Why is stool smelly? Smelly feces

Feces usually have a foul odor, but it is an odor that is general and unremarkable. Fetid feces have an unusually strong, putrid odor. In many cases, foul-smelling stool is due to the foods you eat and the bacteria that have colonized your colon. But foul-smelling stool can also indicate serious health problems. Diarrhea and flatulence (gas) may accompany foul-smelling stool. Such feces are often soft or liquid, and there is no regular bowel movement.

Causes of smelly stool

Often the cause of foul-smelling stool is changes in your diet. Another common cause is chronic disruption of digestion, absorption and transport in the small intestine ( malabsorption). Enteropathies (chronic diseases of the small intestine) occur when the body is unable to absorb the required amount of nutrients from the food you eat. Typically, this occurs when there is an intestinal infection or disease of the intestinal lining that makes it impossible to absorb nutrients from food.

Common Causes of Malabsorption

• Celiac disease is a reaction to gluten that damages the lining of the small intestine and interferes with the normal absorption of nutrients.
• Inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease or colitis
• Carbohydrate intolerance – inability to digest sugars and starches
• Food allergies, such as to milk protein

A common symptom of malabsorption is foul-smelling diarrhea.

• If you have inflammatory bowel disease, your reaction to certain foods may include foul-smelling diarrhea or constipation and flatulence. The gases may also have an unpleasant odor.
• Intestinal infections can also be accompanied by an unpleasant smell of feces. Shortly after the infection develops, abdominal cramps may occur, followed by foul-smelling, loose stools.
• Some medications may cause gastrointestinal discomfort and diarrhea. If you are allergic to ingredients or dietary supplements, taking some multivitamins may also cause foul-smelling stool. Unpleasant stool odor may occur after a course of antibiotics and persist until normal intestinal bacterial flora is restored.
• Foul-smelling diarrhea may be a side effect of overdosing on a multivitamin or on any one vitamin or mineral. Diarrhea associated with multivitamins or medication overdose is a sign of a medical emergency. High doses of vitamin A, D, E, or K can cause life-threatening side effects.
• Other conditions that can lead to foul-smelling stool include chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, and short bowel syndrome (surgical removal of part of the small intestine that interferes with the absorption of nutrients).

Signs of smelly stool

Symptoms that may be associated with foul-smelling stool include:

• Liquid feces (diarrhea)
• Soft stool
• Frequent bowel movements
• Abdominal pain
• Nausea
• Vomit
• Flatulence
• Bloating

Foul-smelling stool may be a sign of a serious illness. Contact your doctor immediately if you have any of the following symptoms:

• Blood in the stool
• Black chair
• Pale stool
• Fever
• Abdominal pain
• Unintentional weight loss
• Chills.

How is foul-smelling feces diagnosed?

Your doctor will diagnose foul-smelling stool after you answer questions about your stool, such as:

• consistency
• When did you first notice the unpleasant odor?
• how frequent are the urges?
• what has changed in your diet (well analyze what you ate before your stool became smelly), foods you have recently started eating.

Forecast

Your health prognosis depends on what is causing your foul-smelling stool. Most conditions that cause foul-smelling stool are treatable. However, diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease will require dietary changes and drug therapy throughout life.

Prevention

Necessary dietary changes can help prevent foul-smelling stools. If your gut condition is related to a reaction to certain foods, your doctor can create a diet plan that's right for you. The right diet can help reduce stomach pain, bloating, and foul-smelling stools.

Avoid foodborne bacterial infections by proper food preparation. There are no dietary restrictions; it is important to prepare beef, poultry, pork and eggs in such a way as to prevent bacterial contamination. Don't drink raw (unpasteurized) milk. Do not cook meat and vegetables on the same cutting board. Preparing them on the same board can result in the vegetables being contaminated with salmonella or other bacteria. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw meat and using the toilet.

The food consumed by a person influences the pigmentation of feces.

The greenish color of feces in an adult indicates that dyes have entered the body or there are serious problems in it that require immediate response.

The most common reasons for stool turning greenish are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

This is especially true for pathologies that are localized in the small intestine. The cause may be dysbacteriosis, blood diseases, liver pathologies, or long-term use of antibiotics.

Disturbance of intestinal microflora

The smell of rot is detected, causing disgust. This happens because food does not have time to be digested in time and begins to decompose in the intestines. The intensity of the color is associated with an abundant number of leukocytes that died in the fight against the source of inflammation. When they leave the intestines, they mix with feces and give them a green color.

Dysentery

Infectious diseases may be one of the likely causes of greenish stool in an adult. Additionally, the patient will suffer from attacks of nausea, vomiting, intestinal pain and lethargy. In this case, the stool will have a liquid consistency, and the body will quickly dehydrate. The disease requires urgent medical attention and treatment in an inpatient department.

Bleeding

It can begin in any of the intestinal sections. The presence of greenish feces is characteristic of a gastric ulcer or cancer that affects the digestive system. Its coloring is explained by the destruction of iron in blood cells - erythrocytes. The process is accompanied by anemia with rapid heartbeat, weakness and difficulty breathing.

What causes stool to turn green?

When a similar color of stool is observed during bowel movements, this is not always considered a deviation from the norm. If a healthy person eats large quantities of foods containing green dye, the feces will immediately turn this color.

