Need answers URGENT~

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Okay - WARNING - kind of gross topic.

difficult child just called me freaking out because she had a bowel movement and her poop was BRIGHT NEON ORANGE.

I looked it up, of course, and this is what I found:
If your stool shows orange coloring, it can usually be attributed to foods or medications that you may be taking. Certain medications with beta-carotene (such as a form of vitamin A) can cause orange coloring of your stool. Antacids which contain aluminum hydroxide can also cause orange stool. Foods that are high in beta-carotene can have the same orange effect on your stool. These include; carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, turnip greens, winter squash, collard greens, cilantro and fresh thyme. Lastly any foods that have yellow or orange artificial colorings can also cause orange colored stool. If you can't attribute your orange stool with anything you ingested, then it may be caused by a lack of exposure to bile salt. Stool starts out as green, and then turns to a yellow-orange in color before being exposed to bile and bacteria which turns the stool brown. Low exposure to bile salt can be caused by a couple different factors. First, your transit time is so fast that your stool is being pushed through your digestive system too quickly. This quick movement of stool reduces the exposure to bile salt resulting in orange stool. Second, your liver may not be producing enough bile salt or your bile glands may be obstructed. If it's the latter, you may want to consider liver cleansing or liver support supplementation.

difficult child hasn't eaten anything out of the ordinary or taken any supplements, medications, etc.

When she was diagnosed years ago with a lactose intolerance the Dr also diagnosed her with IBS. I've had her thyroid checked over the years and it's always fine. She really hasn't had any symptoms of IBS for years and she's not much of a milk/dairy person anyway, so this has been a non-issue for a long time. But now this. I know some of you have various liver & digestive issues. I'm hoping some of you can chime in with your 2 cents. I'd appreciate it.

by the way, she already called the Dr and is going to try and get in today/tomorrow. I'm guessing they may want a stool sample. Thanks~!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Hmmm no medications and none of those foods? Was this a loose stool? If food passes through the GI tract too fast it can cause that. Has she had any symptoms of gall bladder issues? (pain/pressure upper right quadrant under the ribs) Mine was pressure not real pain. Since the gall bladder stores the bile I'd imagine if it's blocked ducts she'd be having other symptoms to some degree. Of course she might be, but dismissing it as gas or something else. I ignored mine for weeks before it became so irritating I finally went to the doctor.

I experienced it a few weeks ago.........I'm guessing it was medication related and also due to having to drink so much V8 juice to make sure I was getting enough vitamins because I can't eat like normal people right now. I backed off on the V8 and it stopped.

It doesn't sound serious which is a good thing. And no Jo, you can't gross me out, I do this for a living. lol ;)
 

bby31288

Active Member
I have never heard of orange poop. I'll be interested in finding out what it may be. Its funny though easy child 20 called me the other day freaking out about the color of her poop. It was bright green. We chucked it up to something she must have eaten. Good Luck...
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
Eating licorice or sinus drainage into the stomach are a couple of things that can turn it green.
 
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PatriotsGirl

Guest
It's either Red 40 or Blue 1 (coloring) in foods that cause the bright green. It's in the grape kool aid mix that I use. I wonder if orange could be caused by a food dye?
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
It's either Red 40 or Blue 1 (coloring) in foods that cause the bright green. It's in the grape kool aid mix that I use. I wonder if orange could be caused by a food dye?

She gave me a rundown of her diet for the past couple of days and there is nothing out of the ordinary. I was thinking maybe candy cord or some other halloween candy, but nothing. She just texted me and the Dr told her she needs to bring 3 stool samples into the lab tomorrow. Fun times.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I was thinking something she ate...Miss KT LOVES cotton candy ice cream, and is amused every time she has blue poop.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Miss KT LOVES cotton candy ice cream, and is amused every time she has blue poop.

Cotton candy ice cream??? OMG Why do you people NOT tell me these things??? Cotton candy is a big, huge, no enormous weakness of mine. I think I'd risk blue poop too. lol

Yep could be dye if she ate enough of it. She might want to re-think what she ate as she's doing those stool samples. (if that's the culprit) lol;)
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Is she sure she didnt take one of those pee pills that turn your urine bright orange and then have a poo? Or maybe the pill got side tracked?
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Cotton candy ice cream??? OMG Why do you people NOT tell me these things??? Cotton candy is a big, huge, no enormous weakness of mine. I think I'd risk blue poop too. lol

Yep could be dye if she ate enough of it. She might want to re-think what she ate as she's doing those stool samples. (if that's the culprit) lol;)


Okay, first of all - cottton candy anything? YUM!!! I too have a weakness for the stuff. When difficult child went to the Big E she bought me back cotton candy - two bags!

After she did the stool samples, which were mostly normal in color, by the way, she commented that she at pumpkin cookies last night that were iced with bright orange frosting. She's had them before without this reaction, so she doesn't think it's that. However, maybe....I guess we'll see what the samples tell.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Bingo we have our answer. lol All it takes is the person making the frosting being a bit more heavy handed with the food coloring, that in combo with the pumpkin........I think that is the most likely answer.

Hmm never heard of icing a pumpkin pie..........I thought that is what whipped cream is for. lol
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Bingo we have our answer. lol All it takes is the person making the frosting being a bit more heavy handed with the food coloring, that in combo with the pumpkin........I think that is the most likely answer.

Hmm never heard of icing a pumpkin pie..........I thought that is what whipped cream is for. lol

Pumpkin cookies...like sugar cookies but with orange frosting. No actual pumpking! Hey, they are grocery store bakery cookies. lol - I think this might be it myself. I'm hoping anyway~
 

shellyd67

Active Member
It may just be the orange icing on the cookies ... When difficult child was 6 months old I took him to the pediatrician for his well check up and he had Carotenemia (not sure of the spelling) and he was an orange/brown color ... Here we just thought he had my Italian skin coloring .... LOL Please let us know what her samples show. Good Luck to difficult child.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Thrifty/Rite Aid has cotton candy ice cream. I bought a half gallon before Miss KT came home last month, and she ate the whole thing in two sittings. Then I heard about the blue poop.

TCBY has a rainbow vanilla that has such bold colors that you get various shades of purple, orange, green...and if you ask her, she'll tell you about all THOSE pretty colors, too...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Ya know, I must be odd but I wouldnt know what color my poo was!

But I did get a frantic phone call from Tony the day I gave him one of those pills that make your wee wee not hurt because he had a bladder infection. All of a sudden he was peeing neon orange and he was freaking out. I was laughing so hard tears where rolling down my face as I assured him it was perfectly normal. I think he harrumphed at me for hours.

LMAO!
 

bby31288

Active Member
My girls take a B-complex vitamin. It makes their pee bright yellow!! They asked the same thing the first time. I was like, its fine, its from the vitamin...lol Talk about panic
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Chances are high it was from the icing. she may have eaten more than she remembered, or gotten a batch with more food color in the frosting than normal. At this time of year our docs don't even do tests for orange poop. Or any other color. You have to wait 2 weeks to be sure that all the highly colored junk food is out of your system. Even the gastro docs at Childrens use this rule unless it has been an ongoing problem. I know because many years ago Jess ate a bowl of icing left over from a cake i made, in addition to having a giant slice of cake (this was eatin in the middle of the night, after she and Wiz got up to get into the junk food). She had nasty colored poop for almost a WEEK even though I limited her junk food intake drastically by getting rid of it all! - (punishing husband and I also, lol!).

After that she only chowed on homemade icing if it was uncolored or chocolate.
 
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