Dark stool in adults. Black feces: when does it appear and what to do with it? What color should a healthy person's stool be?

Many diseases and pathological conditions occurring in the human body do not have pronounced symptoms, and they can only be determined by certain characteristic signs, one of which is the color and consistency of stool. Normally, an adult's stool should be brownish in color and hold its shape well, but not be too dense. Accordingly, any changes in the nature of stool that are not normal may be a sign of a serious illness. What does black stool mean in an adult, and is it worth seeing a doctor in this case?

The main factors that determine the color of human stool are foods and medications that have been consumed over several days. Some of them contain dyes and other chemicals that can cause color changes in stool. In addition, feces contain impurities of mucus and other products of the digestive system, so its color may change due to pathological processes occurring in the gastrointestinal tract. Based on this, the causes of darkening of stool can be pathological, that is, those associated with various diseases, and non-pathological, caused by external factors.

Non-pathological causes of black stool

The most common causes of black stool include certain foods that contain natural or chemical dyes. These include:

• blueberry;

  

• chokeberry;

  

• black currant;

  

• prunes;

  

• blackberry;

  

• dark grape varieties;

  

• pomegranate;

  

• meat products containing blood or liver;

  

• strong tea, coffee, red wine.

  

After eating a large amount of bananas, black particles resembling threads are sometimes present in the stool - they can be mistaken for worms, but in fact they are undigested coarse fibers of the fruit.

Darkening of stool can also be caused by taking certain medications, most often activated carbon.

In addition, black stools sometimes appear after taking bismuth preparations, medications for anemia (due to iron content) and heartburn, dietary supplements and vitamin complexes. To make sure that unnatural-colored stool is caused by taking medications, just read the instructions for the drug, which indicate side effects.

Dark stools that appear after taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or aspirin are considered a more dangerous phenomenon. Such drugs can cause bleeding from the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, so this condition requires consultation with a doctor.

Black stool is often observed in pregnant women and the elderly. In the first case, the phenomenon is due to the fact that during the period of bearing a child, expectant mothers try to eat properly and take vitamin complexes containing iron. If a pregnant woman feels well, then darkening of the stool is most likely a physiological norm. The reason for the change in the color of stool in older people is usually the use of a large number of medications, but sometimes (especially in bedridden patients) this indicates the failure of one of the internal organs and imminent death.

Pathological causes of black stool

In diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, stool becomes black due to impurities of coagulated blood. If the source of bleeding is far from the rectum, the stool will be dark in color, and in cases with lesions of the intestinal mucosa, blood will be visible in the stool.

As a rule, with these pathologies, dark stools are accompanied by other symptoms that should definitely be paid attention to. In such cases, the stool not only acquires a black tint, but also becomes liquid, resembling tar - in medicine, a similar phenomenon is called melena.

Black or black-greenish feces can accompany fungal or infectious lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as helminthic infestations.

In cases where darkening of the stool is accompanied by other symptoms, you should consult a doctor, as the above conditions can lead to serious consequences.

Why is black feces dangerous?

If darkening of the stool is caused by eating certain foods or appears as a side effect of taking medications, there is nothing to worry about - just eliminate these factors, and in a few days the stool will return to normal. With pathological causes of black stool, the situation changes - even minor bleeding from the walls of the gastrointestinal tract is dangerous to health, and massive blood loss can lead to death. In addition, melena is one of the signs of cancer of the digestive tract, and the earlier the disease is detected, the greater the chance of successful treatment.

When should you see a doctor immediately?

Sometimes black stool is a direct threat to life and requires immediate medical attention. You need to call an ambulance in cases where dark stools are accompanied by the following symptoms:

• intense pain in the abdominal area;
• severe vomiting that is dark or red in color;
• heat;
• dizziness, loss of consciousness;
• pale skin;
• the appearance of red blood in the stool or rectal bleeding;
• belching with an unpleasant smell of rotten eggs.

If the patient has a history of peptic ulcers, gastrointestinal neoplasms, cirrhosis and other serious pathologies, he should also be urgently shown to a doctor - black feces may indicate a relapse of the disease or new bleeding.

Diagnosis and treatment

What to do if black stool appears in an adult? First of all, it is necessary to make a list of foods and medications that he consumed over several days.