This phenomenon can be explained simply - the dye is not recycled It is not absorbed by gastric juice or in the intestines. It is eliminated from the body naturally. The intensity of the color will directly depend on how much pigment enters the body.

The greenish tint to stool is given by:

• candies, marmalade, jelly containing dyes;
• vegetable or fruit puree;
• red bean variety;
• different types of greens and cabbage;
• cereals and cereals made from them;
• fruit juices;
• fish from sea waters;
• red meat;
• black licorice.

If you stop consuming foods from this list, the color of your stool will normalize within 2-3 days. Otherwise, greenish feces will be considered a pathology and will require diagnosis and treatment.

Why does feces smell?

Feces that give off a fetid, repulsive odor signal the development of serious pathological changes in the body. In rare cases, this is due to a violation of the diet.

Sometimes the cause of foul-smelling stool is considered to be alcohol intoxication. After abusing high-alcohol drinks the body removes toxins, which contributes to the appearance of a sharp and disgusting odor, and the stool itself turns dark green.

If greenish, runny stool appears, this is a sign of dysentery or diarrhea. The thinner it is, the stronger the unpleasant odor. If it smells rotten, the body is affected by an intestinal infection or there is blood in the stool, which may indicate oncology or peptic ulcer disease.

A sour smell indicates that a fermentation process is taking place in the intestines or that nutrients are poorly absorbed by its walls.

If the intestinal microflora is disturbed, greenish stool is also accompanied disgusting smell of rot. The color of stool is determined by the presence of dead leukocytes in it, which accumulated during the period of inflammation.

The process of digesting food occurs with noticeable difficulties, which provokes the release of a putrid odor and the activation of fermentation of poorly processed foods in the intestines.

Among the causes of foul-smelling stool are also Crohn's disease, chronic pancreatitis, insufficient intestinal absorption, and the presence of short small bowel syndrome.

What treatment is needed?

In most cases, greenish stools are liquid consistency. To get rid of diarrhea, it is first recommended to review your menu. Consumption of fermented milk products, fatty foods, and exotic fruits contributes to the appearance of diarrhea.

You should avoid them for a while. You cannot eat processed foods, foods with additives, dyes, or drink carbonated drinks.

The body loses a lot of water at this time - these reserves need to be replenished with the help of compotes and strong tea without sugar. Cleanses the body solution "Regidron", "Smecta"or activated carbon. If the temperature is elevated and green stool is accompanied by vomiting, you should urgently call a doctor.

Timely assistance is the key to successful recovery.

), which are excellent indicators conditions in Gastrointestinal tract patient.

UWE Norman Ratcliffe said that "the reader smells» will allow you to check a larger number samples and provide more accurate results testing.

"Because of the abundance products consumed by the patient, exists a huge number of variations smells in samples, but we trained system check unknown samples against a database of templates that have already been prepared. With a lot of samples, we want to achieve better results.”

"The method may be especially useful for diagnostics groups of diseases that are difficult to distinguish,” he said.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), for example, have very similar symptoms, which becomes a challenge when making a definitive decision. diagnosis- and yet these conditions are very different.

IBD is an autoimmune disease caused by a response immune systems for microbes in the digestive tract. It is usually diagnosed colonoscopy, while IBS is a gastrointestinal disorder with unknown causes. He often diagnosed only when other, more serious intestinal diseases are excluded.

The results of the study also showed that the test distinguished patients with IBD from healthy controls with an accuracy of 79%.

For diagnostics diarrhea, needs to be resolved, localized cause diseases in the duodenum, small or large intestine. Start by examining the color, consistency, smell and frequency of bowel movements, as well as general bowel condition.

Normal chair brown.
Yellow or greenish chair indicates rapid passage (small intestine).
Black, tarry indicates bleeding in the upper digestive tract.

Bloody chair(blood or streaks) indicates bleeding in the large intestine .
Pasty, light chair indicates lack of bile (liver disease).
Abundant, gray, rancid odor chair indicates a violation digestion or suction.

Consistency

Normal chair dense consistency, reminiscent of boiled sausage.
Soft voluminous chair talks about overeating or eating foods with a lot of content fiber.

Watery chair indicates irritation of the wall of the small intestine (by toxins and severe infections, such as acute enteritis) with accelerated passage of intestinal contents and impaired absorption.

Foamy stools suggest a bacterial infection.

Fatty stools (often with oily hair around the anus) indicate malabsorption - damage to the pancreas (malabsorption).

Smell(the more watery the stool, the more foul-smelling smell)
Similar to food, or sour milk - due to accelerated passage and malabsorption, for example, overfeeding kittens.
Putrid odor - suggests an intestinal infection or the presence of blood in the feces (for example, with feline panleukopenia).

Frequency

Normally, feces occur once in the morning at the same time. But no more than twice with plenty of food.

Several times an hour, in small portions, with tension - colitis (inflammation of the colon) is suspected.

Three or four times a day, in large portions, suggests malabsorption or small intestinal disorder.

