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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be going to the GP with what might (or might not) be nothing but beetroot poo!?

32 replies

emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:02

I ate beetroot on Sunday (a lot) and then some again (not a lot) on Monday. On Wednesday, my poo (sorry) was purply-red. It's still purply-red two days later and I'm starting to get worried.

I do have chronic constipation (since last year) so I guess it's possible that it just takes a really REALLY long time for the beetroot to get out of my system. I have had the beetroot-poo problem in the past, but not as bad as this. But I'm worrying (because I'm a worrier) that it's nothing to do with the beetroot and that the funny-coloured poo is related to the constipation in a more sinister way... I did see the GP about the constipation 4 months ago and she did stool text etc and said everything looked fine and just prescribed Movicol.

When I get v constipated (sorry, TMI, I know it's lunchtime) my poo does go very dark, which of course I'm now worried I should have gone back to the GP about sooner...

Anyway, AIBU to be getting in a state and going back to the GP about this? If it all clears over the w/e I'm going to feel like an idiot to be getting so worried.

Any fellow beetroot poo afficionados out there? HELP ME!! Blush

OP posts:
Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:03

sorry - that should have been stool TEST above, not stool TEXT. The mind boggles...

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 09/03/2012 13:09

If your GPs are anything like ours are now, if you make an appt. today it'll be sometime next week before you can see them and by then you should know if it was beetroot or not, and cancel the apt. if its all OK by then. Smile

(DH was once thought he had blood in his wee and was v worried till I pointed out he'd eaten a load of beetroots. He (sensibly) forebore to comment on subsequent stool colour)

valiumredhead · 09/03/2012 13:09

Take the Movical as usual every day, stop eating beetroot and see what happens, then go to the GO if things don't improve. And calm down Wink

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:12

Grimma your DH is v sensible not to inform his wife of stool colour! I am possibly forevermore putting my DH off having bedroom relations with me cos I can't stop updating the poor bloke every 10 mins... Grin

Valiumredhead - yes, have already gone back on the Movicol this morning as am hoping that this may clear out any beetroot if still left. And calming down is good advice - I'm rubbish at applying it to myself, but would tell others the same!

OP posts:
mojitomania · 09/03/2012 13:12

Me. I get it when eating beetroot (love the stuff) also get red poo if i so much as drink 1 glass of red wine. I'ts usually red for a few days. Don't worry.

mojitomania · 09/03/2012 13:13

Oh and I also get constipation, have you noticed this goes with your period cycles? Mine does. I get constipated just before I'm due on.

ripsishere · 09/03/2012 13:14

If it is blood, it will have a very distinctive smell. Once you smell it, you'll never forget it that's the old digested blood.
Newer blood will be bright red.
HTH

CalmaLlamaDown · 09/03/2012 13:14

That's one desicion you are going to have to make for yourself. I don't think anyone on here can second guess if its blood or beetroot.

valiumredhead · 09/03/2012 13:14

TMI but if you are constipated a lot you need to take the Movical for a long period of time every day for the bowel to return back to normal shape and this stops it happening again - ignore if you know all that.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:18

valium - I didn't actually know that!! Thank you!! Normal shape how? I tend to take it for about a week and then I'm so relieved things are working again that I back off...

ripishere - ah. didn't know that either. This is why I love MN... Thank you.

CalmaLlama - when you put it like that... Blush

mojitomania - I have no idea why I'm constipated sadly - came out of nowhere last year. Got it under control at first with movicol, then with improved diet, but then it got worse again... very frustrating.

OP posts:
Aerobreaking · 09/03/2012 13:21

Whilst it is always good to get any change in bowel habits checked out by a doctor, I also wouldn't worry too much about your poo going darker when you are constipated - that is perfectly normal. The reason why poo is brown is because one of the breakdown products of blood (bilirubin) gets oxidised as it passes through your intestines (becomes stercobilirubin), and this is a brown colour. Because normal breakdown of blood happens at the same speed regardless of how often you open your bowels, if you are constipated then your poo will have a larger amount of stercobilirubin in it, so it will be darker. Malaena (which is dark poo due to blood) is extremely dark, black almost, and it has a tarry consistency, and as ripsishere said, has a distinctive smell.