If, after eliminating these factors, the stool remains dark, you need to consult a doctor and undergo a full diagnosis of the body. It includes basic blood, urine and stool tests (to detect helminthic infestations and hidden traces of blood), ultrasound, probing, endoscopy, CT and MRI.

Taking any action without making an accurate diagnosis and consulting a specialist is strictly not recommended, as this can lead to serious consequences and complications.

Black feces are not always a sign of diseases and pathologies, but if this symptom occurs, it is best to consult a doctor to eliminate the danger to human health.

Video - What does the color of the stool mean?

Video - Gastrointestinal bleeding

From the stomach, food masses enter the duodenum, where they are mixed with bile produced by the liver and digestive enzymes of the pancreas. During the digestion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, a suspension is formed that moves through the small intestine. The small intestine absorbs nutrients into the blood, and the remaining liquid waste enters the large intestine. In the large intestine, the remaining water is absorbed and feces are formed, which are excreted into the environment through the distal part of the digestive tract - the rectum.

Normal stool consists of water, remains of animal food, undigested plant fibers, bacteria (up to 1/3 of the dry weight of stool), bile, and dead cells of the mucous membrane lining the digestive tract. The composition, consistency, quantity and color of feces depend on many factors and are one of the indicators of the health of the body in general and the gastrointestinal tract in particular.

Normal stool color

Stools are usually brown in color, and significant changes in color may be a cause for health concern. The color of stool is determined by the presence of bilirubin (a breakdown product of hemoglobin) and other bile pigments. Changes in the amount of bilirubin in the bile can change the color of the stool from light yellow to dark brown.

In most cases, changes in the color of stool are associated with dietary habits and are not a symptom of any health abnormalities. However, in some cases, for example, if the color of the stool has changed radically, and these changes persist for a long time, this can be an important diagnostic sign of dangerous diseases and serious life-threatening conditions.

When should a change in color alert you?

A cause for concern should be those cases when a change in stool color is accompanied by other symptoms:

• Green and foul-smelling stools are accompanied by diarrhea, abdominal pain, high fever, nausea and vomiting - possible symptoms of some infectious diseases, such as salmonellosis.
• Discolored feces are accompanied by pain in the abdomen, back, yellowness of the sclera and skin, darkening of the urine - signs of problems with the liver and biliary tract.
• Stool staining black is accompanied by abdominal pain, weakness, pale skin, increased heart rate, cold sweat - symptoms of bleeding in the stomach or duodenum.
• Red stool is accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting - these may be signs of intestinal bleeding.

Green stool is a sign of what?

As already mentioned, the brown color of stool is due to the presence of bilirubin in it. Bilirubin enters the lumen of the duodenum with bile, the color of which, depending on the concentration of this substance, can vary from greenish-yellow to dark brown. As it passes through the intestines, the chemical composition of bile changes and it darkens. If the movement of feces through the intestinal lumen becomes too fast, the bile retains its original color and the stool becomes green. This can happen with diarrhea caused by food poisoning, salmonellosis, rotavirus infection, giardiasis, Crohn's disease, autoimmune and endocrine diseases.

Green stool may occur if you eat a lot of green vegetables.

Green feces in an adult may be due to intestinal dysbiosis. In this case, a detailed scatological examination for dysbiosis will help establish the diagnosis.

Green stools, accompanied by cutting pain in the abdomen, diarrhea, and an admixture of mucus and pus in the stool are signs of acute infectious enterocolitis. Treatment in this case is prescribed by an infectious disease doctor based on the results of a bacteriological examination of stool and establishing the sensitivity of pathogenic microflora to a particular group of antibacterial drugs. In addition to antibacterial treatment, enterocolitis requires replenishment of fluid losses, including parenteral administration of electrolyte solutions.

Green stool may also have a completely normal explanation that is not related to illness, for example, after eating a large amount of green leafy vegetables (especially spinach), foods with appropriate food colorings, or some dietary supplements. Sometimes a change in color is provoked by taking iron supplements, but most often the stool in this case does not turn green, but turns black.

Green stool in children can be caused by the same diseases as in adults. In newborns in the first days of life, green stool is a normal variant called meconium.

What does black stool mean?