Differential diagnostics diarrhea syndrome:
1) chronic (tuberculosis, intestinal syphilis);

2) protozoal infestations (amoebiasis, balantidiasis, giardiasis, trichomoniasis etc.);

3) helminthiases ( ascariasis, enterobiasis, trichinosis And other.);

4) nonspecific inflammatory processes (enteritis, enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulitis, etc.);

5) dysbacteriosis(complication of antibacterial therapy, mycoses, fermentation and putrid dyspepsia);

6) dystrophic changes in the intestinal wall (amyloidosis, intestinal lipodystrophy, celiac sprue, exudative enteropathy, collagenosis, etc.);

7) toxic effects (uremia, poisoning with salts of heavy metals, alcoholism, drug intoxication);

8) neoplasms (cancer and diffuse polyposis of the colon, lymphogranulomatosis, intestinal lymphosarcoma);

9) conditions leading to a decrease in the absorptive surface of the intestine (resection of the colon, gastrointestinal and small intestinal fistulas);

10) functional intestinal disorders (irritable bowel syndrome, intestinal dyskinesia, condition after truncal vagotomy);

11) intestinal enzymopathies (congenital or acquired disorders of digestion and absorption of disaccharides, lactase or disaccharidase deficiency).

Diarrhea may occur in diseases of other organs and systems (not the intestines):

1) diseases stomach, accompanied by a decrease in secretory function (chronic atrophic gastritis, Cancer, post-gastroresection disorders);

2) diseases of the pancreas, leading to a decrease in the exocrine function of the organ (chronic pancreatitis, tumors);

3) liver diseases and bile ducts, aggravating achylia (due to the development of obstructive jaundice);

4) kidney diseases accompanied by uremia;

5) diseases of the endocrine glands (sugar diabetes, thyrotoxicosis, Addisonism, etc.) and hormonally active tumors (carcinoid, gastrinoma or Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, Werner-Morrison syndrome or pancreatic cholera, etc.);

6) collagen diseases (systemic scleroderma, dermatomyositis, etc.);

7) vitamin deficiencies (pellagra, beriberi, etc.);

8) allergic reactions;

9) neuroses.

The main pathogenetic mechanisms of diarrhea come down to two main factors: accelerated passage of contents through the intestines due to nervous and humoral influences (irritation of the intramural nerve plexuses or disruption of the central regulation of intestinal motility) and slow absorption of fluid from the intestinal lumen due to impaired permeability of the intestinal wall and sudden shifts in the regulation of osmotic processes in the intestines.

At diarrhea absorption of water and electrolytes is usually reduced, the secretory function of the intestine may be increased, and its motor activity, especially the distal parts of the colon, is often reduced. In some cases, diarrhea is caused by increased propulsive intestinal motility (under the influence of certain psychogenic factors).

With diarrhea, bowel movements can be single or multiple during the day, abundant or scanty, depending on the cause that caused the diarrhea, as well as on the location of the main pathological process in the intestine.

In order to clarify the cause of diarrhea, it is necessary to find out the frequency and nature of stool, the time of the urge to defecate, the presence of tenesmus, the age at which diarrhea occurred, the frequency and duration of remissions, the effect of the disease on the patient’s performance and body weight, previous operations and diseases.

A sudden storm diarrhea with frequent bowel movements and tenesmus, one is primarily suspicious of acute intestinal infections. In some cases, acute onset diarrhea may be caused by changes in diet or taking drugs that irritate the intestines (including laxatives), or it may be the first sign of chronic nonspecific diseases of the intestine and its functional disorders.

Often, clarification of the time of day at which the patient experiences diarrhea is of differential diagnostic significance. Nocturnal diarrhea is almost always organic, and diarrhea in the morning can often be functional.

The frequency of stool during diarrhea can be different - from single bowel movements to multiple bowel movements, several dozen times a day. In patients with damage to the small intestine (enteritis), stool is less common than with colitis.

The most frequent bowel movements are observed when the distal colon is affected. A large single volume of feces occurs only in patients with normal function of the distal colon.

The pathological process is localized in the small intestine or in the proximal sections, typical for patients with enteritis and chronic pancreatitis. These patients do not have any urgency to defecate or tenesmus during defecation.

Diarrhea with damage to the distal parts of the colon is characterized by frequent and imperative urge to defecate, a small one-time volume feces, often containing blood and mucus. This is most often observed in patients with colitis, in whom the amount of stool is usually scanty.

When the small intestine is damaged, the absorption of nutrients is impaired, resulting in a larger than normal volume of chyme entering the proximal colon. If the reservoir function of the colon is not changed, then the patient’s stool frequency does not exceed
2-3 times a day. However, the daily and single volume and weight of stool are significantly greater than normal.

Pain from lesions of the small intestine is localized - always in the umbilical region. Damage to the proximal colon is accompanied by pain most often in the right iliac region, worsening after eating.

When the distal parts of the colon are affected, the pain is localized in the left iliac region with irradiation to the sacrum. The eye weakens significantly after defecation or passing of gas.

In some cases, diarrhea alternates with constipation, more often with functional disorders, abuse laxatives means, with a wound of the colon, with chronic (habitual) constipation, when, due to the prolonged presence of feces in the intestines, increased mucus formation occurs with the release of liquid feces.

Valuable diagnostic information can be obtained by taking into account the symptoms associated with diarrhea. Thus, tenesmus that occurs before and after defecation is more often observed when the distal parts of the colon are affected; incessant diarrhea with short-term “hot flashes” (purple discoloration of the face) is characteristic of carcinoid syndrome, diarrhea with bloating and rumbling is characteristic of enterocolitis; with diarrhea caused by pathology of the endocrine glands, other signs of endocrinopathies are revealed; Diarrhea in collagen diseases is accompanied by characteristic changes in the skin, internal organs, musculoskeletal system, etc.

