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How Your Abnormal Stool Form Could Mean IBS
IBS Sympto ms Guide
While pain is the most common and most noticeable symptom in almost every disorder or disease, it is
quite uncommon f or a certain illness or disorder to be present with only pain as its symptom. Irritable Bowel
Syndrome, f or example, presents itself with abdominal pain, but also with abnormal stool form.
You might be if f y talking about a rather delicate subject such as stools, but inspecting your stool’s
characteristics is one of the most usef ul ways to tell if you are suf f ering f rom Irritable Bowel Syndrome or
some other kind of gastrointestinal disease or disorder.
In this article, you will learn about the f ollowing:
What Stools are and How are T hey Formed
T he Dif f erent Kinds of Abnormal Stools
Dif f erent Stool Forms
Dif f erent Colors of Stools
Smell and Frequency of Bowel Movements
What Stools are and How are They Formed
Stools are one of the body’s waste products. It consists of all the f ood particles that have gone through
digestion and that cannot be absorbed by the body. When you eat something, it passes through the
esophagus down to the stomach, where it is f urther broken down and digested, with the help of the
stomach’s hydrochloric acid and the body’s dif f erent mix of chemicals.
Af ter getting ground up into a f ine mush, the digested f ood passes f rom the stomach and goes into the
large bowel, or the large intestines. As the digested f ood passes through the colon, most of the water
used up during the digestion of the f ood gets reabsorbed, so that when the digested f ood byproduct
passes f rom the large intestines and goes to the small intestines, it no longer looks like f ine mush, but with
semi-solid f orm.
While passing through the small bowel, or the small intestines, a little bit more water is reabsorbed into the
body. T he rest of the digested f ood byproducts f orms into the ideal stool f orm—semi-solid f orms, which
are neither lumpy or hard, or loose or watery, and with the color of light to dark brown.
The Dif f erent Kinds of Abnormal Stools
If your stool strays away f rom the ideal stool f orm, however, you can be sure that there is something
wrong within the digestive process. Inspecting the dif f erent characteristics of the stools will give you an
idea of what and where the problem might be. Typically, stools are inspected f or their f orm and consistency,
color, and sometimes, even the smell.

2. A good way to know whether you have abnormal stools or abnormal bowel movements is by listening to
your own body. When you know what your stool normally looks like with your regular bowel movement,
you will instantly know there is something wrong once that normalcy changes.
T here are a lot of diseases and disorders that also present themselves with abnormal stools or bowel
movement. T his is why inspecting your stools is extremely important f or a possible Irritable Bowel
Syndrome diagnosis, since all of the other usual suspects have to be ruled out f irst. If you think the
process of elimination should be easy, here are just a f ew of the other diseases or gastrointestinal
disorders that could cause abnormal stools or bowel movement:
Giardiasis
Intussuscepcion
Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Gilbert’s Syndrome
Alcoholism
Gallstones
Some f orms of Cancer
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
With so many possible causes of abnormal stools, accurately describing its characteristics is key f or
physicians to reach a correct diagnosis.
Dif f erent Stool Forms
T here are generally on two kinds of stool f orms—either
lumpy or hard, or loose or watery. T he kind of f orm that the
stools will present itself depends on the time the digested
f ood byproducts spend within the large intestines, where
most of the water content gets reabsorbed by the body.
If the digested f ood passes through the large bowel
slowly, too much water is reabsorbed, resulting in hard and
lumpy stools. If the digested f ood rushes through the colon,
however, little to no water gets reabsorbed, resulting in
loose, watery stools.
In medicine, there is a scale that exists f or cataloging
stools, called the Bristol Stool Scale. It has seven types,
ranging f rom stools that suggest constipation to stools
that suggest diarrhea. T he seven in the Bristol Stool Scale
are:
1. Separate, stone-like or nut-like hard lumps
2. Sausage-shaped, although lumpy
3. Sausage-shaped, with cracks
4. Sausage shaped, surf ace is smooth
5. Sof t or slightly mushy blobs but with clearly-def ined edges
6. Fully mushy stools, with ragged or indef inite edges
7. Entirely watery stool
Types 3 and 4 are what are considered to be the ideal stool f orm, to be passed once or twice a day. T hat is
what is considered to be an ideal regular bowel movement.

