Dark stool after activated carbon. What reasons contribute to the appearance of black stool in adults. Black stool in pregnant women

Why is feces black?

They ensure the normal functioning of the human gastrointestinal tract, metabolic processes occurring every second in the body - the breakdown of nutrients and the removal of their residues from the body through urine and feces.

Some substances have the ability to dissolve in a liquid and color it in different colors, coming out unchanged.

If they are water-soluble, they are excreted in urine, giving it different colors. If the substance is fat-soluble, it is excreted in the feces, giving them a corresponding color, including black feces.

Human stool (feces) is the end result of the processing of beneficial substances that enter the body with food. Its color, composition, consistency and smell are actual indicators of health. Such signs were taken into account by the ancient Aesculapians.

Other names for the pathology are “melena” and “chernukha”

What symptoms of black stool should you be alert to?

Signs of black feces in an adult require special attention. This color of feces may be a consequence of the reaction of complex chromoprotein proteins and red blood cells with gastric juice (hydrochloric acid).

Therefore, the appearance of melena should be regarded as a distress signal for the body, indicating problems in the gastrointestinal tract.

The smell of feces is also of great importance, it can tell you a lot:

1. Putrid amber indicates problems in gastric digestion - abnormal breakdown of proteins (putrefactive dyspepsia) or chronic inflammation of the large intestine (ulcerative colitis).
2. Rancid smell oil indicates digestive problems - lack of bile in the intestines or pancreatic secretion.
3. Pronounced sourish the smell of feces indicates the presence of one of the forms of dyspepsia.

Therefore, when melena appears, the reason for this transformation should be clarified. It is possible that they will be completely harmless, caused by the use of pigment-containing products or provoking medications.

In addition, the cause of black stool is often due to a variety of chronic pathologies, the symptoms of which are manifested by a change in the color of the feces.

The main factor in determining a particular cause is a person’s well-being.

If the presence of pathology does not cause concern and your health is normal, in most cases these are traces/reactions to food, or the use of provoking medications.

If darkening of feces is accompanied by:

• stomach pain;
• heartburn and hyperthermia;
• signs of intoxication (vomiting or nausea);
• diarrhea or constipation (constipation);
• flatulence and anemia.

One can safely suspect ulcerative pathology of the initial part of the jejunum and stomach, the development of hepatitis or cirrhosis.

If melena appears suddenly, the cause should be sought in the gastrointestinal tract. In many diseases, black feces are the main symptom of the disease.

The reason for this coloration may be:

• ulcerative intestinal pathologies;
• tumor processes in the stomach;
• varicose veins and inflammation of the lining of the esophagus;
• lymphoblastic leukemia in acute form;
• dystrophic-inflammatory processes in the gastric mucosa;
• inflammatory damage to the large and small intestines;
• deep mycoses and helminthiases;
• black stool and pain in the epigastric zone indicate a gastric ulcer.

Internal bleeding contributes to the manifestation of the disease. Under the influence of the reaction of gastric secretions and hemoglobin, red cells are transformed into dark pigments - hematins.

The intensive transformation of feces into a shiny dark color is facilitated by the disintegration of malignant formations in the intestinal lumen, causing internal bleeding.

The effect of diet and medications on darkening of stools

Changes in the color of feces do not always indicate disease. When consuming foods high in iron, black stool is common and does not cause any health problems.

Such symptoms appear with excessive consumption of dishes made from beets or blood (blood sausages), red grapes and red wines.

Black spots in stool can appear due to partial digestion of various stone fruits (kiwi, raspberries, currants, etc.).

Some medications also cause stool coloration:

1. Iron-containing drugs prescribed for hematological syndrome (development of anemia);
2. Vitamin complexes and bismuth containing medications.
3. Enterosorbent drugs.
4. Long-term use of salicylate-based painkillers. Long-term effects on the circulatory system cause the development of internal bleeding - a possible cause of black stool with blood.
5. Taking antibiotics. When treating gastrointestinal pathologies, antibiotics can cause the formation of black-green stool. This is facilitated by a large accumulation of dead white blood cells in the foci of inflammation.

black diarrhea photo

Such diarrhea can be triggered by a variety of reasons, both foods and medications. Only the liquid consistency of feces is due to the inability of the gastrointestinal tract to quickly remove harmful provoking substances from the body.

