I have a colostomy, I don't know if that makes a difference in the color of you stool. But usually the senna I take makes mine bright yellow. For 3 wks. now I have stomach pain and dark green stool, haven't changed diet or drank anything with dye. Any suggestions, pain feels like burning ulcer?
Faith4Today
Jul 19, 2010 6:20 pm
three
Jul 19, 2010 7:14 pm
Hi Faith4Today,
Pain is a signal for us to take action — not knowing what action to take is one of the most unpleasant parts of pain. I hope you have a doctor you trust who can work with you to isolate the action (if any) that's necessary.
I found many webpages concerning "green stools", and here's some information from one of those pages: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/gettingdiagnosed/a/green_stools.htm
The liver constantly secretes a bright green fluid called bile into the small intestine or it is stored in the gallbladder.
Bile is needed to absorb fats and fat soluble vitamins. It also helps to soften stools and is responsible for giving stools their characteristic brown color.
As bile makes its way through the intestines, it progressively changes color from green to yellow to brown, due to the action of bacteria in the large intestine on the bile salts.
Green stool often indicates that food has passed through the intestines faster than normal (called decreased bowel transit time), before it could be changed from green to brown.
Diarrhea decreases bowel transit time, so any condition that causes diarrhea can result in green stool.
Other causes of green stool include:
- Laxative use
- Antibiotic use
- Medication side effects
- Food poisoning
- Celiac disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn's disease
- Malabsorption
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Bacterial overgrowth
- Infectious diarrhea - especially salmonella and giardia
- Traveler's diarrhea
- Cancer
Foods and supplements that can cause green stool include:
- Chlorophyll
- Iron supplements
- Algae
Best wishes,
three
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Posted by: Primeboy
Hi Mike and all. I am not sure how panoramic my perspective really is as my peripheral vision shrinks with each passing year. I can tell you that when I came to this website six years ago I was truly ;impressed by the positive attitudes of so many members, especially the younger folks who refused to let their ostomies define who they were or what they would become. I also came to appreciate that having an ostomy is not the same thing as having a disease. Pardon ;my pun now, but ostomies and cancer don't belong in the same bag. One is a solution, the other is a problem. Celebrating National Ostomy Day ;is also well outside my comfort zone. That's like celebrating National Wheel Chair Day. Come on!
I think there is a ;need for improved ;public awareness of ostomies, but I am not sure how that's best done. There ;remains ;some social stigma attached to our situation, and it's acutely felt among our young. We need to get out of the dark ages on this issue, but not by going 'in your face' to everyone else. I think Bill and NDY are 'spot-on' when it comes to telegraphing the right message to friends and family. People will know how to react when they ;see ;how we accept the cards we were dealt. I also appreciate the contribution some people here are making to this effort through their publications.
On a personal note, my son has been suffering from ulcerative colitis for years just like I did. I am very concerned because people with UC are at a higher risk for colon cancer. Years ago my GI told me to get annual colonoscopies to be on the safe side. I am glad I did because he eventually found pre-cancerous cells which led to several surgeries and my becoming an ostomate. Since then I have always ;conveyed a positive attitude to ;my son about wearing a bag because it has kept me alive to enjoy many more years with my loved ones. I think he got the message. We both go to the same gastroenterologist in NYC and get scoped on the same day. Father and Son moments!
Someone once wrote that our children are the letters we write to the future.
PB
Past Member
Jul 19, 2010 8:34 pm
three, not only are you good with art, that was some fast thinking and you are right on about the Doctor. I guess you wont shock me anymore as I have seen how smart you are and also how kind, thank you, Jenny
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gutenberg
Jul 20, 2010 3:04 pm
Hi Faith, I had forgot about the green bile until I read your post. A few years back I used to have blockages (Ileostomy) and after things started working everything came out a watery dark green, also before I had my small intestine rerouted I would start vomiting and it was also this dark green, which I didn't want to dwell too much on, I mean Its one thing into the pouch but vomiting, quite another. This doctor who straightened out things for me was a real saint in my books, the pain from these blockages was unbearable, I still have times now where I get this green bile but no pain so its easy to live with, I do hope you get a handle on this cause your pain is screaming to be looked into, best of luck with this and keep us informed, Ok, Ed
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Pinky
Jul 20, 2010 10:09 pm
Hi Faith - do you have to take senna? A GI doctor told me senna is not a good thing to take on a long term basis as it is really too strong for the the GI tract unless a person is on pain-killing drugs. Can you increase your fiber (fruits and veggies) instead? Having my colostomy has taken care of any of the constipation/blockage problems I had in the past.
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