Examination and examination of stool provide significant assistance in differential diagnosis. Light and foamy stools without any admixture of mucus and blood are typical for fermentation, and mushy or liquid dark brown stools with a pungent putrefactive odor are typical for putrefactive dyspepsia. Liquid, foul-smelling stool with a lot of mucus can be caused by acute or chronic enterocolitis.

In a number of pathological conditions, the color of feces changes, which is determined by the qualitative composition of the food, the degree of its processing by enzymes, and the presence of impurities. Discolored whitish-gray feces occur with acholia (caused by obstructive jaundice); sometimes feces acquire this color when there is a large admixture of pus and mucus. Tarry stools appear when bleeding from the upper parts of the digestive tract; when bleeding from the distal parts, the feces have a bright red or dark red hue. Black stool is characteristic of mercury poisoning.

The color of stool changes when taking certain medications containing bismuth, activated carbon, etc. (vicalin, allochol, carbolene, etc.). An admixture of visible undigested food remains in the stool may indicate a sharp acceleration of the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract, which is more often observed with enterocolitis, after resection of the small intestine and with fistulas of the digestive tract and less often with functional intestinal disorders and secretory insufficiency of the stomach or pancreas.

Diarrhea can be one of the manifestations of many acute and chronic diseases. Among acute infections, gastrointestinal infections occupy a special place. When diagnosing them, epidemiological anamnesis is of great importance. Group diarrhea is always suspicious of an infectious nature. Meanwhile, some cases of gastrointestinal infections do not have a characteristic epidemiological history.

Salmonellosis usually occurs in the form of acute gastroenteritis (abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea) with general intoxication and fever. Occurs after eating meat products contaminated with salmonella. A similar clinical picture develops with staphylococcal food toxicoinfection after mainly consuming infected dairy and sweet foods.

Stool smell

The smell of stool is unpleasant, but not pungent - this is the norm.
- There is practically no smell of intestinal discharge - only in people who lead a healthy lifestyle, eat a strict plant-based diet, and are in good health.
- When meat products predominate in the diet, the smell of stool increases.
- As the proportion of plant and dairy products increases, the smell decreases.
- When a mixed voluntary diet with any set of foods eaten in a row, the smell of the discharge intensifies, and gases are formed in the intestines.
- With constipation, the smell may decrease.
- With diarrhea, the smell can increase sharply.
- With putrefactive dyspepsia, characteristic of colitis, the smell of feces is sharply foul (smells of hydrogen sulfide).
- With fermentative dyspepsia, characteristic of enteritis, the smell of stool is sour.
Some comments.
- The toilet in the bathroom should have a bed for bowel movements - then you can take advantage of the provided self-diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases and adjust the variety in diet and lifestyle.
- Poisoning by radioactive substances may be directly related to disorders associated with bowel movements.
- A hypersthenic has a thick, long and capacious intestine. It has enhanced motility and secretion of the stomach, secretion and absorption functions of the intestines. A hypersthenic person may suffer from constipation or diarrhea and suffer from gastritis with high acidity.
- An asthenic person has a thin-walled, short and low-capacity intestine. Has weakened motility and gastric secretion; intestinal secretion and absorption functions are relatively low. A hyposthenic person may have a tendency to diarrhea or constipation and suffer from gastritis with low acidity.

10 Tricky But Important Facts About Stool

We all visit the toilet, and although this is not a topic for a dinner party, we sometimes need to take a look at what we usually try to flush down the toilet as quickly as possible. And although we pay little attention to this detail of our physiology, most likely you know little or ask someone about your great need.

Experts emphasize that it is important to know information about bowel movements: what is strange, what is normal, healthy or not so. Ultimately, it can help identify signs of infection, digestive problems, and even early signs of cancer.

1. What is a chair made of?

Water makes up about 75 percent of our bowel movements. The rest - what often doesn't smell very pleasant to us - is a mixture of fiber, dead and living bacteria, other cells and mucus. Soluble fiber in foods such as beans and nuts is broken down during digestion and forms a gel-like substance that becomes part of our stool.

On the other hand, foods with insoluble fiber, such as corn, oat bran and carrots, are harder to digest, which explains why they come out almost unchanged.

2. Color matters

As you may have already noticed, the color of your stool can change depending on the food you eat and other factors. So, beets can cause your stool to turn red, while green leafy vegetables can cause your stool to turn green. Also, some medications can cause white or clay-colored stools. Be careful if the stool turns black. While it may be a completely harmless occurrence as a result of taking iron supplements or activated charcoal, a dark color can also indicate bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

3. Shape matters too

The ideal chair comes out shaped like a curved log, rather than falling apart. This shape, unlike the pebble shape, is the result of the consumption of fiber, which gives the stool bulk and serves as a kind of gluing agent.

Thin stools may be a sign of bowel cancer, which narrows the opening through which stool passes.

4. The nose will tell you the problem

Stool doesn't smell very good, but particularly strong-smelling stool is often a sign of infection. Horrible-smelling stool is a side effect of indigestion caused by giardia, which can often be contracted while swimming in lakes. It can also be a sign of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and celiac disease.

