Green Poop!

[Sojiita]

Ok..I am not looking this up online because I know I will find horrible reasons and immediatelythink the worst. For 4-5 days now..maybe a whole week...my poop has been GREEN! A very distinct kind of kelly/moss green..it even colors the water in the bowl a green color! What in the world could be causing this? I have not had any change in eating habits or anything. I cannot think why this is happening and I have NEVER had poop like this..so completel and totally green. I am not kidding this is disturbing to me! Could I have some weird illness or something? ???

[zorbeet]

Are you eating or drinking anything that has blue dye? The green poops show up when my boys eat Boo Berry Cereal. One of the food dyes when metabolized is a brilliant green color.

[moomies]

Do you have any tummy aches?

I don't wanna scare you so if you do go see a doctor Sojiita.

[DeChayz]

Eating a lot of veggies lately? Especially leafy greens? That often causes green poop. Green poop is not all that unusual, it can even be yellow at times.

[Lobelia]

Since you're understandably nervous about looking stuff up, I did, and it doesn't look bad:

Dear TeenHealthFX,

I know this is gross but what does it mean when my feces are really green?

Signed: Green Feces





Dear Green Feces,

It is not gross; it?s actually a very good question. There are many reasons why a person?s stool (feces) could be green, none of them serious. The mostly obvious cause would be from eating green food. Green, leafy vegetables contain chlorophyll, which can color the stool green. Foods that have certain kind of additives, such as artificial flavors or colors, may also have a greening effect. For younger children eating a green crayons or green paint will also do the trick. Iron supplements or even iron rich food can lend a green hue to stool.

A stool can also appear green for physical reasons and not just because of what you ate. The bile that is secreted in the first part of the small intestine is actually green. As a stool passes through the large intestine it is turned into a darker brown color. If a stool is still green by the time it is excreted, it could mean that it passed through the large intestine too fast to be changed in color. This mostly occurs in cases of diarrhea, which can be an indication of other problems or lead to dehydration.

If you continue to have a green stool or have blood in your stool, chronic diarrhea or your bowel habits change in any other way then you should consult with a doctor. These could be signals of a more serious problem.

If you would like to meet with a doctor from the Adolescent/Young Adult Center For Health in Morristown, New Jersey, you can make an appointment by calling 973.889.6350.

Signed: TeenHealthFX

http://www.teenhealthfx.com/answers/Health/401.html

Also, check out this link. It also doesn't say anything grim.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/green_stool.htm

[SVZ]

Could be bile, do you notice any fat or oil floating in your toilet as well? What about yellow? Have you been eating more fats and proteins lately?

You might want to get your bilburin levels checked to see if they're normal. Have you noticed any other symptoms? Like skin or eye whites turning yellow? It's most likely nothing since secreting more bile is better than not enough.

[moomies]

Elmo had purple poop when I gave him some blueberries...

[DeChayz]

Hehe, my dog had pink poop for 3 days after he got into the pepto bismol somehow

[Sojiita]

Well thanks Lobelia for looking it up. I don't know what it was but it seems to be over now. Thank God. Maybe I ate something that had some weird food coloring in it. I had a small cake that had some deep blue icing on part of it about a week ago. Maybe that was it?. God only knows what kind of industrial strength dyes the bakery uses in it's icing. *shudder*