The appearance of liquid, blackened feces is a response of the body. Sometimes, this is facilitated by a sharp change in the usual diet or long-term poisoning of the body with fusel oils from low-quality alcoholic beverages. All this can be quickly fixed on your own at home.

But very often, suddenly blackened liquid feces can manifest as a clinical symptom of intracavitary bleeding due to:

• ulcerative erosions and varicose veins of blood vessels at the site of pathology;
• intestinal diseases and tumor processes in it;
• pathologies of the biliary tract;
• or other parts of the intestine;
• viral and bacterial infections that change the color of feces to black-green feces.

The appearance of liquid black feces is a sure sign of exacerbation in the presence of diseases: ulcers, hepatitis, cancer or open internal bleeding after surgery of the stomach or intestines.

In this case, diarrhea is accompanied by:

• scarlet or dark vomit:
• pallor and dizziness;
• hypotension and development of anemia;
• intense paroxysmal pain in the abdomen;
• rotten belching - evidence of progression of the process.

If this condition continues for more than two days, you should not hesitate, you must immediately consult a doctor.

Black feces in pregnant women

The appearance of black stool in pregnant women is common. This is facilitated by the intake of various vitamin complexes enriched with iron, which are often prescribed to pregnant women to maintain the body.

In addition, the addiction of women during this period to vegetables, fruits and berries containing iron is a well-known fact. There is no harm from this, your health does not worsen and there is no need to worry.

Women who have a history of diseases associated with chronic gastrointestinal pathologies should be wary. Then, the coloring of feces in dark colors may be a consequence of inflammation of the gastric mucosa or its ulcerative lesions.

It is impossible not to notice this, since the state of health deteriorates sharply, vomiting and upset stool appear. It is necessary to urgently seek medical help.

Newborn children are exposed to true and false forms of the disease.

In the first case, black feces in a child appear due to hemostasis (poor blood clotting), accompanied by bleeding from the umbilical cord, subcutaneous hemorrhage, into the conjunctiva, etc.

In the second case, changes in feces are preceded by ingestion of blood during childbirth, sucking on cracked nipples, or damage to the mucous membrane of the nose or mouth.

In older children, a pathological change in stool to a dark color is the main symptom of bleeding of incomplete fusion of the Myckelian diverticulum. The release of blood can be massive, causing a sharp development of anemia.

Bleeding can be caused by:

• the child has a diaphragmatic hernia;
• damage to the esophageal veins by varicose veins;
• infectious-allergic vascular pathologies;
• gastritis and intestinal and stomach ulcers.

The child must be urgently hospitalized. Until the cause of the bleeding is determined, he should not eat anything. Only short sips of cold water are allowed.

What to do if your stool becomes dark and when to see a doctor?

What you should not do is self-diagnose the disease and self-medicate.

If black feces do not affect your general well-being in any way, observe for a couple of days how the situation changes when provoking factors are excluded. Otherwise, you should seek qualified help.

Immediate consultation is necessary if there is a history of:

• irreversible processes in the liver (cirrhosis);
• diffuse liver pathologies (hepatitis);
• iron deficiency anemia;
• ulcerative pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract;
• malignant neoplasms in the gastrointestinal tract.

If symptoms are accompanied by vomiting and hyperthermia, lethargy, weakness and indifference to food. Timely identification of the cause can protect against the development of oncological processes in the intestines.

Black color of stool always causes anxiety and serious fears for one’s health. This is often justified, as it is a sign of a serious illness.

But in some cases, the color of stool can be affected by the food consumed, vitamins, medications and other factors that do not pose any threat to health.

