Black kcal in women causes. Black feces in an adult - what does it mean

Normal human stool consists of the release of formed stools of light brown or dark brown color. This color is provided by digested bile and underdigested particles consumed for recent times food. In some cases, feces can change color, and such a symptom will not go unnoticed, which is why it is considered one of the early signs that makes a person pay attention to changes in the body.

Many people are alarmed, or even frightened by the darkening of feces, to the point that black feces are released in an adult. This problem can be caused by many factors (ranging from household problems - short-term to more serious long-term diseases). Given this, a person should know what causes blackening of feces in order to understand the essence of the problem in a timely manner and not miss a severe pathology.

Blackening of feces when eating

When a person's discharge color changes dramatically, you should not immediately panic. First of all, it is recommended to remember the list of products that have been consumed in the last 2 days. In many cases, it is the diet that influences the appearance of an atypical stool color.

There are several products that cause black stools:

  • Red beetroot.
  • Black grapes, currants, pomegranates, blueberries, prunes, etc.
  • Red wine.
  • Tomatoes and tomato juice.
  • Meat products containing blood.

If the presence of black discharge does not cause any discomfort or pain, there is no need to rush to conclusions. To begin with, you can observe the changes in the stool over the next 2-3 days, since during this time everything will return to normal.

Darkening of stool after medication

The following drugs are capable of causing changes in the shade of feces, up to rich black:

  • Activated charcoal - the use of the drug in case of poisoning in the correct dose, helps to eliminate toxins from the digestive tract. Black tablets of coal are excreted along with feces, and stain it black. If the reason is the intake of the adsorbent, the darkening may last up to several days.
  • Vitamin complexes and supplements affect the color of feces, especially in pregnant women. Often, it is vitamins that affect the color of feces, and this is not considered a pathology. Thus, excess iron is removed, and there is no need to stop taking vitamins.
  • Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Nimesil - long-term use of these drugs can affect the color of the excreted feces, due to the influence of certain processes in the body.
  • Medicines with Bismuth - these drugs are intended for the treatment of intestinal ulcers and a number of other pathologies in the duodenum 12.

Darkening of feces in pregnant women

Each multivitamin remedy that is prescribed to pregnant women contains iron. It is this substance that stains the feces black, which is not a pathological condition. In this way, the body gradually gets rid of excess iron. Vitamins can be taken further, despite the change in the stool.

But if a woman has a change in stool that is not caused by taking multivitamins, you need to urgently consult a doctor to undergo an examination and find out the cause of this condition.

A blood test can help determine underlying causes. In the etiology of such a condition, there may be stomach and duodenal ulcers, internal forms of hemorrhoids, or infectious diseases.

Diseases that change the color of feces to black

If a pathological process develops in the body of an adult, abnormal feces, sometimes black in color, may be released during defecation.

Such a sign may indicate a serious illness in the gastrointestinal tract, which poses a considerable threat to the health and even the life of the patient.

Varicose veins of the esophagus

A dangerous pathology, which often occurs due to the presence of cirrhosis of the liver.

Due to varicose veins, the walls of the veins expand and frequent bleeding occurs in the esophagus. As the blood travels throughout the intestines, it turns the feces black and liquid. Such secretions are called - Melena. If the bleeding is too intense, the person's blood pressure, heart rate, and vomiting appear with traces of blood.

peptic ulcer

An ulcer in the duodenum or stomach secretes blood from time to time, and when it hits the feces in the intestines, it turns them black. The consistency of the discharge becomes liquid, resembling birch tar.

If the bleeding is small, blood in the stool can be detected only after a stool test for occult blood. During an ulcer, the patient experiences not only black feces, but also symptoms such as heartburn, pain, nausea, constipation and bloating. Vomiting often contains blood, especially if the bleeding is heavy (vomiting coffee grounds).

Oncological pathologies

If the stomach or rectum becomes cancerous, bleeding from the tumor turns the stool black. Bloody discharge is mixed with feces and comes out in the form of streaks or clots (depending on the location of the neoplasm). The patient experiences a rapid loss of body weight, a person is quickly satiated even with small portions of food, constant pains in the abdomen, each emptying is accompanied by severe discomfort.