Feces can turn black in a completely healthy person in the following cases:

• When eating blueberries, prunes, pomegranates, black currants, bird cherry, red wine, red beets.
• After eating dishes and products based on or containing blood, for example, rare meat, blood sausage, etc.
• While taking iron supplements for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, bismuth supplements, multivitamins, activated carbon.

In these cases, the help of doctors is not required, and the color of the stool returns to normal within a few days after changing the menu and stopping treatment.

Black stool is a symptom of dangerous bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract

The sudden and inexplicable appearance of black stool (melena) is one of the serious symptoms of internal bleeding into the cavity of the stomach or duodenum. The black color is due to the interaction of hemoglobin in the blood with hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice, resulting in the formation of black hemin. can be caused by peptic ulcer, tumor, injury, bleeding disorder, varicose veins of the esophagus due to liver diseases, infectious process and other reasons.

If the appearance of melena is accompanied by weakness, cold sweat, increased breathing and pulse, and pale skin, then you should immediately call an ambulance, since massive blood loss poses a serious threat to life.

Stool may turn black when blood is ingested during severe nosebleeds, after tooth extraction, or after oral trauma.

Black feces during pregnancy can be a consequence of all of the above conditions, but most often it is caused by a woman taking multivitamins and supplements containing iron.

Red stool – is it a reason to worry?

Red stool appears when there is bleeding into the intestinal cavity.

There is no reason to worry if the day before you ate beetroot dishes or consumed drinks and confectionery products colored with red food coloring.

Among pathological conditions, the most common cause of red stool is bleeding from hemorrhoids. More dangerous causes of bleeding into the intestinal cavity and redness of the stool are Crohn's disease, nonspecific, intestinal diverticulosis, malignant tumors, arteriovenous malformations.

Severe bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract can also cause red stool. In this case, hemoglobin does not have time to react with hydrochloric acid, so the blood in the stool does not turn black, but remains red.

Is it dangerous when stool is white?

White feces are one of the characteristic symptoms of liver and biliary tract diseases. Discoloration of the stool is explained by the lack of bilirubin in it, which ceases to be supplied with bile as a result of impaired liver function or obstruction of the bile ducts. But there is a lot of it in the blood, and this can be seen with the naked eye, since it turns the skin and eyes yellow - this condition is called jaundice. In addition, bilirubin begins to be excreted intensively by the kidneys, as a result the urine becomes dark, as doctors say, the color of beer. Undoubtedly, this is a dangerous condition that requires immediate specialist intervention and proper treatment.

Yellow or white stool is a sign of liver and pancreas disease

Light and loose stools with an unpleasant odor are a sign of impaired pancreatic function. The deficiency or absence of a number of enzymes makes it impossible to digest fats, resulting in light-colored stools. Lightening of the stool after eating fatty foods may indicate chronic celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, compression of the bile ducts or blockage due to gallstone disease. The consequences of these diseases can be very serious, so you should not delay visiting a doctor.

White feces can also appear normally, for example, with errors in nutrition, in particular, with the abuse of fatty foods: lard, butter, fatty sour cream, etc.

Another variant of the norm is stool discoloration while taking certain medications: antibiotics, antifungals, gout medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, oral contraceptives. A few days after completing the course of treatment with such drugs, the color of the stool returns to normal. To avoid unnecessary worries, before taking medications, you should carefully read the instructions for the drug, especially the section on side effects and symptoms of overdose.

What if the stool turns yellow?

Yellow stool is one of the variants of light-colored stool, so the reasons for its appearance may be the same: biliary tract, pancreatic disease, conditions accompanied by blockage or compression of the bile ducts, excessive consumption of fatty foods, treatment with certain medications.

What should you do if your stool color changes?

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Normally, the color of stool can vary from yellow-brown to dark brown. Its color is given by digested food particles and bile pigments secreted into the intestines from the bile ducts with bile.

Black is often a sign of a serious pathology of the digestive system, but it is often associated with the use of certain foods and medications.

Food and medicine

Black stool can appear after eating a number of foods. These are red beets, prunes, red grapes, blueberries, pomegranate. A change in the color of stool can occur after eating dishes such as blood sausage and offal. Stool staining can be observed for two to three days, and this symptom is not accompanied by any other changes in the general condition.