The normal color of stool is brown and can be dark or light. The most common and harmless reason for changing color to black is food consumed. Foods that can affect the color of stool:

1. fruits of prunes, red and black grapes;
2. beet;
3. bananas and apples;
4. chokeberry;
5. black currant;
6. coffee (especially for grain coffee and in large quantities);
7. blueberries and blackberries;
8. tomatoes.

If these products have been consumed for the last 2-3 days, then it is advisable to exclude them from the diet. After this, within three days the black color of the stool should disappear. If this does not happen, then the reason is not in the products consumed.

Black stool may be a result of taking medicines, rich in iron. For example, Ferrum - Lek. In this case, there is no need to interrupt the course of treatment.

Activated carbon can also turn stool dark.

In cases of taking medications and vitamin complexes rich in iron, black stool color is considered normal and does not require any treatment. After taking the medications, the color will return to normal.

There are cases when a change in the color of an adult’s stool requires urgent medical intervention and a full examination.

Internal bleeding– a dangerous condition that can lead to death. Internal bleeding is usually accompanied by symptoms such as poor health, weakness, dizziness, pain, nausea and vomiting. If these symptoms appear, you should immediately consult a doctor.

At constipation, especially chronic, the color of stool may be black. Constipation can occur due to poor diet and use of medications. Bedridden patients often suffer from constipation.

How to deal with this problem in children?

Black feces in a child causes great concern and anxiety for parents. First of all, you need to pay attention to the condition of the baby. If he is active, does not complain of feeling unwell, and does not have a high temperature, then the black stool is a consequence of the food he has eaten. Let's look at the main causes of black stool in a child.

In the first days of a baby's life, black feces are caused by a normal physiological process. While in the womb, the child swallowed amniotic fluid, mucus and other substances. After birth, the stomach is cleansed and all this comes out with black feces.

Black feces may appear during transition from chest artificial feeding. This is normal and will go away in a few days.

Introduced into the child's diet bananas may also cause black stool. Very often, this reaction occurs when the baby first gets acquainted with this fruit. After some time, the body will get used to it and the stool will normalize.

Mixtures, which are rich in iron, can affect the color of your baby's stool. After a couple of weeks, the stool will take on a natural color.

The cause of black stool may be taking vitamins, which contain iron. There is no need to worry about this and interrupt the course of treatment.

The most common and harmless cause of black stool is food food. Remember what your baby ate.

There is no need to worry if his diet included the following foods: grapes, apples, bananas, blueberries, black or red currants, blackberries, tomatoes, beets or liver dishes.

You should seek help from a doctor if your child complains of feeling unwell or in pain, is feeling nauseous, has a fever, or is simply being capricious for no reason. Black stool may be a sign internal bleeding!

What does this symptom mean for older people?

Most often, the stool of older people is darker in color than that of younger people. This is normal and does not require any treatment.

Vitamin complexes, which are rich in iron, are also the cause of black stool. There is no need to interrupt the course of taking vitamins.

Some medications can change the color of stool.

Activated carbon and food are the causes of black stool.

If an elderly person's black stool is accompanied by diarrhea and deterioration of the condition, then it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor.

U bedridden patients The color of stool may be black. This is due to the slow metabolic process.

Also, liquid black feces occur in older people before death. The reason for this is the “switching off” of vital organs.

In what cases is medical help needed?

It is necessary to urgently call an ambulance if:

• vomiting began;
• a high temperature has risen and does not go down;
• the person lost consciousness;
• the patient complains of numbness in the limbs;
• changes in blood pressure occurred;
• the patient has chronic liver disease;
• the patient has a chronic intestinal disease;
• chronic anemia.

If black stool is accompanied by at least one of the above symptoms, then the patient needs urgent medical attention.

Can stool be black if you have liver disease?

Cirrhosis of the liver– a disease that is more common in people over 35 years of age. One of the main signs of this disease is the black color of stool.

In most cases, the patient's stool is watery and may also be accompanied by vomiting and dizziness. This color of stool is explained by internal bleeding and requires immediate medical intervention.

Liver cancer– develops as a result of advanced cirrhosis. Main signs: lethargy, low blood pressure, nausea, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

With such a diagnosis, the patient should be under the supervision of specialists.