Hemorrhoids or polyps

If growths appear on the surface of the intestinal walls, inflammation of the mucous membrane occurs, and the lumen of the affected intestine is significantly narrowed. When the fecal masses pass through the narrowed lumen, blood begins to be released in the area of ​​​​the hemorrhoidal cones or polyps against the background of friction. Mixing with feces, it stains it in a darker shade.

Intestinal bleeding

The focus of bleeding can be localized below the level of the caecum, and in this case, impurities of fresh blood will be clearly visible in the excreted feces. The most common site of bleeding is the colon.

In other cases, blackening of the feces is due to the influence of hydrochloric acid, which is produced by the stomach. It converts red blood cells into dark-colored hemin.

An accurate diagnosis of the disease that causes darkening of the stool is made after taking into account the accompanying symptoms. The presence of specific signs indicates the pathology of the stomach or intestines, these include:

  • Vomiting blood, which is like black goo after coffee.
  • Decreased blood pressure and fatigue.
  • Dizziness.
  • Paleness of the skin.
  • An increase in heart rate.

This condition is considered dangerous, so urgent medical attention is required.

Ways to get rid of the problem

At the first manifestations of black stool, which lasts more than 3 days, and appears regardless of the food or medication taken, is accompanied by symptoms of bleeding (anemia) and other signs of a serious pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, you need to seek help from a gastroenterologist.

Diagnosis begins with the delivery of certain stool tests, X-ray examination of the abdominal organs, gastroscopy, colonoscopy - if the doctor sees fit. After establishing the exact cause of the presence of black feces, medication therapy is prescribed.

Such patients should stay in the hospital on bed rest and follow a strict diet. If blood loss reaches critical levels, a blood transfusion is indicated in combination with oxygen support of the body.

Do not be shy about doctors, because of the delicacy of such a condition, because timely assistance will prevent the development of serious complications, and will bring health and vitality back to normal.

Always a health concern is such a symptom as black feces. The reason for this may be hidden not only in diseases. There are many other factors that are physiological for the human body and lead to a change in the coloring of feces.

In adults, feces are normally brown in color with a large variation in shades due to the presence of the pigment stercobilin (a product of the conversion of bilirubin in the liver, which has pigment properties).

It enters the intestines with bile and stains the feces. The more it is, the darker the color of the feces.

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Causes of black feces in adults

  • In the case when there is black feces in an adult, the possibility of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract cannot be ruled out. This is the first thing an expert thinks about. Further diagnostic search is aimed at excluding this condition.
  • If there are streaks of blood in the stool of this color, it is worth thinking about such an intestinal disease as Crohn's disease.
  • Taking iron supplements (for iron deficiency anemia) almost always causes the stool to turn black. This condition is not dangerous.
  • The postoperative period is dangerous for the development of a formidable complication - internal bleeding that occurs after a surgical intervention on the stomach or any of the intestines.
  • Black-green feces are a characteristic symptom of an intestinal infection. In all cases, it is accompanied by a high temperature. Such a condition is necessarily treated in the stationary conditions of the infectious diseases department.

The main pathological processes leading to black feces are:

  • bleeding within the digestive tract;
  • cirrhosis of the liver;
  • neoplasms;
  • typhoid fever;
  • trauma, etc.

Let's consider each item in detail.

Bleeding within the digestive tract

When it comes to obvious bleeding (blood loss that can change color to black should be more than 80-250 ml) from the gastrointestinal tract, then in addition to black feces (melena), other symptoms will appear, such as vomiting coffee grounds.

The dark color is given to it by the contact of hemoglobin of the outflowing blood from the vessels of the gastric wall with hydrochloric acid. Bleeding is a strong irritant of the nerve endings of the mucous membrane, so in all cases it is accompanied by vomiting (almost always also black in color, and changes in the feces appear later than in the vomit).

