc. And that can get people looking for stuff in the toilet as well.K.


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## Vicky19 (Mar 17, 2003)

not sure how i pondered this........always noticed that some float, and some sink!i do pay attention to what ive left behind in the toilet bowel to see what consistency it is as i take a fibre bulking agent and if i got unformed stools etc, i'd increase the amount i was having. so sinkers mean theres too much fat?


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## Sar (Apr 9, 2003)

I thought that floaters just emntt hat there was gas in them??Sarah


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:so sinkers mean theres too much fat?


No.


> quote:I thought that floaters just emntt hat there was gas in them??


Yes.


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## Daveyboy (Jan 10, 2003)

Most of the time if they sink my bowels are o.kif they float I know trouble is brewing up.


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