Gastroenteritis– an infectious disease, the characteristic feature of which is black stool with a pungent odor.

Treatment is prescribed by a doctor after all necessary tests have been carried out. Treatment usually takes place in a hospital, especially if a child is sick.

What disease could this be a sign of?

If black stool is accompanied by a general deterioration in the body’s condition, nausea, high fever, and diarrhea, then most likely the person is sick.

Gastritis– inflammation of the stomach walls. Gastritis affects adults and children. The main signs of the disease: black feces; diarrhea; vomit; heartburn.

Stomach ulcer- a chronic disease characterized by ulcers on the walls of the stomach and duodenum.

Stomach bleeding– most often occurs in people taking strong antibiotics on a regular basis. Internal bleeding is also not uncommon in people who abuse alcohol.

Cancer liver or colon - an incurable disease, which is characterized by: black feces, nausea, vomiting, blood in the stool, sudden weight loss, abdominal pain.

A few important points in conclusion

Black stool looks scary, but is not always a sign of any disease. First of all, you need to analyze your diet over the last 2-3 days and remember what medications you took. If, in your opinion, nothing could have caused the change in stool color, then you should consult a doctor.

Black stool itself does not indicate the presence of problems in the body, since its natural color can be from light to dark brown.

Each person knows the characteristics of his body and is aware of what his stool usually looks like, so he can notice when changes have occurred.

Most often, normal stool is brown, this is due to the fact that it contains the remnants of incompletely digested food that a person consumed for 2-3 days, and bile that was processed in the stomach.

1 What can black stool indicate?

Black stool can signal the presence of serious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach, intestines or esophagus.

If it has been noticed that black stool appears in adults or children after the first year of life, then the following actions must be taken:

1. Make a list of everything that the person took over 2-3 days.
2. Continue monitoring the condition and color of the stool for several days.

The list must include not only food, but also medicines, drinks, vitamins, i.e., everything that a person consumed, since all of the above can cause black feces.

The reason for this manifestation may simply be the use of certain foods or medications, which is why black feces occur. In this case there is nothing to be afraid of.

This can be caused by the consumption of foods such as beets, prunes, grapes, preparations that contain iron, activated carbon and some other medications.

Before taking medications prescribed by your doctor, carefully read the instructions, which indicate side effects, including black stools.

If you constantly take the same foods as usual and do not take medications, but you have black stool, in such cases you should immediately consult a doctor. This may be caused by the development of internal bleeding due to the use of drugs that reduce blood clotting. By themselves, they do not make black stool, but they can cause the development of bleeding in internal organs, which is dangerous to human life and health, and loose black stool will be one of the signs of its development.

It is necessary to observe the stool for several days. In the case where black stool did not appear due to the development of a disease, its color will become normal a few days after you stop consuming the foods and medications that caused such stool in an adult or child.

If black stool is associated with the development of the disease, then it will be observed over a long period. Such stool may occur periodically in an adult or child, even if there is no reason for this.

If loose black stools continue for a long time or occur periodically, you should definitely consult a doctor and undergo an examination to determine the causes of its occurrence.

2 Human well-being

It is necessary to independently assess the condition of the patient who has black stool: the person looks healthy or looks sick. It is necessary to determine how his mood and well-being changed during the period when the person began to have black stool.

In cases where the color of the stool has changed due to the use of certain medications or foods and has become black, the person feels normal and does not feel any discomfort, there is no reason to worry.

If black stool is accompanied by symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea, this indicates that there are pathologies in the body and you should urgently seek qualified medical help.

It is also necessary to take into account what diseases the person has previously suffered from or is currently suffering from. If he previously had hepatitis, cancer, cirrhosis or an ulcer, then black stools may indicate a complication of these diseases.

It should be especially alarming when such stool occurs in an adult or a child, and it is accompanied by the following symptoms:

• the person has a fever;
• nausea and vomiting appeared;
• if a person has an ulcer;
• if a person has cirrhosis or cancer;
• if close relatives have such diseases;
• if before this there was alcohol poisoning and there was severe vomiting;
• if anemia is constantly detected during a blood test.