Black stool is usually the result of taking pharmaceutical drugs containing iron, which are widely used to treat anemia, certain complex vitamins, drugs containing bismuth (used to treat chronic stomach diseases), and activated charcoal. A number of other drugs can also turn stool black, which can be found out by carefully reading the instructions included with the drug.

If black stool appears, you need to carefully analyze your diet over the past few days. As a result of taking foods and medications, there is no health hazard and does not require treatment. Within two to three days after eliminating the use of these foods and pharmaceuticals, the normal color of the stool is restored.

Medicines containing acetylsalicylic acid do not stain stool, but with prolonged use they affect the circulatory system and can cause black stool as a result of the development of internal bleeding.

Diseases accompanied by the appearance of black stool

It’s a completely different matter if black feces appeared suddenly and seemingly for no reason. If black feces appear, the causes of this symptom should be sought in the gastrointestinal tract. This clinical symptom indicates from the digestive tract, especially its upper parts. Black feces, also called melena, most often occur with peptic ulcers with localization of the ulcer in the stomach or duodenum, intestinal diseases, varicose veins of the esophagus, and stomach tumors. With a bleeding pathological focus located in the intestine below, the blood is usually red. However, with weak peristalsis, black stool can occur even with bleeding from the initial part of the colon.

The coloring of stool black occurs as a result of the fact that under the influence of hydrochloric acid contained in gastric juice, red hemoglobin in the blood is converted into black hemin.

With internal bleeding, in addition to black stool, other typical symptoms appear. When the process is localized in the stomach, bloody vomiting often appears. In this case, the vomit under the influence of gastric juice changes and takes on the appearance of: The patient experiences hypotension, dizziness, and general weakness. Upon examination, tachycardia, pallor of the skin and mucous membranes are revealed. With severe bleeding, acute vascular insufficiency syndrome develops, requiring emergency care.

The appearance of black feces, which is accompanied by general weakness, abdominal pain of varying nature and intensity, nausea, vomiting and fever, requires urgent medical consultation.

Have you started to notice black stool and does it scare you? Do not immediately panic, such a change does not necessarily indicate the development of diseases or bleeding, it can be completely harmless and provoked by foods from your diet.

What should the color of normal stool be and why?

The normal color of stool in an adult should be brown. This is due to the fact that bile takes part in the digestion of food in the human body. And although bile itself has a yellow-green tint, after a long “journey” through the intestines it turns brown.

But the stool of children who have just been born may be black, even normally. This is typical for newborns who cleanse their intestines of original stool called meconium. Therefore, for 3-4 days in the diaper, newborn babies may experience black bowel movements.

In an infant, stool that is yellow-green and yellow in color is considered normal. However, in children who are bottle-fed, the stool is usually darker and thicker.

In women, black-colored feces can be observed during pregnancy and subsequently childbirth, when blood vessels in the esophagus, stomach or small intestine burst due to strong and painful contractions. In a pregnant woman, such a symptom can manifest itself even in the early stages if she suffers from severe toxicosis.

What foods can cause stool to turn black?

The reasons for the formation of black bowel movements in an adult and a child can be very banal and depend on what foods they consumed the day before (1-3 days before bowel movement).

Stool may turn black from:

• Strong tea and coffee consumed in large quantities. Coffee and tea contain natural colors (and sometimes artificial ones) that can affect the color of your stool.
• Blood sausage and offal. It is worth remembering that when blood dries or is heat treated, it turns black. During digestion, blood sausage is not completely broken down, and small pieces of it may be excreted in the stool, turning it black.
• Beetroot. When beets enter the stomach and come into contact with hydrochloric acid, which is produced to digest food, they change their color to black, and can also stain stool.
• Prunes, blueberries, black currants, red and black grapes, pomegranate. The natural pigment of all these foods is not absorbed by the body, but is excreted in the feces. In addition, undigested berry skins may be added to the stool.
• Red wine. Wine contains iron compounds, which turn black after oxidation. But if you only drank a glass of wine, it is unlikely to cause dark-colored stool (unless you ate nothing else besides wine).