3. Types 1 and 2, however, suggest constipation, while types 5 to 7 suggest urgency or diarrhea. Frequent
changes in bowel movements, however, could indicate Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
As the name suggests, IBS sometimes urges bowel movement quickly af ter eating, resulting in loose
stools. Af ter such, it compensates by slowing down the process, resulting in hard or lumpy stools. T his
switching back and f orth happens f requently, even several times a day, resulting in abdominal pain f or IBS
suf f erers.
Dif f erent Colors of Stools
Human f ood consists of a rainbow of colors, but, interestingly, most stools come out as dark or lightbrown in color. T here are instances where stools come out in colors dif f erent f rom the ideal dark or light
brown, though, and these could be very telling to the cause of the problem.
Black, Dark Red, or Bright Red
Dark bowel movements typically suggest internal bleeding. Medically, a dark red, black, or tarry stool is
known as melena, and would imply bleeding f rom the upper gastrointestinal tract, which is f rom the
esophagus to a small part of the intestines. T he stool is dark-colored because the blood that has mixed
with the digested f ood has oxidized during the time f rom when it has passed f rom the esophagus to the
small intestine.
A disorder known as Intussuscepcion is associated with black stools, as well as “ribbon-like” thin stools,
due to the telescoping of the intestines. However, ingesting a large amount of dark-colored f oods could
also result in black stools. T his is why when internal bleeding or Intussuscepcion is suspected, the patient
is advised a bland diet, or f oods that have no strong coloring or dyes.
A bright red stool, however, indicates f resh blood in the stool, also known as hematochezia. T his mostly
indicates internal bleeding f ound along the lower GI tract, or f rom the intestines to the rectum. T he most
common cause of bright red stools are hemorrhoids.
Green or Yellow Bowel Movement s
Green or yellow-colored stools could either be caused by a parasitic or bacterial inf ection, such as in the
case of Giardiasis, or by the ingestion of green or yellow-colored f oods. Gilbert’s Syndrome also presents
itself with yellow stools, caused by excess bilirubin mixed with the digested f ood. A patient with Gilbert’s
Syndrome also appears jaundiced.
Eating large quantities of sugar, anise, or licorice could cause green stools, as well as ingesting grasses
like wheatgrass or barley.
Whit e Bowel Movement or St ools
Sometimes, stools can be white, or clay-colored. T his happens when the digested f ood lacks the bile
stored in the gall bladder and mixed in when the digested f ood byproduct passes through the f irst third of
the large intestine. Bile mixes with the digested f ood and breaks down f at proteins as well as other bodily
chemicals still present. As a result, the stool receives its characteristic brown coloring.
Absence of bile could mean an obstruction of the gall bladder or along the duct connecting it to the large
intestine, such as the case with gallstones. Tumors in certain f orms of Cancer could also cause the
blockage.
Blue St ools

4. Surprisingly, there are instances where stools are colored blue. Mostly, this type of stools happen because
of the use of dye f or treatment or diagnostic purposes, though ingesting large amounts of blue-colored
f oods and drinks could also cause blue stools.
Smell and Frequency of Bowel Movements
Smell is sometimes considered, but rarely, since changes in stool smell present only in a handf ul of
disorders. Most of the time, other diagnostic tests could provide a def initive result, so testing the smell is
not usually done.
Stools can sometimes smell sweet or f ruity, however, instead of its usual ammonia-like smell. Ingesting
large amounts of f resh f ruit such as pineapple could result in a f ruity-like aroma, though this also
sometimes happens in people with Diabetes or Diabetes Ketoacidosis.
Decreased or increased bowel movements could mean a lot of things, f rom something as lif ethreatening as intestinal obstruction to something as simple as having too much or too little f iber and water
in the diet. IBS usually presents with an increase in bowel movements, with most suf f erers experiencing
urgency in bowel movement after eating.
Welcome to everyone visiting my blog. I am Josephina and as a lot of other people I am very
concerned about IBS and everything related to this syndrome. I have already gathered a lot
of essential and usef ul inf o about IBS. So I f elt ready to share this to everyone and that is
the purpose of this site. I hope that what you f ind here will help you or your relatives and
f riends suf f ering f rom IBS to minimize discomf ort or even throw it of f completely.