3 Main causes of pathological deviation

Most often, the reasons for the appearance of stool of this color are the consumption of food and medications, which color it, and this can be either uniform or stained in the form of a granular structure.

If the stool contains dark spots, grains or grains, then they are the remains of undigested food or medicine, and there is nothing dangerous about it. When ingested and processed, foods that are not dark in color can cause stool to become this color, which is a result of a chemical reaction and explains why the stool is this color.

Often, parents can find very dark-colored worms in children’s stool, but the reason for their appearance will be that the child ate a banana before and these are just undigested remains of it. Many parents mistake them for worms and rush to the doctor, but in nature there are no dark-colored worms, they are light.

The causes of loose stools of this color may be associated with the development of internal bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract. Such bleeding can be provoked by the presence of ulcers, polyps or varicose veins of the esophagus.

Once the blood enters the stomach, it decomposes and turns from red to dark in color. These will be the reasons why the stool turns into the same color. Other symptoms that internal bleeding has developed include general weakness of the body, pallor, and dizziness.

If stool with blood appears, this may indicate the development of such serious diseases as Crohn's disease, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, hookworm disease, acute lymphoblastic leukemia or histoplasmosis, so if such symptoms appear, you should immediately consult a doctor.

If the organ that begins to bleed is located below the cecum, then usually the blood that enters the stool is red. In cases where intestinal motility is weak, even if there is bleeding at the beginning of the colon, this can lead to dark colored stool. This is due to the fact that under the influence of hydrochloric acid, red hemoglobin is converted into hemin, and it has a dark color.

If a person has had surgery and their stool is very dark in color, this may indicate bleeding is developing and the person needs urgent medical attention. In cases where such stool is accompanied by a high temperature, this may indicate an intestinal infection, and it is imperative to seek qualified medical help.

A woman’s pregnancy does not in any way affect the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, therefore, when deciding what the black color of stool means in pregnant women, there will be the same reasons as for other people.

4 The appearance of black stool in children

Children rarely develop illnesses that can lead to internal bleeding, causing the stool to turn this color. Usually the question of what the black color of stool in children means is resolved simply: you just have to pay attention to what your child ate before.

For newborns in the first days of their life, the presence of very dark-colored stool is a natural process; in medicine it is called meconium.

After some time, such stool will take on a normal, natural color, usually it is light yellow, but everything will depend on the child’s nutrition, and the fact that it is liquid is natural.

If a baby is fed formula milk, it may contain vitamins and iron, which give the stool its color. If the child eats normally, sleeps and does not cry, then there is no need to worry when such feces appear.

If this color of stool is accompanied by anxiety, fever, or other side effects, then, regardless of whether it is a child or an adult, you should immediately consult a doctor.

In any case, if you detect stool of suspicious color or consistency, regardless of whether it is in an adult or a child, you should consult a doctor, only he will be able to determine the cause and prescribe effective treatment. If this is accompanied by pain or fever, then emergency assistance must be urgently called, since such symptoms may indicate the development of internal bleeding or severe poisoning, and in such cases it is necessary to act quickly and professionally.

Releasing the intestines from feces is a normal physiological function of the body.

Typically, the color of stool ranges from light to dark brown.

Sometimes it turns black. The reasons for its changes in adults and children are described in this article.

Some foods cause blackening of the stool. These are liver, tomatoes, black currants, blood sausage, meat mixed with blood, beets, prunes.

This phenomenon is observed when consuming blueberries, grapes, pomegranates, cherries and red wine with added dyes.

Some medications cause a characteristic color in stool. Tablets containing iron and multivitamins can cause sharp blackening of the stool. "Vitrum", "Sorbifer", activated carbon, aspirin can affect the change in its shade.

If the stool has a charcoal color and a foul odor, it is called melena or black disease. The reason for this is a serious disease or pathological condition, which is accompanied by bleeding of the upper gastric tract.

