In a healthy adult, the color of the feces is brown, with a variation of shades. Color is due to the presence of the pigment in the stork, depending on its concentration, the color may be darker or lighter.
A large influence on this indicator is provided by the diet, as well as the intake of certain medications, especially those containing iron. Unnatural greenish-black, red, gray and other shades are signs of the presence of ulcers, pancreatitis, hepatitis and other diseases.
If a dark feces is found, you need to carefully analyze your diet in the last few days. Black stool, formed as a result of the use of medicines and food products, does not cause any harm to health and does not require the appointment of medical procedures.
Within a few days the color of the stool should be normalized, provided that the provoking products are excluded from the diet. In this article, we measure whether black feces are a sign of something dangerous in an adult or not.
Why does black feces occur: dangerous causes
What does it mean? The black chair is a characteristic symptom of bleeding from the upper sections of the gastrointestinal tract.
Hemoglobin is exposed to acids and bacteria, which stains the stool black. If you have a diagnosed GI disease or there are no other reasons for staining the stool black, urgently call for an ambulance.
In consequence of what happens in adults black stool?
In a healthy person, black feces may appear due to the fact that he consumed foods in large quantities that contain a fat-soluble coloring substance. These include:
- blood sausage;
- liver;
- Red beetroot;
- Meat products, which contain an admixture of animal blood;
- tomatoes;
- black currant;
- prunes.
In adults, this phenomenon can be observed after use:
- chokeberry ashberry;
- blueberries;
- red grapes;
- grenade;
- red wine with the addition of dyes.
Effect of medication
Permanent use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ("Aspirin", "Ibuprofen", etc.), which are prescribed for joint diseases, if the conditions of admission are not adhered to, microerosions of the gastric mucosa often cause bleeding, staining the stools in a dark color.
Also, feces can become black with the use of drugs that contain a lot of iron. They are mainly used to treat anemia. This includes drugs that contain bismuth or activated carbon. And in the first, and in the second case, resort to treatment is not necessary. Just exclude from the diet products and drugs that can cause unusual stool color.
Black feces as a sign of diseases in adults
If the black stool appears suddenly, you should look for the causes of this phenomenon in the work of the gastrointestinal tract.
Such a clinical symptom may indicate gastrointestinal bleeding from the upper parts of the digestive tract, for example, with peptic ulcer in the acute stage, neoplasms in the stomach or cirrhosis, accompanied by varicose veins of the esophagus.
One should not think that in this case the feces should contain blood: in the digestive tract, blood is processed by enzymes and bacteria along with food, coagulates and changes color from red to black.
Usually, this reason for the appearance of a black stool is not accompanied by this symptom alone. ABOUTinternal problemscan also speak one of the concomitant states of a person:
- temperature;
- nausea;
- vomiting;
- pallor of the skin;
- cold sweat;
- increase and soreness of the liver;
- pain in the stomach.
Also, internal hemorrhage may be indicated by a low level of hemoglobin in a general blood test or the detection of latent blood in the analysis of stool. For any of these symptoms, in conjunction with the appearance of black stools, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Black feces during pregnancy, why?
As for pregnant women, all multivitamin complexes for pregnant women contain iron, which stains the stool. This is considered normal and does not require additional measures.
Thus doctors assure, that so from an organism there is an excess iron, therefore it is not necessary to stop to accept vitamins. Simply, the body absorbs the amount that the mother and the child need, and sends the excess to waste. From the next article you will find out why there is incontinence. Therefore, if there are no other symptoms, then you should not worry, but in order to calm yourself, it is enough just to stop taking vitamins for a couple of days and make sure that the stool is normalized.
It's another matter if black feces are not associated with vitamins during pregnancy. In this case, you need to urgently consult a doctor to take all the necessary tests.
What to do with such a problem?
Of course, before starting any therapeutic measures, you should find out why the feces turned black.
If the dark color of feces is associated with the nature of nutrition or the intake of medications, then there is no need to conduct therapeutic measures. Also, do not stop medication and exclude coloring products, because the change in stool color in this situation does not lead to any negative effect on the body.
By itself, black feces are not dangerous. But it can signal serious problems in the body, up to the states that can lead to death if there is no timely assistance.
On the other hand, often everything is explained by the banal intake of certain foods that color the feces in an unusual color. In any case, do not be "squeamish" by studying the state of your own chair and even more so you can not ignore its changes.
Nature is wise - it has provided a whole system of signals and markers, which should make a person think about whether everything is all right with him.
What does feces mean in black?
Black and green feces always testify to the unhappiness in the human body. So, liquid feces of black-green color (diarrhea) most often indicate intestinal infection or other infectious disease. Very often black and green diarrhea begins dysentery.
Such black-and-green diarrhea at the very beginning of the disease can not be combined with a rise in temperature, abdominal pain, nausea and other symptoms of infection. But gradually, the listed clinical signs of infection will also join the liquid black-green colored chair.
Therefore, as soon as a person has noted the allocation of a black-green liquid stool, it is necessary to urgently seek medical help and not wait the appearance of temperature, because in the future the condition will worsen, and the infectious disease will still require treatment.
What do black dots in feces mean?
Black dots in feces have the form of inclusions, grains, fine filaments, granules or grains of sand. All these options are called black dots. Such clear black inclusions in the stool are almost always partially digested or completely undigested solid particles of food or medicines.
So, black dots in feces can look like seeds of kiwi, raspberries, currants, pieces of grape seed, particles of husks from seeds, poppy seeds, etc.
The most common for the appearance of black dots in feces in children and adults are the following foods:
- persimmon;
- banana;
- an Apple;
- kiwi.
For example, when using bananas in feces, small black strands may appear that are similar to worms, especially in children.
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