# stool colour -- what's normal?



## 123kev123 (Dec 4, 2009)

The colour of my stools has recently been really weird. Is it normal to have multi-coloured stools? It is yellow-ish, a variety of brown-ish and covered with little black patches. The black patches worry me a little, as I've read that black meant blood, or could it be something else? Occasionally, they would be covered in red patches and when I told the doctor, he replied that it should be nothing. Is this multi-coloured stools normal? Thanks, Kev


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## TanaG (Jul 11, 2009)

I don't think the stool has to be all in just one colour....Sometimes there's food in it...sometimes there's older poo and newer poo...lol...With IBS you just tend to analise your stool too much...I know cause I am spending some time every day looking down in the toilet...


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## 123kev123 (Dec 4, 2009)

yep. Totally agreed. I decided to stop looking into the toilet for the past few weeks, but decided to do it again just now.. and I saw black spots, which were like jet black patches around the stool.... worries me.. lol. so do you have it too?But thanks for the reply =D


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

When it exits the small intestine it is yellowish or greenish. As it goes through the large intestine some or all of that yellow or green will be converted to brown by the bacteria. If you have stool from different meals those may have different amounts of time to have the color change.Dark patches can be from foods that started out dark and come out the same color they went down (or something that had iron in it or some pepto bismol you took). Pretty much every color you can imagine can come from the food you ate (or occasionally a drug and how it gets eliminated from stool and what color that is).Black AND tarry is the description of blood that usually comes from up high in the GI tract. Dark brown/black can be other things if not tarry.


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## 123kev123 (Dec 4, 2009)

what do you mean by tarry? hahathanks, Kev


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Like tar.Sticky, thick. Like tar.I don't know how to describe tar other than sticky and thick, like the stuff they sometimes put in cracks in the street in the summer when it gets hot and you step in it and it sticks to your shoe.I have no idea if that helped if you've never experienced tar.


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## 123kev123 (Dec 4, 2009)

Thanks, it did help me a lot =D. Nah, mine isn't tar-rish (*relieve*). It's solid, but filled with black spots which appear randomly around the stool. But It is certainly strange to have such weird multi-coloured stools


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Before we have digestive issues most people don't study their stool so often don't notice all the normal variation that happens. If you start staring at it you will see all sorts of things.


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## Diana63 (Oct 20, 2009)

My stools are either yellow or mustard in colour very rarely brown,but been told not to worry about it,although i do think the colour is a bit strange!


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## TanaG (Jul 11, 2009)

I've had those mustard colour stools sometimes too. I think it depends on what you eat.Before I had IBS I never spent a second looking down in the toilet...so it may be true that there were all kind of stools and colours back then too, I just never paid attention to them.IBS can drive you really paranoid.I agree with K...the dark spots are most likely food


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## 123kev123 (Dec 4, 2009)

thanks guys, and I totally agree that IBS can drive one paranoid. haha. Had a massive stomach upset last night (8.30am here right now). It felt as though my intestines were "shirnking" sensation, but only on by left. Then after a while i had to run to the toilet ( I always hold it in till the last minute as i fear diarreah for some reason), but instead of diarreah, there was a lot of brown, squishy and sticky stools. There was a lot, like the most I've ever pass out once before (or as far as i can remember). Is this called an IBS episode? Not too sure about it... never had this before...Anw thanks guys, I'm visiting my gastro in a couple of hours with many questions. I havn't had a colonoscopy done and the doc said I'll go for it if my problem persisted. Only had a blood test done a month ago.


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## TanaG (Jul 11, 2009)

You mean you had a loose stool of brown colour? I bet this is rather usual to people without IBS too...lolBrown is a good colour for stool...


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## Jeffrey Roberts (Apr 15, 1987)

The Bristol Stool Form Scale helps to use common terminology when looking at stool color and shape.http://www.ibsgroup.org/bristolstool


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