In addition to the main symptom, other signs of the disease appear. Dark vomiting, nausea, bleeding from the anus, and acute pain in the abdominal area may occur.

Melena occurs as a result of a disease of the digestive system - a hernia of the digestive tract, a benign tumor, polyps, the presence of foreign bodies inside the stomach, gastric ulcers.

At the beginning of bleeding, vomiting appears, and copious feces appear ten hours later. If a patient suffers from constipation, he may have stool only after 24 hours.

Melena affects patients with a defect of the esophageal veins, cirrhosis of the liver, peptic ulcer, benign or malignant tumor.

Feces of a characteristic color occur as a reaction to irritation of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract due to poisoning.

Symptoms that accompany melena: general weakness, tinnitus, pallor, vomiting, goosebumps, thirst.

Black feces during pregnancy

Pregnant women often experience iron deficiency (anemia). In this case, women expecting a child are prescribed multivitamin preparations that contain it. The dark color of the feces is iron residues that come out.

If you have blackened stools and have health concerns, you should stop taking the pills for a while on your doctor’s recommendation. In healthy people, the stool turns brown again.

Pregnancy itself has nothing to do with darkening the color of stool. Therefore, if dark stools appear that are not associated with taking multivitamins, you should definitely consult a doctor.

Causes of black stool in children

The appearance of dark feces in a child is sometimes a cause of extreme concern on the part of parents.

If his behavior does not cause concern, there is no need for concern. Perhaps the reason is the unlimited consumption of chocolate. But, if darkening of the stool is accompanied by a sharp deterioration in health, you should immediately contact your pediatrician for medical assistance.

For the first time, black stool appears in a baby on the third day of life. This is meconium, consisting of digested epithelial cells, bile, internal waters, and mucus. His appearance should not worry parents. Over time, the stool takes on its normal color.

If a child’s diet during the first year of life included apples, bananas, blueberries, cherries, and currants, the feces may be not only charcoal, but also green in color. This is the result of iron oxidation under the action of gastric juice. There is no need to exclude these foods from your diet.

Infant formulas also cause the appearance of stool of a certain color if their composition contains iron. The mass is not always homogeneous. It sometimes contains dark stripes or dots. This can happen after a child drinks natural juice from red fruits or eats a banana.

If you still feel uneasy, you need to make sure that there is no danger. The only way out can only be a consultation with a pediatrician. After testing for the presence or absence of bleeding, the pediatrician makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment.

In order not to aggravate the situation, parents need to adhere to simple rules:

- Monitor your baby’s diet. Determine what foods or medications may affect the color of stool.

— If the stool contains sand, you need to exclude foods that are difficult to digest.

— It is necessary to monitor the general condition of the child. If he behaves lethargically and complains of abdominal pain, it is advisable to consult a pediatrician.

— Life-threatening bleeding is accompanied by a sharp deterioration in health. The baby becomes lethargic, pale, and drowsy.

All these signs confirm the suspicion of internal bleeding in different parts of the digestion. In such a situation, it is impossible to stop the bleeding using home methods; the child requires urgent hospitalization.

Causes of withdrawal syndrome

It happens that people suffering from alcoholism notice their stools are the color of tar. This is a sign of the onset of withdrawal symptoms. If you do not consult a doctor in a timely manner, the disease will worsen, which can lead to a sad ending.

Its first signs are very similar to a regular hangover. The patient begins to have a headache, nausea, and weakness.

Afterwards there is an intensive release of feces, which resemble coal. Their smell is usually resinous. A little later, severe vomiting appears. Often the vomit contains drops of blood. This indicates that blood vessels are beginning to burst. If first aid is not provided at this stage, irreversible consequences are possible, which sometimes end in death.

The appearance of vomiting indicates cirrhosis of the liver, which is no less dangerous than withdrawal syndrome. It requires emergency medical attention.

This syndrome is treated in two ways - drug treatment and intensive care. Drug treatment is provided only in a hospital setting. Patients are given medications that help restore the natural balance of the body. The main condition for treatment is the complete exclusion of alcoholic beverages, revaluation of values, and cessation of addiction.