5. What's normal is pretty relative.

Do you go to the toilet at the same time every morning, or can you go a few days without going much? This is all normal. The main thing is how consistent your regimen is. A significant decrease in bowel movements can be caused by dietary changes, such as eating less fiber. Other factors that affect stool frequency include gastrointestinal disorders, hyperthyroidism, and colon cancer.

Cultural differences also play a role. For example, people living in South Asian countries are much more likely to go to the toilet out of necessity than, for example, the British, which is explained by differences in diet. The average person produces about 150 grams of excrement per day, which is an average of 5 tons over a lifetime.

6. Diarrhea is fast stool.

Digestion of food takes from 24 to 72 hours. During this time, the food you eat passes through the esophagus into the stomach, then into the small intestine, colon and out through the anus.

Diarrhea or diarrhea is the result of stool passing too quickly through the large intestine, where most of the water is absorbed. Loose stools can be caused by many factors, including stomach viruses and food poisoning. It can also result from food allergies and intolerances, such as lactose intolerance.

7. The chair should sink

Listen to the sound that occurs when a chair falls into the water. Floating stools are often a sign of high fat content, which may be a sign of a malabsorption disorder in which not enough fat and other nutrients are absorbed from the food you eat. It is often associated with celiac disease and chronic pancreatitis.

8. Passing gas is normal.

Flatulence is embarrassing, but it is the result of harmless bacteria breaking down food in the colon, a completely healthy process. Our intestines are filled with bacteria that produce gas as a byproduct of digestion. Our body absorbs some of this and releases the rest. It is normal to pass gas 10 to 18 times a day.

9. Reading on the toilet is not a very healthy habit.

Research has shown that the more time you spend on the toilet, especially reading, the more likely you are to develop hemorrhoids, or dilated blood vessels around the anus. The longer you sit, the more pressure your anus experiences. It can also restrict blood flow to the anal area, making hemorrhoids worse.

Most often, a diet poor in fiber leads to constipation and hemorrhoids.

10. Your phone may be covered in excrement.

Wash your hands well after using the toilet or your stool will end up on other objects. In a recent study, scientists found that one in six phones are covered in fecal matter, which can spread E. coli.

Since we carry mobile phones with us everywhere, especially where we eat, E. coli transferred to your plate can play a role in the spread of infection.

Vladimir Godlevsky about feces

Shit... shit (English), sсheisse (German) - these words, familiar to every intelligent person, are present in his speech every day, constantly heard on radio and TV. We often use this word for emotional assessment of people, objects, situations. Since childhood, everyone is familiar with the maxim “shit doesn’t sink”; we accept it as truth, without correlating its content with personal experience and scientific data. But the problem of the unsinkability of shit is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Being a non-specialist in the field of physics and chemistry of feces, I simply decided to speculate on this topic, although this subject is studied by a special branch of medical science - scatology, and scientists knowledgeable in it are called scatologists or, in Russian, govnovedov.

What should we, amateurs, amateur producers and feces researchers, know about this very product that seems close to us and understandable, but sometimes mysterious?

1) Origin and composition

Feces are a collection of solid waste products that are in a plastic state convenient for transportation through the intestines. The composition of feces generally depends on the nature of nutrition and the function of the digestive tract. Feces are formed in the large intestine and consist of food debris, mainly plant fiber. It contains undigested and digested food, but it may also contain worm eggs, and even worms themselves, if they have taken root in the body.

Part of the stool mass consists of living and dead microbes. About a third of the composition is represented by various bacteria and rods, which corresponds to the intestinal microflora. There may be foreign inclusions (swallowed something), blood clots and other debris, which can be used to determine the health of a living organism and its interests in nutrition.

The history of shit contains a lot of interesting things. Thus, among drug couriers, the method of transporting containers with heroin in the digestive system of their body has taken root. Border guards, sensitive with their eyes and noses, expose the reptiles and mercilessly feed them laxatives, receiving feces laced with heroin capsules in special vases. For this procedure, customs houses have special rooms equipped with intensive ventilation. When our President Yeltsin was in America, the CIA, as a result of a technically complex intelligence operation, caught his excrement in the sewer system of the hotel - and the analysis of the best American shit experts gave a complete picture of the state of B.N.’s body. You can figuratively say that our counterintelligence officers have taken a crap here.

2) Organoleptic characteristics

These include shape, color, smell, plasticity, smell indicates the presence of rotting proteins. Hydrogen sulfide, mercaptan, amines, and so on. Stercobilin gives stool a pleasant light brown color. If bile secretion is impaired, stool becomes light gray or sandy in color.

The color of stool changes when there is bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract. When there is heavy bleeding in the stomach or duodenum, it turns black. The lower the source of bleeding is, the more distinct the red color of the stool. The color of stool is also affected by some medications (carbolene, bismuth, iron preparations, etc.) and pigments of plant foods (for example, beets).

The smell of feces depends on the presence in it of decay products of food residues, mainly of a protein nature. With pronounced putrefactive processes in the intestines (putrefactive dyspepsia, tumor decay), feces become fetid, and when fermentation processes predominate, it acquires a sour odor. Vegetarian stool has almost no odor. It is believed that this fact often attracts people to a vegetarian diet.