• Poor quality alcohol. Alcohol, which has a chemical structure dangerous to the human body, may cause irritation of the gastric mucosa and other gastrointestinal organs, causing moderate or severe bleeding. A similar situation occurs with alcohol poisoning.

What medications can make stool black?

But food is not the only cause of black poop. Sometimes this symptom occurs when you take one of the following medications:

• Antibiotics. Under their influence, the natural intestinal microflora often changes, and therefore the body will not be able to fully digest food. As a result, dysbacteriosis occurs and black-green stool appears.
• Preparations containing iron. As we already mentioned, when it enters the stomach, iron oxidizes and turns black. If its particles are not digested, the feces will have a similar color. For example, such a symptom can be observed in a pregnant woman who takes vitamin complexes with iron.
• Activated carbon. Coal is not absorbed by our body, but only helps normalize intestinal function. Therefore, the activated carbon that you drank will definitely come out along with the feces, turning them black.
• Medicines containing bismuth, a metal that is used to treat ulcers. Bismuth salts may also stain stool and tongue, and a woman who is breastfeeding may experience dark discharge from her nipples (it is important to talk to your doctor about the advisability of stopping breastfeeding or changing your medication). But such side effects are considered normal and disappear after stopping the course of treatment. This happens, for example, after taking De-Nol and Vikair.

Please note that if, while taking a course of medication, only a change in the color of feces is observed among the unusual symptoms, there is really no reason to worry. But if diarrhea or constipation is added to everything else, it’s worth visiting a doctor.

What disease can black feces be a symptom of?

Doctors associate the appearance of dark-colored stool with bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract (if internal bleeding occurred in the lower sections, the stool would be red or burgundy).

Most often this happens in the presence of diseases such as:

Gastritis, esophagitis, stomach or intestinal ulcer

With such diseases, the integrity of the walls of organs is compromised, which can bleed. The main symptoms of the disease are pain and burning in the abdomen, regular heartburn, diarrhea, constipation and black stool, which may appear only occasionally.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

This is a very dangerous cancer in which the process of producing blood cells is disrupted. It is more common in children and adolescents than in older men and women.

The symptoms of the disease are very vague: the child may experience weakness and fever, like a cold. The lymph nodes will certainly enlarge, and the mucous membranes of the internal organs may begin to bleed, which causes black stool.

Varicose veins of the esophagus

This is a pathological condition in which the outflow of blood from the veins of the esophagus is disrupted, as a result of which they begin to expand. Under the influence of food that passes down the esophagus every day, varicose veins are often damaged and bleed.

Adults over 50 years of age are more likely to get sick. This disease occurs more often in men than in women.

Tumor formations in the stomach

If a tumor has formed in the gastrointestinal tract, it can interfere with the natural passage of food and its digestion, and therefore the patient will certainly experience problems with stool and abdominal pain. Also, the tumor may be partially destroyed and its cells will come out with feces.

More often, black stool staining occurs when tumors form on the esophagus, stomach, colon or pancreas.

Inflammatory process in the esophagus or intestines

Often, inflammation is a consequence of another disease that causes damage to the membranes of organs. As a result, their integrity and the entire digestive cycle may be disrupted.

Most often, Crohn's disease leads to similar consequences - a very dangerous inflammatory disease that can affect the entire digestive system from the mouth to the rectum. A person may experience associated complications: conjunctivitis, stomatitis, monoarthritis, erythema, liver dystrophy and cirrhosis, pyelonephritis, cystitis.

Plague

This is a deadly disease that develops under the influence of the plague bacillus. It can affect lymph nodes, lungs and other internal organs, causing sepsis (general infection through the blood). Usually accompanied by a very high fever.

Fistulas that can bleed can form on the surface of the body and inside organs. Fortunately, modern medicine can save even a person with the plague.

Histoplasmosis

Another disease, the causative agent of which can affect all internal organs of a person, although the lungs are initially attacked. In mild forms, histoplasmosis may not reveal itself in any way; only periodically the patient’s temperature may rise.

In acute cases, the temperature can rise sharply to 40-41˚C. The disease requires immediate hospitalization.

Hookworm disease

Common symptoms of infection are itching, swelling, cough and sputum, high temperature (up to 38-40˚C). Black stool appears within 4-5 days after the helminths enter the body.