General symptoms are characteristic in the form of pallor of the skin, weakness, and in severe stages tachycardia, confusion up to its loss is determined.

When pain was a concomitant symptom, black stool explains its disappearance when a perforation occurs. At the same time, this sign indicates massive bleeding, which can “wash away” irritating substances and provoking pain from the formed ulcer.

Cirrhosis of the liver

Another disease that manifests itself as black feces is cirrhosis of the liver, accompanied by varicose veins in the esophagus.

The condition is associated with an increase in pressure in the portal vein of the liver, leading to the expansion of blood vessels that rise above the mucosa of the esophagus. The vascular wall becomes very thin, often susceptible to inflammation and easily vulnerable.

Varicose veins of the esophagus do not lead to black stools at the onset of the disease. This feature becomes characteristic much later. At the same time, specific symptoms appear that make it possible to suspect a causative disease.

Neoplasms

Neoplasms in the organs of the digestive tract (stomach or duodenum) in the later stages are manifested by black feces.

Initially, patients do not feel deviations in health, but over time, the appetite worsens, the condition is accompanied by constant weakness, nausea, and rapid weight loss. Not infrequently, patients themselves feel enlarged lymph nodes, which, as a rule, are painless.

The listed symptoms are considered additional evidence that black feces and oncological disease are interrelated. But for the final verification of the diagnosis, a series of additional studies is carried out.

Typhoid fever

Typhoid fever at 2-3 weeks of illness is manifested by black (tarry) feces. The symptom is associated with the appearance of erosions in the walls of the organs of the digestive tract and bleeding from them, but not massive. Therefore, the blood has time to mix with feces, giving it a characteristic color.

Injury

Trauma, accompanied by fractures of the bones of the face, is manifested by external bleeding. Many patients in this situation throw their heads back or simply swallow blood due to the massiveness of its expiration. As a result, it mixes with hydrochloric acid of the stomach, passes into the intestines. This gives the feces the same specific black color.

Situations should be distinguished when the stools are uniformly colored in a dark color and conditions when there are combinations - black feces with blood.

The reasons for the latter are:

  • long-term process of inflammation in the large intestine, incl. dysentery;
  • helminths;
  • haemorrhoids;
  • intestinal flu.

In all cases, ulceration of the vessels of the gastrointestinal tract occurs. The blood from them does not completely mix with the feces, therefore it is excreted in the form of veins.

When food and drugs are the culprits of black feces

If black stool occurs, a list of foods and medicines that have been taken in the last 3 days should be compiled. We should not forget about vitamin complexes or nutritional supplements, which are often able to stain human biological secretions.

The intake of products such as black currants, prunes, dark grape varieties change the color of stools. Eating raw fish, meat of undercooked animals, liver will manifest itself not only in the color of dark-colored feces, but also as an admixture of blood streaks.

A similar condition should be distinguished from diseases that have identical symptoms. If you feel discomfort due to the unusual color of the feces, you should change the menu.

Medicines contain in their composition the necessary substances for the implementation of the therapeutic effect. However, they can also lead to black stools, which is considered a side effect. Before taking funds, you should first read the section in the instructions on adverse reactions and interactions of substances.

Dyes of chemical origin are activated charcoal (an adsorbent that binds toxins in case of poisoning), iron-containing preparations (Sorbifer durules, Ferretab or), drugs with bismuth - De-nol (required for gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer) and vitamin complexes (Vitrum ).

Many non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Ibuprofen, Diclofenac), when taken for a long time, can have a damaging effect on the gastric mucosa. Over time, the feces will begin to acquire a darker shade, and if you continue to take it, it will turn black. This condition is not caused by the staining of feces by the drugs themselves.

It is associated with inhibition of the synthesis of protective prostaglandins in the gastric wall. They protect it from the destruction of hydrochloric acid. In conditions of their deficiency, the acid has a damaging effect on the mucous membrane and blood vessels, causing bleeding. This is considered a symptomatic ulcer.

Liquid dark stool (black diarrhea) - is it dangerous?

