Stomach, Ulcers, Gastric Bypass Forum - Green stool and acid reflux

Hi! i'm 21 years old. I usualy have very normal and healthy B.M's, but recently I noticed a bright green color and film (or muscous) associated with my stool. The night before I was having some stomache discomfort and I took some heart burn medicine. I do have acid reflux and have had stomache ulcers before, but I've never noticed this in my stool. I'm concerned because the stomache discomfort has not gone away, I have not been having normal B.M's (I usually go 3 times a day and haven't been able to go, but once) and I have not eaten or drank anything with a distinct green color (besides a salad I had the day before). I've acctually been eating less greens than usual. I do take zoloft for anxiety and have been under a bit of stress lately.

I know that green stool can be contributed to excess iron in the diet, dietary supliments and rapid bowel transit time.
I have no idea what rapid bowel transit time is or what causes this. Can someone PLEASE shed some light on this issue so that I may know that there is no cause for alarm.

Thanks and sorry for the odd and grotesque subject matter Smile

Replies(1)

MandMs

replied on May 21st, 2009

Extremely eHealthy

Rapid bowel transit time means that the food is passing too fast through the intestinal tract, and there is no enough time for the intestinal bacteria to change the green bile color into brown as a final color of stool, so the stool appears with a green color.
Usually, this happens when the bowel movement is in form of diarrhea.
It is possible that the meds you used (I guess antacids), have attributed to the color of stool.
Some type of antacids can lead to stomach cramps and constipation, too, as a side effects.
Mucus in stool can be due to intestinal inflammation, infection or irritable bowel syndrome (the last one tends to occur more often in patients with acid reflux, and can be brought up or worsened by stress).

Best wishes!

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