The shape and consistency of stool depend on its water content. With mixed food, water makes up 75-80% of bowel movements. This is a paste-like product, approximately corresponding in rheological characteristics to sour cream from the refrigerator or toothpaste from a tube. The density of stool indicates problems with the digestive system. Observing domestic animals, we see a wide variety of spatial forms of feces ejected by the body: “peas” of sheep feces, “potatoes” of horse feces, cow “patties”. An observant researcher can be convinced that human feces can also take on various, often bizarre forms, which indicate possible problems with the digestive process or disease:

Dense or “sheep” feces - stenosis or spasm of the colon, with constipation;

Pasty feces - accelerated evacuation from the colon;

Ointment-like feces - in case of impaired pancreatic secretion, lack of bile flow;

Liquid feces - insufficient digestion in the small intestine (putrefactive dyspepsia, accelerated evacuation) and large intestine (increased secretion in the large intestine);

Foamy feces - with fermentative dyspepsia;

- “pea soup” - for typhoid fever;

- "rice water" - for cholera.

3) Why doesn't shit sink?

Shit is a very interesting three-phase colloidal system: it contains solid, liquid and gaseous phases together. Their volumetric ratio is precisely what determines the phenomena of buoyancy and sinkability in the aquatic environment. The floating of shit in an aquatic environment is due to its density. And the predominance of fiber (cellulose) in its composition already determines the fact that the density will be 800...900 kg/m3.

This mass does not sink because the fiber that makes up the food, all substances useful to the body, are dissolved by acid. In their place, micropores are formed that give the feces buoyancy. The quasi-solid mass is filled with gas bubbles formed as a result of the metabolism of coprophagous bacteria. (similar to the structure of “airy” chocolate “Wispa”). If feces remain in an aqueous environment for a long time, the pores are gradually forced out of its volume. Wait a little while until they are full, and then the feces may drown or even dissolve without a trace. The more plant food, the longer the shit does not sink. According to the observations of leading American scientists from the Institute of Fecal Problems, the positive buoyancy of freshly excreted shit lasts up to five hours.

The characteristic odor of feces is due to its gas component. There is hydrogen sulfide H2S, which is one and a half times heavier than air. Methane CH4, which is two times lighter than air, is inevitably present in the gas phase, so at a certain critical concentration, shit can not only float, but even, in principle, take off. Unfortunately, the buoyancy of shit in media other than water (for example, in organic solvents) has not been sufficiently studied. For example, in hydrocarbons and benzene, it seems to me that it must certainly sink.

Thus, from objective data one can see that extreme buoyancy was attributed to shit purely from social motivations and allegorical definitions.

4) Why is assessing the buoyancy of shit useful??

The common belief that “shit doesn’t sink” is generally not true. Numerous experiments show this. Important information is conveyed by the state of our feces in the toilet. This is one of the indicators of our health. “Good” feces should not float high above the surface, but at the same time should not quickly sink to the bottom like a stone. The best feces should be in a semi-submerged position. Other conditions are deviations from the norm.

If feces do not sink, but are in an unsinkable state and seem to float above the surface (like a piece of foam), then this indicates excessive gas contamination of its structure. This is wrong, but still not so scary. It’s worse when the feces sink sharply, go to the bottom like a stone, which means that the body is heavily polluted, and the intestinal bacteria either do not work at all or work poorly, they cannot saturate the feces with gases.

So periodically pay attention to the condition of your feces in the toilet. This is your product! Look closely at it, sniff it, study the contents - and draw useful conclusions.

I wish you good health!

Halitosis, or bad breath, greatly affects how others perceive a person. The causes of halitosis are usually a variety of diseases. At the same time, painful conditions have different effects on the nature of bad breath.

It is difficult to imagine a more repulsive phenomenon than the persistent and pronounced smell of feces from the mouth of the interlocutor. Nasal receptors may not respond to aromas that come from within the human body, so people are often unaware of the problem.

Causes of fecal odor from the mouth in children and adults

The constant presence of a persistent unpleasant odor is caused by physiological and pathological reasons. This applies to both an adult when a stench is felt, and a child when they complain that their breath “stinks of poop.”

Physiological factors include:

Physiological causes of halitosis, unlike pathological ones, are easily eliminated. This is facilitated by changing your diet, giving up bad habits and following preventive measures.

The perceived odor may have nuances that indicate specific problems in the body:

Gastrointestinal diseases

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that cause the appearance of “flavor” in feces include:

Due to disruption of the digestive process, the body is not freed from waste products in a timely manner. This results in a characteristic odor from the mouth.

ENT diseases

The pathological reasons why the breath smells strongly of feces include a number of diseases that are within the purview of otorhinolaryngology: diseases of the larynx and pharynx, ear, nose and paranasal sinuses:

The processes of rotting and decomposition of mucous secretions provoke the development of pathogenic microflora. These microorganisms contribute to the appearance of unpleasant odors in the mouth.

Pathologies of the respiratory system

During the process of breathing, compounds that form as a result of the following painful conditions enter the oral cavity:

• inflammatory purulent processes in the lungs;
• tuberculosis;
• chronic suppuration in the bronchi and lower parts of the lungs - bronchiectasis;
• pneumonia.

Purulent processes in the respiratory organs lead to the release of foul-smelling gases that are exhaled along with the air. Pathogenic bacteria enter the oral mucosa and cause feces to smell.

Dental problems

Diseases of the oral cavity that lead to the smell of feces when breathing concern the general condition of the teeth, gums and bone tissue:

Dental diseases are the most common cause of halitosis. Due to diseases of the oral cavity, pathogenic microflora and purulent formations appear.