The appearance of diarrhea with a black tint most often occurs with colitis (inflammation of the large intestine) and is always accompanied by ulcerative damage.

Loose stools can also be non-inflammatory in nature. There are certain foods that color stools black (beets, prunes, chokeberries, red wine with an excess of dyes) and contribute to a softening of the consistency, i.e. they have a laxative effect. Their use in large quantities for a long time leads to diarrhea.

Undercooked meat or liver also gives black faeces. In some people, they are poorly absorbed, so symptoms often appear similar to food poisoning with the appearance of liquid dark stools.

Black dots in the feces are considered a normal variant, indicating the presence of undigested food debris. They are stained in the intestines with the pigment stercobilin during a long stay in its lumen.

Black color of feces during pregnancy - features

Pregnancy is a physiological period in a woman's life and should not be accompanied by a change in the color and consistency of feces. Often, the ingestion of certain foods changes color and makes them more solid or liquid.

Since many women develop iron deficiency in the blood, black feces in a pregnant woman are the result of taking medications to compensate for its deficiency. In addition to it, vitamins and dietary supplements can cause the same.

In order not to miss the pathology, you need to strictly monitor your health. Perhaps the occurrence of gastrointestinal bleeding, provoking the same staining.

Black feces in a child - what does it mean?

When black feces appear in a child, then for parents this is the first cause for concern. This is especially true for children on the 2-3rd day after birth. The bowel movements are called meconium and consist of amniotic fluid that the baby has swallowed, mucus and epithelial cells.

  • After some time, by changing the diet, the stool will take on a state similar to the feces of adults.

Certain foods cause black feces in babies. The iron contained in milk mixtures often imparts a charcoal color to feces. Addiction to bananas, black currants, cherries causes the oxidation of microelements under the influence of gastric juice, which also gives a characteristic color to stools.

In addition to a certain diet, such changes are possible after taking medications. As you know, in babies in the first year of life, the intestines are poorly formed and spasms predominate due to maternal hormones.

Parents believe that this is poor quality food and give the child activated charcoal dissolved in a bottle of warm water or with a mixture. The drug stains the feces black and makes it less liquid.

What to do if black feces are found?

Before proceeding with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that caused a similar symptom, it is initially worthwhile to find out the possible cause. Most likely, the developed state is associated with the nature of nutrition and the predominance of certain products.

If there is a need to take medications or dietary supplements, you should read the instructions and the possible consequences.

The color of the stool associated with physiological causes does not adversely affect the body, so treatment cannot be canceled. To observe the color of the stool, if there is no change in well-being, it takes no more than 2 days with a simultaneous change in diet.

When there is a suspicion of gastrointestinal bleeding, you should immediately consult a doctor for laboratory tests and instrumental studies.

The condition accompanied by nausea, vomiting with an admixture of blood (“coffee grounds”), high body temperature, abdominal pain, drop in blood pressure, and a poorly felt and accelerated pulse should alert. A certain danger is caused by diseases of the liver (cirrhosis), stomach (ulcer), intestines (colitis) and chronic anemia.

You should not delay contacting the doctor if there was vomiting the day before, and especially when it followed after taking alcoholic beverages. In this case, the likelihood of Mallory-Weiss syndrome is high. It occurs when the mucosa of the esophagus and the inlet of the stomach is ruptured, followed by bleeding.

Why black feces in an adult and what it is, causes, symptoms and signs of black feces, treatment and prevention.

What does it mean

Feces removes waste products from the body. Therefore, the color of the stool corresponds to what you have recently eaten. The standard color is close to brown. The black color may be due to problems with the digestive system.

The color and shade depends on the stercoblin pigment. It is necessary to remove from the food those foods that could cause the feces to turn black. If within a few days the color of the stool has not returned to normal, consult a doctor.

The reasons

Causes of black feces in the diet and previously eaten food, medications taken and age. In an adult, a child and an elderly person, the color of feces may differ.