Grin
mummytime · 09/03/2012 13:23

I would see the Doctor about the constipation to be honest. Maybe I just hear a certain ad on the radio every morning. So don't cancel any appointment even if the poo colour clears up.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:23

Aerobreaking - chief poo expert indeed! Do you have a badge??!

Thank you - that is actually very helpful (and interesting!) and reassuring.

TBH I think I just need to go and see the GP again anyway, have a quick chat about it - she's very good and very calming.

Oh, and I won't be eating beetroot again for a while...

OP posts:
workshy · 09/03/2012 13:24

the current advertising campaign says if changes last for 2 weeks, then see your GP

I remember my dad running to the docs with red wee ad it was beetroot -he was so embarassed he changed doctors Grin

RuleBritannia · 09/03/2012 13:24

What you eat or drink can affect the colour of your stools. I like piccalilli with my lunch and my wee is a brighter yellow for the rest of the day and the next time I poo, it's yellower than its usual colour. Packet orange juice also makes my wee yellower.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:25

mummytime - yes, I've been thrilled, pretty much every time I switch on the TV at the moment, to see that very necessary but very scary bowel cancer ad... I feel like the universe is trying to send me a message :( Yes, I am a health anxiety nut...

OP posts:
Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:27

RuleBritannia - yes, have had the beetroot problem before (red poo!) but it's the fact that this seems to be lasting so long that is making me worry it's not beetroot but something else causing the colour... though that could be the fact that I have such a horribly sluggish bowel.

workshy - that ad campaign is everywhere, isn't it!!? I have seen the GP about the constipation already, not long after it first started, and she did tests and said it all looked ok. But only a poo test and blood test though. DH had the full works a while ago (for opposite problem!) and (different) GP sent him for colonscopy etc, the works.

OP posts:
valiumredhead · 09/03/2012 13:31

OP when you are constipated the bowel changes shape and gets bigger at the end (near where it comes out!) you need to take the Movicol for about 6 months to make the bowel shrink back again and stop the poo 'collecting' in the wrong shaped bowel bit and therefore difficult to eliminate.

Sorry - way TMI Blush

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:35

valium - thank you! Not TMI at all (for me at least) I had actually just messaged you to ask more about that - so thank you!

OP posts:
OurPlanetNeptune · 09/03/2012 13:37

YANBU, if in doubt get the expert to check it out. I have had blood (confirm in my stool for 2 weeks) now Ignore it the first week as I thought it was something I ate. Saw doctor yesterday now will be going in for a colonscopy asap. I hope it is nothing, but I'm very worried as I have a history..

Very good info here any, thank you all.

OurPlanetNeptune · 09/03/2012 13:38

Sorry that reads so badly. Mean to say my tests on my stool sample confirmed it is blood...

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:40

OurPlanetNeptune - good luck, I'm sure it'll be fine and you'll be able to relax after the colonoscopy once you've got some answers. FWIW I do gather that there are all kinds of reasons you can have blood in your poo that aren't 'bad' IYSWIM. FWIW as well, in case you are worried about the colonoscopy, my DH had one a few months back, he's a wimp about that kind of thing and he couldn't have been more fine during and after it.

OP posts:
OurPlanetNeptune · 09/03/2012 13:48

Thanks emerald. I'm really worried about colonoscopy, I'm a wimp but your words have reassured me. Was a bit in a daze when doctor was discussing this with me so will go back on Monday and ask more questions. What I do remember he too did say it could all sorts. Luckily he is great GP and really on the ball and is pushing for a specialist to see me next week.

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 09/03/2012 13:56

you haven't hijacked at all! Really, don't worry about colonoscopy - in my experience (well, in DH's) it was really, really fine! He is pathetic about anything intrusive and was worried about it for weeks, but it was an absolutel breeze for him in the end. I went back to meet him afterwards expecting to find this wreck of a man and he was sitting up chatting to (chatting up?) the nurse with a cup of tea and a biscuit. About 30 mins after he had gone in!! It'll be fine, I'm sure.

OP posts:
mojitomania · 09/03/2012 13:57

Oh OurPlanet - don't worry, I had a colonoscopy regarding blood in my poo's a couple of years ago. They offer a sedative and if you say you're a wimp (like me) they just give you a bit more Grin

The outcome was diverticular disease [very common in the elderly] for which I don't really have to do anything at the moment (Im 49) and maybe never will, it's pockets in the bowel that can get inflamed. - OP, you will also get symptoms of constipation with this.

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