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What Causes Chronic Diarrhea And Pale Stool?
My wife had severe Diarrhea a couple of days age whilst on holiday and it lasted for at least half an hour. We are home now and she feels a lot better but she is still passing biege coloured small stools. Is this a cause for concern? Thanks, George
Mon, 19 Feb 2018
Hello and Welcome,
You do not need to worry to have beige (pale) colored stools during a diarrhea or certain period after a diarrhea.
Stool color comes from bilirubin a pigment of the bile. In the gut bilirubin is converted into stercobilin by the gut bacterial flora. Stercobilin gives brown color to a stool. Diarrhea causes imbalance of the gut bacterial flora which reduces amount of the bacteria that is responsible for normal stool color. Furthermore, the food passes the gastrointestinal tract fast enough that might not get its brown color because of increased bowel movements. Additionally, beige or pale colored stool might also be the side effect of anti-diarrhea medications if she took one during the diarrhea episode. Stool color comes to its normal appearance after the diarrhea with the normalization of her bowel movements.
I hope the above information will be helpful for you.
Please, feel free to ask me if there is anything else you need to know.
Thank you,
Malik Amonov MD
You do not need to worry to have beige (pale) colored stools during a diarrhea or certain period after a diarrhea.
Stool color comes from bilirubin a pigment of the bile. In the gut bilirubin is converted into stercobilin by the gut bacterial flora. Stercobilin gives brown color to a stool. Diarrhea causes imbalance of the gut bacterial flora which reduces amount of the bacteria that is responsible for normal stool color. Furthermore, the food passes the gastrointestinal tract fast enough that might not get its brown color because of increased bowel movements. Additionally, beige or pale colored stool might also be the side effect of anti-diarrhea medications if she took one during the diarrhea episode. Stool color comes to its normal appearance after the diarrhea with the normalization of her bowel movements.
I hope the above information will be helpful for you.
Please, feel free to ask me if there is anything else you need to know.
Thank you,
Malik Amonov MD
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