Products

Food can turn feces black if it contains a lot of pigment:

  • food with blood
  • Prunes
  • Currant
  • Beet
  • Pomegranate
  • Tomato
  • Blueberry
  • Black coffee and strong tea
  • high calorie food
  • Alcohol

If you remove the cause from the diet, then the feces will return brown within two days. For prevention, it is better to periodically change the diet so that the body is rebuilt and the microflora of the stomach changes.

Medications

A side effect of the medication may change the color of the stool to black, but the consistency and smell should remain normal. Also, there should be no nausea, and other changes in the body, such as rare stools, temperature, etc.

Feces can turn black due to drugs:

  • Preparations with a high content of iron
  • Activated carbon
  • Vitamin complexes
  • Remedies for inflammation
  • Heartburn medications

All side effects of the drug should be written in the instructions, but there is also individual intolerance, which depends on age, allergies, etc.

Diseases

Black stool in an adult can be a sign of the development of the disease:

  • Oncology
  • Leukemia
  • Gastritis
  • Ulcer in the gastrointestinal tract
  • Histoplasmosis
  • Severe mycoses
  • Anemia
  • Hepatitis
  • Liver pathology
  • internal bleeding
  • Varicose disease

Symptoms

Symptoms and signs of black stool:

  • Abdominal pain
  • Twists in the abdomen
  • Blood in stool

If the state of health worsens, the temperature rises, etc. - consult a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

Treatment

Treatment of black feces begins with nutrition. Remember your diet, which of the foods could stain the feces black. Perhaps recently there was diarrhea, which could accompany poor digestion of food.

If there was no food in the diet that could color the stool dark, or you removed this food from the diet, and the feces did not return to its previous shade, contact a gastroenterologist or therapist.

Make an appointment with a doctor, after that tell about the development of a color change, what symptoms accompanied it, pass the main tests and the doctor will make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

Prevention

To prevent black stools, drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fiber. Water and fiber will soften the stool and improve digestion. High fiber foods:

  • Raspberry
  • Pear
  • Whole grains
  • Beans
  • Artichoke

Talk to your doctor before starting a high-fiber diet. Berries can be annoying if you have inflammation or stomach problems.

Most medicines cause side effects. Some of them are not dangerous, go away on their own, others require immediate discontinuation of the drug that provoked unwanted symptoms, and subsequent treatment.

In many cases, patients are concerned about a change in the color of urine or feces associated with taking certain medications.

In particular, it is noted that the dark color of feces is observed while taking the gastroprotective agent De-nol. Is this normal or do I need to see a doctor?

Darkening of feces after De-nol

De-nol is prescribed to patients with chronic forms of gastritis or gastric and duodenal ulcers.

It has the ability to create protective mucus on the internal gastric walls, preventing hydrochloric acid from entering the affected areas; reduce the activity of pepsin; bind bile salts.

The drug envelops the mucosa, relieves inflammation, exhibits an antiseptic and astringent effect.

To prescribe a medicine, there must be serious indications; it is not used during an attack of acute gastritis, with poisoning and pain in the stomach of unknown origin.

Diseases in which the use of De-nol is indicated:

  1. Chronic erosive and hyperacid (with high acidity) gastritis.
  2. Ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.
  3. GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), reflux - esophagitis.
  4. Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
  5. Diarrhea that does not stop for a long time.
  6. Dyspepsia.
  7. Zollinger-Elliston syndrome (a combination of a stomach ulcer with a benign tumor in the pancreas).

The drug belongs to a non-toxic group of drugs, is well tolerated, has a minimum of contraindications and side effects, but is therapeutic, requiring indications for prescription.

The active substance De-nol is bismuth, which is a heavy metal and in large quantities can cause severe poisoning.

In a therapeutic dose, it is not dangerous and is part of many De-nol analogues. It is bismuth that is responsible for one of the few side effects of the drug - black feces.

Reasons why feces change color

Often patients of gastroenterologists come to the doctor with a complaint: “Why, when I take De-nol, does the feces become black?”.

This concern is justified, because any deviation from the norm in the course of treatment can be dangerous to health. Should I be worried about black stools?

To answer this question, you need to know the reasons why this happens.