Hepatitis, liver cirrhosis

These diseases can cause severe internal bleeding. Therefore, if you or someone close to you has black stool (and possibly “coffee vomit”), call an ambulance immediately.

What to do if the stool suddenly turns black?

If you notice a symptom such as black colored feces, first think about what you ate a couple of days before bowel movement.

If in the last 2-3 days you have not consumed foods or medications that could cause the symptom, and you do not have any symptoms of malaise or pain, continue to monitor yourself for a few more days. If black feces do not appear again, there is no need to worry.

But if the problem returns, doctors must look for its causes. Therefore, be sure to consult a therapist for a detailed diagnosis of your health. Do this also if the symptom appeared after drinking alcohol - a healthy body should not react to alcohol this way.

But keep in mind that if you have any disease, you should not perceive the appearance of black stool as one of its “normal” accompanying symptoms. This may be not just a symptom, but a signal of a worsening of your condition or the development of a complication. Therefore, be sure to visit your doctor and tell him about this.

Under what circumstances should you urgently consult a doctor?

If the cause of unusual stool in a person is bleeding or the development of a disease, this is usually accompanied by:

• abdominal pain;
• an increase in temperature (sometimes very sharp and dangerous - up to 41˚C);
• dizziness;
• nausea and/or vomiting (including blood);
• presence of blood in feces;
• bleeding from the anus.

If you have at least one of the listed symptoms, immediately call an ambulance or try to get to the hospital yourself as soon as possible! It is especially important to do this if you are diagnosed with an ulcer, cirrhosis, hepatitis, or another disease described in the previous sections.

Remember that even a 5-minute delay can cause death, since often very dark or black-green stool is a consequence of internal bleeding.

Also, do not delay visiting a doctor if you have been experiencing symptoms for several days or the problem has occurred in a small child older than one week.

Video: possible causes of stool color change

Such a phenomenon as black stool may indicate a serious illness or bleeding in the organs. Therefore, when black stool appears, you should pay attention to other symptoms. Various foods can also stain stool, but in any case you should pay attention to this and, if necessary, consult a doctor immediately.

The color of the stool depends on the work and food that entered the body during the day. However, color, like consistency, stool frequency, has its own norm. For example, the normal color of stool is considered to be from yellow-brown to dark brown. Black color is definitely abnormal for stool.

Faced with such a phenomenon, a person begins to worry about what black feces means and whether it is dangerous. There is no need to panic right away. You need to remember what you ate the day before, since the reasons may be physiological and non-hazardous, and carefully monitor further signs and symptoms:

• Feces may turn black when eating large amounts of black and dark foods, such as black grapes, prunes, and beets. In this case, only the color, and not the consistency and frequency of the stool, changes. If you stop eating these foods, the stool will return to normal color after a couple of days. In some cases, the stool may be liquid, since prunes not only color, but also weaken.
• Some drugs can also cause changes in stool color. For example, activated carbon, which is completely excreted in the feces and colors it, iron preparations, which oxidize in the stomach and intestines and acquire a dark color, preparations containing bismuth. The color normalizes when the drugs are discontinued.
• Bleeding in the esophagus and. Black feces indicate bleeding in the upper sections. Blood in the stomach oxidizes, then mixes with bile in the duodenum and turns the stool black. This is an alarming symptom that requires immediate hospitalization. possible with varicose veins of the esophagus, injuries of the esophagus, ulcers and malignant tumors of the stomach. When bleeding, in addition to black stool, other symptoms appear, for example, nausea, vomiting like coffee grounds, weakness, dizziness.

Drug treatment and possible complications

If black feces appeared not due to physiological reasons, but due to bleeding, then without medical help there can be many complications and unpleasant consequences.

Gastrointestinal bleeding is a condition that is dangerous to life and health. Complications after the appearance of black stool:

• Hemorrhagic shock. This is a serious condition of the body that develops due to extensive blood loss. With hemorrhagic shock, the patient experiences a disturbance in heart rhythm and a fall. With blood loss of more than 50%, irreversible hemorrhagic shock and complete loss of consciousness develop.
• . Anemia (or anemia) can also develop with small but constant blood loss. Symptoms of anemia: pale skin, chronic fatigue, dizziness, headache, tinnitus.
• Acute renal failure. With blood loss, the kidneys (one or both) may stop performing their function due to insufficient blood flow, which leads to serious disturbances in protein metabolism in the body.
• Death. The most dangerous and undesirable consequence. If you try to treat bleeding on your own, there is no medical assistance and there is serious damage to the stomach, the outcome can be the most unfavorable.