Self-diagnosis methods

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The human olfactory organs are designed in such a way that they do not perceive as unpleasant aromas emanating from the body itself. A person stops feeling odors, which clearly irritate people who are under the influence of the stench.

It is difficult for a person to independently assess how his mouth smells, so the safest thing to do is turn to trustworthy people (we recommend reading:). This method has obvious disadvantages in the form of the risk of shocking a loved one, seeming too intrusive and unable to maintain a distance in communication.

To avoid inconvenient contacts with loved ones and acquaintances, there are methods for independently determining the presence of bad breath:

There are halitometers on sale - portable devices and testers. With their help, the level of foul-smelling volatile chemical compounds released by the microflora of the oral cavity (methyl mercaptan, hydrogen sulfide) is measured.

Principles of treating unpleasant odor

When deciding what to do if your breath smells like feces, you need to accurately diagnose the cause of the unpleasant odor. First of all, the oral cavity is checked for the presence of dental diseases. If the dentist does not detect relevant diseases, you should consult a therapist to study the clinical picture in the form of symptoms and characteristic complaints.

To check for the possibility of gastritis, acidity tests are performed. To identify gastrointestinal ulcers, gastroenteroscopy is performed.

1. Treatment of digestive disorders is carried out by normalizing the secretion of digestive juice and bile, cleansing the gastrointestinal tract, and restoring microflora. An important component of normal digestion is the correction of diet.
2. Diseases associated with the appearance of purulent formations are treated with antibiotics. Large ulcers are removed surgically.
3. When inflammatory processes are detected, the inflammation itself is first stopped and the spread of pathogenic microorganisms is limited. After this, the body is cleansed of toxins.

The main principle of getting rid of fecal odor is to treat the disease that caused it. Local exposure to the oral cavity through the use of sprays, rinses, flavored lozenges and chewing gums leads to temporary masking of the stench.

Prevention measures

To prevent unpleasant sensations, including a pronounced fecal odor, it is recommended to follow the following rules:

If you suspect bad breath, you should immediately contact your dentist. Quick identification of the problem helps to quickly get rid of the disease and its manifestation in the form of fecal odor.

Fresh breath and healthy teeth are important attributes of the image of a successful person, with whom it is comfortable and pleasant to communicate. A timely visit to the dentist will help maintain the condition of your teeth and oral cavity in good condition.

Our stool can tell a lot about our health. The shape and types of feces help to recognize what is happening inside the body. When our intestines are healthy, then our stool should be normal. If, however, sometimes you notice occasional cases of unhealthy feces, do not sound the alarm, it depends on the diet. But if the symptoms become regular, you need to see a doctor, get tested and undergo the prescribed examination.

What should stool be like?

Normally, stool is considered normal if it has the consistency of toothpaste. It should be soft, brown, 10-20 cm long. Defecation should occur without much strain, easily. Small deviations from this description should not immediately cause alarm. Stool (or feces) can change depending on lifestyle and dietary errors. Beets give the output a red color, and fatty foods make the stool foul-smelling, too soft and floating. You need to be able to independently evaluate all the characteristics (shape, color, consistency, buoyancy), let's talk about this in more detail.

Color

Types of stool vary in color. It can be brown (healthy color), red, green, yellow, white, black:

• Red. This color may result from ingesting food coloring or beets. In other cases, the stool turns red due to bleeding in the lower intestine. Everyone's biggest fear is cancer, but this can often be associated with diverticulitis or hemorrhoids.
• Green. A sign of the presence of bile. Stool moving too quickly through the intestines does not have time to turn brown. A green tint is a consequence of taking iron supplements or antibiotics, eating large amounts of greens rich in chlorophyll, or supplements such as wheatgrass, chlorella, spirulina. Dangerous causes of green stool are celiac disease or syndrome
• Yellow. Yellow feces are a sign of infection. This also indicates gallbladder dysfunction, when there is not enough bile and excess fat appears.
• White feces are a sign of diseases such as hepatitis, bacterial infection, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, cancer. The cause may be gallstones. Stool does not stain due to bile obstruction. The white color of feces can be considered harmless if the day before you took barium before an x-ray examination.
• Black color or dark green indicates possible bleeding in the upper intestine. A sign is considered harmless if it is a consequence of consuming certain foods (lots of meat, dark vegetables) or iron.

Form

The shape of your stool can also tell you a lot about your internal health. Thin stool (resembling a pencil) should alert you. Perhaps some kind of obstruction is blocking passage in the lower part of the intestine or there is pressure from the outside on the colon. This could be some kind of neoplasm. In this case, it is necessary to perform a colonoscopy to exclude a diagnosis such as cancer.

Hard and small feces indicate the presence of constipation. The cause may be an inadequate diet that excludes fiber. You need to eat foods high in fiber, do physical exercise, take flaxseed or psyllium husk - all this helps improve intestinal motility and ease stools.

Stool that is too soft and clings to the toilet contains too much oil. This indicates that the body does not absorb it well. You may even notice oil droplets floating. In this case, it is necessary to check the condition of the pancreas.

In small doses, mucus in the stool is normal. But if there is too much of it, it may indicate the presence of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

Other characteristics

According to its characteristics, feces in an adult are directly related to lifestyle and nutrition. What causes an unpleasant odor? Pay attention to what you've been eating more frequently lately. A foul odor is also associated with taking certain medications and can manifest itself as a symptom of some kind of inflammatory process. In cases of food absorption disorders (Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease), this symptom also appears.