Feces can turn black for various reasons. These can be food products containing coloring pigments (mulberry, blueberry, beet), iron preparations (Ferroplex, Ferrum Lek), activated carbon.

If the stool becomes black for these reasons, you should not worry.

Darkening from products is a one-time phenomenon, and immediately after the abolition of iron-containing preparations, it will again acquire its previous color.

You need to worry if streaks of blood appear in the stool in addition to its darkening. This may be evidence of internal bleeding or exacerbation of hemorrhoids.

In this case, you should pay attention to other symptoms. With gastric bleeding caused by an ulcer, nausea occurs with vomiting that looks like coffee grounds.

This is a dangerous condition that requires immediate hospitalization. With hemorrhoids, pain in the area of ​​​​hemorrhoidal nodes, a feeling of incomplete release of the rectum after defecation are disturbing.

If black feces with blood appear for no apparent reason, are not accompanied by other symptoms, a doctor's consultation is necessary, as these may be signs of a serious illness, such as:

  • anal fissures;
  • benign tumors of the rectum;
  • nonspecific ulcerative colitis;
  • proctitis;
  • Crohn's disease;
  • severe liver pathology;
  • anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract;
  • cancer of the rectum or other organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

All these conditions require medical intervention, so it is dangerous to ignore black feces with blood.

Black feces associated with taking De-nol

In the annotation to any drug there is a section where its side effects are indicated, the frequency of their occurrence, as well as cases in which drug withdrawal and therapy is necessary to eliminate these reactions.

In the instructions for the use of De-nol, black feces is indicated as a side effect that does not require discontinuation of the drug and adjustment of its dose.

Bismuth, which is part of the drug, when it enters the body, forms the compound bismuth sulfide, which is the reason for staining feces black.

This is not dangerous, and if the stool is normal, constipation does not bother you, you do not need to do anything to get rid of this harmless side effect, which has its own characteristics that you need to know:

  1. Feces sometimes become black even with short-term use of De-nol, but at the end of treatment, the stool returns to normal.
  2. If a nursing mother neglects the instructions from the instructions that the drug should not be taken during lactation, and self-medicates, the child's stool will also become a different color.
  3. Fecal masses may acquire a dark brown or dark green color (for example, after taking De-nol together with Pilobact).

Reception De-nol can change not only the chair, the tongue can also change color, becoming black or gray. This is also not scary, nothing needs to be done, the phenomenon is temporary, it passes along with the withdrawal of the medicine.

Other side effects from taking De-nol

Darkened tongue and feces are the most harmless side effects of the drug. Infrequently, but bismuth-based products provoke other, more dangerous reactions of the body.

If you take the remedy for a long time and in large doses, bismuth accumulated in the brain tissues can cause encephalopathy, requiring urgent withdrawal.

A significant increase in the allowable intake (more than 10 times) disrupts kidney function. In severe disorders, hemodialysis is indicated, lighter ones are treated with the use of enterosorbents.

On the part of the gastrointestinal tract, temporary disorders are possible: the stool changes (constipation or diarrhea), nausea and vomiting appear.

There are dermatological reactions - urticaria, itching and rash on the skin. Disorders of memory and attention are rarely observed.

Any discomfort during treatment should not be ignored, since each organism is individual and may react differently to the components of medicines.

If there is the slightest doubt about the safety of the prescribed therapy, do not postpone going to a specialist.

The doctor will make the necessary adjustments to the dosage and course of medication or, if necessary, prescribe a different drug.

De-nol is one of the newest gastroprotective agents successfully used in the treatment of ulcers and gastritis, and such minor inconveniences as discoloration of feces should not be a reason to refuse effective help to the body.

The article is not intended for self-diagnosis and self-treatment. For any health-related issues, you should consult with a specialist.

In the human body, there are many natural processes that are most often ignored. So, with the normal functioning of the digestive system, processed food leaves our body in the form of metabolic products, in other words, in the form of feces. But in some cases, the natural act of defecation causes a lot of questions and misunderstandings in a person. Especially if the structure of the feces changes a lot, and it turns into an atypical color. The most common problem of this kind is black feces in an adult, the causes of which will be discussed in a little more detail.