Resuscitation care is provided in case of a sharp deterioration in health or a threat to life. Psychological and medicinal assistance is given to the patient after the threat to life has passed.

As practice shows, withdrawal syndrome is a very dangerous disease. If this happens, therapy should be carried out only in a hospital. Home treatment will be ineffective and dangerous to health. In addition, patients with alcoholism may not stop drinking alcohol, which will only worsen the situation.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the appearance of feces of a specific black color should not be ignored. If your general condition is normal, you need to analyze your diet and frequency of medication use. Foods and medications that contain iron make stool darker than usual.

If the condition worsens, nausea and pain appear in the lower abdomen in the right or left part, you need to call a doctor.

It is extremely dangerous not to seek medical help if you suspect internal bleeding. In addition to the main syndrome, it is usually accompanied by high fever, weakness, vomiting, and dizziness. Such a patient needs emergency medical care. The specialist will send the patient to the laboratory for blood and stool tests, gastroscopy and x-ray of the digestive system.

The normal color of stool is brown, although the acceptable color range is quite wide. If strong changes occur, such as black stool, this can easily cause concern. In fact, the meaning of such a symptom varies. Some reasons are completely harmless, while others are quite serious illnesses.

If there are significant changes in the color of stool, then, first of all, you need to think about what foods or medications you have taken recently. The chair is very easily stained, for example, due to ordinary prunes.

In this case, it is enough to wait a few days, eliminating the probable cause of the new color from the diet. If during this time there is no improvement, you will have to consult a doctor to find the cause.

Black feces can be either a harmless symptom or a harbinger of disease.

Common Dyes

There are quite a few products that can potentially cause color changes. If a person is wondering why their stool is black, they should check to see if they have recently consumed one of these foods.

Plant food:

• Red beetroot,
• Blueberry,
• Black currant,
• chokeberry,
• Apples,
• Bananas,
• Pomegranate,
• Prunes,
• Blackberry,
• Red ,
• Wine with red dyes.

From the point of view of meat products, the following can lead to black stool:

• Blood sausage,
• Other meat products with bloody inclusions,
• Liver.

Finally, very strong tea or coffee could also be the cause if they were consumed in large quantities. Sometimes simple high-calorie meals also lead to unwanted color changes.

Effect of drugs

In addition to food, medications can also act as dyes. The most common case is taking activated carbon. After using it, the next time you go to the toilet, a person will see a black color.

Other drugs that influence are those that cause bleeding in the stomach, as well as those rich in iron. This is why black stool is so often observed during pregnancy. Many expectant mothers are diagnosed with possible breast cancer, which is why they start taking iron.

Some vitamin complexes and even medications lead to similar changes. As a rule, each instruction indicates whether the color of stool may change as a result of taking it. You should review the list of side effects from medications you have recently taken to see if they could be causing the problem.

Note. Black liquid stool that appears after starting to take medications indicates the need to visit a doctor.

If the black color has formed after long-term use of Ibuprofen, De Nol, medications or some other drugs, then this is not a reason to immediately run to the doctor. It is enough to stop consuming these medications and monitor the dynamics of changes. Thus, you need to act in the same way as if the cause lay in food products.

Features of changes in children

Parents always carefully monitor the condition of their child, including changes in his feces. As a rule, if no other symptoms are observed when this color appears, such as fever or general loss of energy, then most likely the cause lies in food.

Dark stools are quite common in newborns, since while still in the womb, they ingested various substances, such as amniotic fluid or mucus. All this will subsequently begin to leave the body, and the stool may turn black. This will be the so-called original excrement or meconium.

Another period for which this is the norm is the transition from breastfeeding to regular food or baby formula. As a rule, everything goes away within a few days. This often happens due to the first consumption of bananas, or if the mixture was saturated with iron. The substance is often present in children's vitamins.

