Although bathroom habits are typically a private matter, you might occasionally need to go public with your poop color. Typically, a healthy stool is brown and has a soft, formed consistency. When your stool turns bloody or black, it could indicate a serious problem in your digestive tract. And although your stool might look like coffee grounds, that morning cup of coffee shouldn't change the color of your stool.
Red Stool
If you notice bright red blood in your stool, it typically indicates that you are bleeding in the rectum, anus or large intestine. Since these areas occur near the lower end of the digestive tract, the blood has no time to digest before it is excreted from the body. Common causes include diverticulosis, intestinal tumors and hemorrhoids. Additional causes include inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal infections and tears in the skin surrounding the anus.
Black Stool
When the bleeding originates in the esophagus, stomach or small intestine, the blood has quite a bit of time to digest as it travels through the digestive tract. As a result, it turns a darker black color and gives the stool a tarry consistency. Common causes include bleeding ulcers or areas of inflammation in the stomach. Bright-red blood in the stool might also be caused by inflammation of the stomach lining, tears in the esophagus or overgrown blood vessels in the esophagus and stomach.
Treatment
If the bleeding is relatively minor, your doctor can usually correct the problem through an endoscope procedure using medications, heat or lasers. Severe or recurrent bleeding often requires surgical treatment. If you lose a significant amount of blood, you might also require intravenous transfusion of blood or other fluids. In addition, you will also need to correct the underlying cause of the bleeding. For example, you might need to take medications to prevent stomach ulcers or eat more fiber to prevent hemorrhoids.
Considerations
In some cases, a change in stool color might simply be caused by certain foods, medications or nutritional supplements. For example, heavy intake of beets and tomatoes can cause red stools, while black licorice and blueberries can cause black stools. If your stool color changes only temporarily, and you can relate the change to a specific food, you likely have no reason to worry. However, if your stool color changes suddenly and cannot be traced to an obvious cause, contact your doctor immediately.
References
- John Hopkins Children's Center: Gastrointestinal Bleeding or Blood in the Stool
- Better Medicine: Stool Color
- Better Medicine: Stool Color: Causes
- MayoClinic.com; Stool Color: When to Worry; Michael F. Picco, M.D.; May 2010
- MedlinePlus: Bloody or Tarry Stools
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Bloody or Tarry Stools
