People involved in medicine are getting more and more aware of the importance of the patients stool. Namely, products of bowel movements may mirror a person's exact gastrointestinal health. Therefore, it is important to know when something is wrong inside our organism. Inspecting our stool is the best way to do so. Many people do not pay attention to it, but black stool presents quite a serious warning sign. Always caused by blood getting in contact with feces, this type of stool is a clear indicator of some kind of internal bleeding. Hemorrhoids, anal fissures, stomach ulcers and many other problems may be behind the darkest color of your feces.
Reasons Behind Black Feces
As mentioned above, internal bleeding is often the cause of black colored stool. Anal fissure, being one of the potential causes, manifests through creation of a tear along the lining of our anal canal. This tear is called a fissure, and it is made worse through every hard bowel movement, thus resulting in bleeding.
Secondly, stomach ulcers may cause this condition. These are located inside our stomach. Once they are irritated, they tend to burst and therefore bleed. The blood triggered by the ulcers gets inside our stomach, eventually, getting transferred into our colon, mixing with the stool material and changing its color. Alternatively, colon cancer may be behind blood in the stool. This is a severe issue and requires immediate medical assistance.
Also, certain infections taking place in our digestive system and intestines, may lead to bleeding once in a state of escalation. One of such conditions is diverticulitis.
Finally, the most benign cause of someone's black bowel movement is his or her diet itself. Namely, by consuming certain substances in abundance, a person may experience this condition. However, this is not dangerous at all, and all the symptoms are bound to disappear once the diet has changed to normal, and the intake of the substances in question is reduced. Therefore, too much red meat, chicken meat or egg yolks, as well as spinach, plums, bananas, legumes or figs may cause your stool to turn black. There are some other types of food capable of burdening you with dark stool, all being completely harmless.
In all other cases, however, you need to seek proper medical attention. Due to the possibility of having some of the conditions above, your doctor will need to conduct some tests in order to rule them out, or start an adequate treatment if one of them is found.
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