Any foods that can color an adult’s stool can also affect a child’s condition. Thus, it is necessary to carefully remember everything that the baby ate. If the diet could not affect the color, as well as if fever or nausea appears, we can talk about more pathological reasons.

Dark shade in older people

Most of the substances that cause black stool are the same in older people as in adults. However, most often the reason lies in medications, in particular vitamin complexes, if they contain a lot of iron. In this case, people do not need to interrupt the course.

Older people often take activated charcoal, which can change color, but if they still have runny stools, the best solution would be to see a doctor. The consumption of Denol also leads to changes.

Such a shade becomes a normal, but rather sad event in two cases. Firstly, if the person is a bedridden patient. His body tries to adapt to low activity by slowing down his metabolism. Because of this, changes occur. This also happens if organs gradually stop working. In this case, loose and black stools will indicate a likely imminent death.

Possible diseases

If the color changes are not affected by food or medications, and the situation is not related to age, then you can think about the progression of some kind of disease. Since adding red to the stool results in a black tint, most often these diseases are associated with internal bleeding, especially in the stomach.

Note. Black color does not always indicate the presence of blood. Often the shade is obtained due to the ingress of special bacteria and enzymes into the masses.

What does black stool mean, besides internal bleeding:

• Development of ulcers
• The beginning of oncological processes,
• Dilation of the esophageal veins,
• Leukemia,
• Plague,
• Histoplasmosis,
• Ankylostomiasis,
• or liver cancer
• Gastroenteritis,
• Crohn's disease frolicking in the intestines.

There is no need to fear serious illness if dark stool color is the only sign that appears. Usually the above pathologies manifest themselves in other ways.

• The patient's temperature rises.
• He begins to vomit or feel sick.
• Pallor of the skin is observed.
• He's sweating a lot.
• The liver may increase in size and be painful to palpation.
• This almost always causes a stomach ache.

Numbness of the limbs and problems with the body are also symptoms that indicate the need to urgently consult a doctor. If a blood test shows a decrease in hemoglobin, then we can talk about quite likely internal bleeding. In the case of gastroenteritis, there is usually a strong fecal odor.

Other shades

In addition to dark black, black-green stool is often observed in adults. Unlike the first option, most often this is due to illness, and not to nutritional problems. This usually happens due to infectious diseases, which can be localized both in the intestines and other places.

Very often, a green tint indicates dysentery. At its first manifestations there may be no fever, pain, nausea and other possible symptoms. They appear a little later.

If there is also a green color in the stool, then it is best to immediately consult a doctor rather than wait for the condition to worsen. However, it may also turn out that color is the only sign of changes taking place. In this case, it is acceptable to say that it was caused by food rich in chlorophyll.

Black dots

Sometimes stool may not be completely colored, but only partially changed. For example, it may contain tiny black specks, which are commonly called blackheads. Most often, these are simply leftover food or medications that have not been fully digested. The products themselves do not have to be black.

Most often this happens after eating:

• Raspberries,
• Currants,
• Persimmons,
• poppy,
• Kiwi,
• apples,
• Bananas.

Diagnosis and treatment

If there is a suspicion that the stool has turned black due to illness, the doctor will prescribe a series of procedures with which he examines the gastrointestinal tract. Often you have to swallow a tube, undergo testing, and undergo standard tests.

Treatment directly depends on the cause. If the problem was in products or medications, then no therapy will be carried out. You just need to adjust your diet by reducing the consumption of possible dyes. If the reasons turned out to be more serious, then it is highly likely that the patient will require urgent hospitalization and sometimes surgical intervention.

Note! Sometimes black-colored stool appears just after surgery. This may indicate that internal bleeding has begun due to this procedure.

As an emergency measure, before the ambulance arrives, you can put the sick person to bed, provide him with rest and not give him food. He is only allowed to drink cold, clean water. Subsequently, it will be necessary to take care of prevention.

To prevent this from happening again, it is important to monitor your diet, in particular, to exclude high-calorie foods from your diet. It is also important to consult a specialist in time if you have problems with the gastrointestinal tract, and pregnant women should not skip visits to their doctor.