Floating stool in itself should not be a cause for concern. If the floating stool has a very unpleasant odor or contains a lot of fat, this is a symptom of poor absorption of nutrients in the intestines. In this case, body weight is quickly lost.

A coprogram is...

Chyme, or food gruel, moves through the gastrointestinal tract and fecal masses are formed in the large intestine. At all stages, breakdown occurs, and then absorption of useful substances occurs. The composition of the stool helps determine whether there are any abnormalities in the internal organs. helps identify a variety of diseases. A coprogram is the conduct of chemical, macroscopic, microscopic studies, after which a detailed description of the feces is given. Coprograms can identify certain diseases. These may be disorders of the stomach, pancreas, intestines; inflammatory processes in the digestive tract, dysbiosis, malabsorption, colitis.

Bristol scale

English doctors at the Royal Hospital in Bristol have developed a simple but unique scale that characterizes all the main types of feces. Its creation was the result of the fact that experts were faced with the problem that people are reluctant to open up about this topic; embarrassment prevents them from talking in detail about their stool. Based on the developed drawings, it became very easy to independently characterize your own bowel movements without any embarrassment or awkwardness. Currently, the Bristol Stool Shape Scale is used throughout the world to assess the functioning of the digestive system. For many, printing a table (types of feces) on the wall in your own toilet is nothing more than a way to monitor your health.

1st type. Sheep feces

It is called so because it is shaped like hard balls and resembles sheep feces. If for animals this is a normal result of intestinal function, then for humans such stool is an alarm signal. Sheep pellets are a sign of constipation and dysbacteriosis. Hard feces can cause hemorrhoids, damage to the anus, and even lead to intoxication of the body.

2nd type. Thick sausage

What does the appearance of stool indicate? This is also a sign of constipation. Only in this case are bacteria and fibers present in the mass. It takes several days to form such a sausage. Its thickness exceeds the width of the anus, so emptying is difficult and can lead to cracks and tears, hemorrhoids. It is not recommended to self-prescribe laxatives, as sudden release of feces can be very painful.

3rd type. Sausage with cracks

Very often people consider such stools to be normal, because they pass easily. But make no mistake. Hard sausage is also a sign of constipation. When defecating, you have to strain, which means there is a possibility of anal fissures. In this case, it is possible that there is

4th type. Ideal chair

The diameter of the sausage or snake is 1-2 cm, the feces are smooth, soft, and easily amenable to pressure. Regular bowel movements once a day.

5th type. Soft balls

This type is even better than the previous one. A few soft pieces form and come out gently. Usually occurs with a large meal. Stool several times a day.

6th type. Unshaped chair

The feces come out in pieces, but unformed, with torn edges. It comes out easily without hurting the anus. This is not diarrhea yet, but it is already a condition close to it. The causes of this type of stool can be laxative medications, increased blood pressure, excessive consumption of spices, and mineral water.

7th type. Loose stool

Watery stools that do not include any particles. Diarrhea requiring identification of causes and treatment. This is an abnormal condition of the body that needs treatment. There can be many reasons: fungi, infections, allergies, poisoning, liver and stomach diseases, poor diet, helminths and even stress. In this case, you should not postpone your visit to the doctor.

The act of defecation

Each organism is characterized by an individual frequency of bowel movements. Normally, this is from three times a day to three bowel movements a week. Ideally - once a day. Many factors affect our intestinal motility, and this should not be a cause for concern. Travel, nervous tension, diet, taking certain medications, illness, surgery, childbirth, physical activity, sleep, hormonal changes - all this can be reflected in our stool. It is worth paying attention to how the act of defecation occurs. If excessive efforts are made, this indicates certain problems in the body.

Feces in children

Many mothers are interested in what baby’s stool should be like. It is worth paying special attention to this factor, since early age Gastrointestinal diseases are especially difficult. At the first suspicion, you should contact your pediatrician immediately.

In the first days after birth, meconium (dark color) comes out of the body. During the first three days, it begins to mix in. On the 4-5th day, feces completely replace meconium. During breastfeeding, golden-yellow stool is a sign of the presence of bilirubin, paste-like, homogeneous, and has an acidic reaction. At the 4th month, bilirubin is gradually replaced by stercobilin.

Types of feces in children

With various pathologies, there are several types of feces in children, which you need to know about in order to prevent various diseases and unpleasant consequences in time.

• "Hungry" feces. The color is black, the smell is unpleasant. Occurs with improper feeding or fasting.
• Acholic feces. Whitish-gray color, discolored, clayey. With epidemic hepatitis, biliary atresia.
• Putrefactive. Pasty, dirty gray, with an unpleasant odor. Occurs during protein feeding.
• Soapy. Silvery, shiny, soft, with mucus. When feeding with undiluted cow's milk.
• Fatty feces. With a sour odor, whitish, a little mucus. When consuming excess fat.

• Constipation. Gray color, hard consistency, putrid odor.
• Watery yellow stool. When breastfeeding due to a lack of nutrients in mother's milk.
• Pasty, thin stool, yellow color. It is formed due to excessive feeding of cereals (for example, semolina).
• Feces for dyspepsia. With mucus, coagulated, yellow-green in color. Occurs when there is an eating disorder.