Normally, an adult's stool should be yellow-brown or dark brown in color. And, of course, changing its color towards black is very alarming and even frightening.

Natural causes of black stools

Feces can turn black for completely natural reasons. Sometimes this phenomenon is observed in people who consumed coffee and caffeinated drinks, red beets, pomegranates, currants, tart varieties of red grapes, prunes and wine of red and tart black varieties. In some cases, blackening of the stool is due to the intake of tomato juice and tomatoes in significant quantities. Also, such a symptom can occur in people who have eaten dishes and foods containing a significant amount of blood.

Drugs that can cause black stools
Certain medications, vitamins, and dietary supplements can cause stools to turn black. At the same time, the patient is not disturbed by any disturbances in well-being.

Doctors say that black feces can be explained by taking activated charcoal. Such a medicine, taken in the correct dosage for poisoning, can produce bright black stools for several days.

Multivitamin products, vitamins, fortified dietary supplements and their components can cause dark and even black feces.

In some cases, such a symptom occurs in patients taking Nimesil, Aspirin or Ibuprofen (instructions for the use of each drug before using it must be studied personally from the official annotation included in the package!). But, it is worth noting that they cause blackening of feces most often only with prolonged use.

Medicines that contain bismuth can stain the stool black, very dark, or brown. Such drugs are often used to treat diseases of the duodenum or stomach, for example, ulcerative lesions of these organs.

Diseases that can cause black stools

In some cases, the appearance of black feces indicates the presence of some diseases, including those that pose a serious threat to health and even life. Such a symptom can provoke gastrointestinal bleeding, which is localized in the upper digestive tract. It quite often provokes a peptic ulcer localized in the stomach or duodenum.

Sometimes the feces turn dark in color if a person has certain intestinal diseases and tumor formations in the stomach. It can also cause varicose veins in the esophagus.

All the described conditions can be accompanied by bleeding. Hemoglobin in the blood, when it enters the intestine, begins to oxidize under the influence of digestive enzymes, which causes the formation of a black substance that stains the feces.
In some cases, this symptom is due to the ingestion of blood during nosebleeds.

Sometimes the feces turn black if the patient has consumed (or even inhaled) irritating or poisonous substances that have caused ulceration of the mucous membranes of the esophagus or stomach. In this case, the change in the color of the stool is also due to the admixture of blood.

Doctors say that the most dangerous phenomenon is the appearance of black feces, similar in structure to tar. Such fecal masses are classified as melena and occur in response to massive gastrointestinal bleeding.

With such disorders, the patient is also disturbed by other disorders of well-being. They may present with bloody vomit that looks like dark coffee grounds. Also, heavy bleeding in the digestive tract leads to general weakness, hypotension and severe dizziness. The mucous membranes and skin of the patient become pale. Such patients require immediate medical attention, as heavy bleeding is fraught with the development of a fatal outcome.

Black feces - causes during pregnancy

Black feces during pregnancy scares many expectant mothers. But in fact, most often this phenomenon does not pose any threat to health. After all, all multivitamin complexes for pregnant women contain iron, and it is iron that stains feces in dark colors. Patients with this symptom do not need additional treatment.

If the presence of black stools during childbearing is not associated with natural factors, a pregnant woman needs an immediate biochemical and general blood test, and the doctor can also analyze fecal masses for occult blood.

If you have the above symptoms of internal bleeding, you should immediately call an ambulance.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies can be used not as a means of stopping bleeding in the digestive tract, but as a method of their prevention and further therapy.

So, with ulcerative lesions of the digestive tract, patients may need a remedy based on walnuts. Crush twenty fruits and brew them with one hundred milliliters of boiling water. Infuse the medicine with constant stirring for half an hour, then strain and sweeten with one or two teaspoons of honey. Take the finished mixture in a dessert spoon six times a day.

The feasibility of using folk remedies for any health problems should be discussed with your doctor.