Treatment of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract requires bed rest and complete rest. If the source of the bleeding is identified, it is advisable to apply an ice compress to the area.

The procedure helps determine the source of bleeding.

If FGDS shows that blood is secreted from the lower part of the esophagus (with varicose veins of the esophagus), the source of bleeding can be cauterized immediately.

In addition, various hemostatic drugs are injected into the vein. In cases of severe blood loss, a transfusion or donor blood is performed. If drug therapy is ineffective, surgery is performed to resect the ulcer or source of bleeding.

Traditional treatment

Diagnosing yourself and self-medicating for gastrointestinal bleeding is extremely dangerous. Therefore, before using any remedy, it is important to consult a doctor so as not to worsen your condition.

You can treat with folk remedies black loose stools caused by a large amount of prunes or grapes, when diarrhea begins against the background of a large number of laxative products. In this case, there will be no other symptoms of illness, pain, dizziness, but there may be weakness caused by dehydration.

People's advice:

• The first thing to do is to stop eating large amounts of prunes, beets and black grapes. Often this is enough. But there are times when you need to stop diarrhea quickly.
• The safest remedy for diarrhea is boiled rice. It strengthens and quickly helps overcome diarrhea. You just need to boil the washed rice in water so that you get half soup and half porridge. Then drain the water and drink this rice water. It is not necessary to eat the rice itself. The broth should not contain salt or sugar.
• There is a way to treat diarrhea with apples. You need to eat an apple without the peel every 2 hours and do not eat or drink anything else. This method can be effective against diarrhea, but if you suspect bleeding, you should not eat apples; they irritate the walls of the stomach and increase the acidity of gastric juice due to malic acid. It is not recommended to eat apples on an empty stomach for people suffering from gastritis or ulcers.
• Black tea strengthens well. It is enough to brew strong tea and drink it throughout the day. If you overdo it, you can get constipation instead of diarrhea.
• A decoction of pomegranate peel gives a good effect. The peel needs to be washed, crushed, filled with water and boiled for about half an hour. The strained broth is drunk 2 tablespoons an hour before meals.
• Sometimes a solution of potato starch helps. You need to dilute a spoonful of starch in a glass of cool purified or boiled water and drink this solution in one gulp.

Black feces during pregnancy

Any suspicion of bleeding poses a potential threat to the mother and child. Therefore, it is advisable for a woman carrying a child to consult a doctor with any questions or concerns.

However, black feces during pregnancy are not always a sign of bleeding and a serious illness. As a rule, a pregnant woman is examined for prevention, but most often the cause of black stool is hormonal changes. At the beginning of pregnancy, a woman’s body begins to rebuild, for this reason, a woman often experiences various organ dysfunctions.

During pregnancy, the color of stool may change due to increased levels. It is this hormone that also affects frequency, mood swings, nausea, etc.

In the case of bleeding, black feces are only the initial symptom; after a while, other disorders appear that will be reflected in the regular symptoms of pregnancy.

You should definitely consult a doctor if black stool in a pregnant woman is accompanied by fever, severe weakness, pallor, cold sweat, nausea and vomiting.

Sometimes black feces are a consequence of treating a pregnant woman for constipation. Due to decreased smooth muscle tone, constipation can plague a pregnant woman from the first trimester. Constipation often leads to hemorrhoids and other troubles, so women begin to actively fight this with home remedies: eat prunes, drink dried fruit compotes, eat more vegetables and fruits, grapes, currants, blueberries. As a result, constipation goes away, but black stool appears, colored by these products. In this case, it is enough to remember your diet and reduce your consumption of black berries and fruits.

More information about the reasons for changes in stool color can be found in the video:

Sometimes during pregnancy, diarrhea and poisoning appear, which the woman treats with the help of relatively safe activated carbon. And it, as you know, also colors feces.Despite the fact that most often black feces during pregnancy are normal, it is better to play it safe and get tested.