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Normal color of poop
Infants: yellow; adults: brown
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What does white or clay stool indicate?
absence of bile
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What does black or tarry stool indicate?
- Iron ingestion or upper GI bleeding
- Also called melena
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What does it mean if stool is pale with fat?
Malabsorption of fat
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Indications of stool with translucent mucus
Spastic constipation, colitis, excessive straining
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Indications of red stool
Lower GI bleeding, hemmorrhoids
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Indications of bloody mucus in stool
Blood in feces, inflammation, infection
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Normal odor of stool
pungent, but affected by food type
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Indication of noxious change in stool odor
Blood in feces or infection
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Normal consistency of stool
Soft, formed
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Indicatons of liquid stool
Diarrhea, reduced absorption
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Indications of hard stool
constipation
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Normal frequency of defecation
- Varies:
- Infant: 4-6 times daily (breast fed) or 1-3 times daily (bottle fed)
- Adults: Daily or 2-3 times/week
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Abnormal frequency of defecation
- Infants: more than 6 times daily or less than once every 1-2 days
- Adults: more than 3 times a day or less than 1 a week
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Normal amount of stool/day for an adult and indications of values out of the norm.
- 150g/day
- Significantly less or more could be caused by hypermotility or hypomotility
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Normal shape of stool
Resembles diamater of rectum
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Indications of thin, pencil-like stool
Obstruction, rapid peristalsis
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Normal stool constituents
Undigested food, dead bacteria, fat, bile pigment, cells lining intestinal mucosa, water
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Indications of blood, pus, foreign bodies, mucus, worms in stool
Internal bleeding, infection, swallowed objects, irritation, inflammation
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Indications of excess fat in stool
Malabsorption syndrome, enteritis, pancreatic disease surgical resection of intestine
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