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One smell and two look, three steps to find the clues that cause abnormal poop! !
Poop is the “barometer” of our body. A normal poop every day can be said to be comfortable physically and mentally, but many times, our poop is not so normal, the most common is the color or Yellow, but thin, this is actually your body alerting you.
From a medical point of view, the appearance of stool alone can reveal the clues of some diseases. Today, the editor will show you how to find out the clues hidden in the abnormal poop from three very simple steps.
Silent cues – the smell of poop
I think the smell is probably the most profound experience for everyone every time you poop!
Just want to run away
But since you can’t escape, you should calm down and learn some knowledge. You must know that the smell of poop is also an important indicator to judge whether the poop is normal!
When normal feces smell bad because they contain protein decomposition products, such as indole, skatole, mercaptan, hydrogen sulfide, etc., so comrades who like to eat meat, usually take protein If you put in a lot, the smell of poop will be more important, and the smell of vegans will be lighter. However, when you suffer from chronic enteritis, pancreatic disease, colon or rectal cancer ulceration, the stool smells bad. The stools of patients with amebic enteritis and gastrointestinal bleeding have a bloody smell. The feces have a sour smell when fats and sugars are not digested or absorbed properly.
Looking back: Is my poop the right shape?
In addition to the smell, it is also very important to look back at the stool. The most intuitive thing at first glance is the shape of the stool. Is it a bar? Mushy? Granular? Do these shapes suggest any physical condition?
In fact, as early as 1997, Heaton and Lewis from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom published the Bristol stool classification method in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology (Figure 1). It is not ugly from the picture. Out, just looking at the shape of the stool is the most intuitive way to distinguish between diarrhea and constipation, that is, for most people, if the stool is type 1 or 2, it indicates constipation, type 5, 6 or 7, Diarrhea is suggested, and types 3 and 4 can be considered normal.
Figure 1. Bristol Stool Classification
Looking back: Is my poop the right color?
After reading the shape, it is time to look at the color. Although most of the time, we see yellow poop, but it has been clinically for a long time, and occasionally there will be Weird colored poo comes into view, let’s start with the conclusion: as long as it’s not yellow, be vigilant!
Let’s take a look at it separately, what are the colors of poop, and what are the different clinical meanings of these colors?
■ Tan
The yellowish-brown color of normal stool comes from the body’s bilirubin metabolite, bilirubin, which enters the small intestine through the enterohepatic circulation, is reduced to bilirubin by cells, and is excreted together with the stool. in vitro.
■ White
Clay-like stools indicate diseases related to bile duct obstruction, such as bile duct stones, tumors of the bile duct, or cancer of the head of the pancreas, which obstruct the bile duct. However, it should be noted that the stool after barium meal imaging will also have a grayish white appearance, which should be inquired by the medical history.
The rice-washed water sample is also called rice swill-like stool. There is no fecal matter in it. The water sample is large and dilute, and it contains mucus pieces.
Greasy stools with a foul odor are common in pancreas-derived diarrhea or malabsorption syndromedisease.
Simple mucus is colorless and transparent, slightly viscous, and purulent mucus is yellow-white opaque, which is found in various types of enteritis, bacillary dysentery, and amoebic dysentery.
■ Dark Yellow
More common in hemolytic jaundice, found in various congenital (such as thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, etc.) and acquired (such as autoimmune hemolytic anemia) that cause hemolytic jaundice , malaria, kala-azar, cholera, typhoid, etc.) caused by hemolytic anemia.
■ Green
Stools are green and pasty in children with enteritis. Pseudomembranous colitis is seen when a large amount of yellow-green dilute juice-like stools (3000ml or more) and contains membranous substances. This is mainly related to the speed at which food moves through the intestines. In addition, eating a lot of chlorophyll-containing foods will also turn the stool green.
■ Red
Bright red is more common in rectal polyps, rectal cancer, anal fissures and hemorrhoids. One of the characteristics of hemorrhoid bleeding is that it often drips or shoots a small amount of blood after the stool, and then stops on its own. If the blood is bright red and mixed with the stool, it may indicate other diseases.
Dark red feces mixed with blood appear dark red jam-like, common in amoebic dysentery. In addition, normal people eat too much coffee, chocolate, cherries, mulberries, etc. can also appear dark red stool.
Black
The appearance is thin, viscous, dark, shiny, and looks like tar, so it is also called tar-like stool. Common in gastrointestinal bleeding. However, taking activated charcoal, bismuth, animal blood, liver, spinach, oral iron, etc., the stool can also be black.
At the end of this part, we use a diagram to briefly summarize the common color poop and its corresponding reasons (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Common stool colors and main reasons (Image source: Popular Science China)
Of course, one smell and two sightings alone are not enough for a correct diagnosis,however, when we feel unwell, having this smelling and two sightings can help us as soon as possible. We know that there may be abnormalities in our bodies, so we must go to the hospital in time for medical treatment, and do regular physical examinations and tests, so that we can truly prevent problems before they happen!
This article was first published: Digestive Liver Disease Channel in the Medical Community
The author of this article: Zheng Liang
Review of this article: Yang Health, Deputy Chief Physician, Jingdezhen Second People’s Hospital
Editor in charge: XU
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