Eat the rainbow. Poop the rainbow?
Remember that public service announcement, “Eat the Rainbow!”? Editors must have stopped the message short because ending it with, “Poop the Rainbow!” doesn’t have the same ring to it. In truth, the bulk of what we eat comes out predictably the same: boring formed bulk of various shades of brown. Sometimes, after eating certain food or medications, we drop a surprise package of various shades of the rainbow.
Don’t freak out, unless there’s a reason to freak out. If the poop is tarry black and foul smelling, freak out, because that may be an indication of an upper intestinal bleed. If the stool is bright red or brown with streaks of bright red, go ahead and hit the panic button. If the poop is clay colored, maybe it’s time to get your doctor to check it out because that may indicate a liver or gallbladder problem. If the poop is pale yellow, greasy, and really foul smelling, your pancreas might be signaling distress. Poop can be an indicator of underlying disease but you shouldn’t try to figure out what’s wrong with inspection alone. Go to the best poop inspector with an MD or DO tagged to the end of the name and investigate together.
And if everything checks out OK, just simply sit back and enjoy the colors of the rainbow.
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