It is, I’m sure, rather disconcerting to notice that your feces are the color of a corroded penny, and not know why. It was for me (especially since I’VE BEEN FEELING LIKE CRAP!). Or, if your feces are the usual brown color that our species tends to produce, perhaps you’d like to know how to make your poop green for Saint Patrick’s day! Either way, read on:
There are several reasons why one can have green poop, one or two of which should concern you. Naturally, one of the possible reasons you will encounter on the Internet is cancer, but that is highly unlikely. More likely it is something else.
Quite possibly the most dramatically green stool is caused by food dyes. If you have green stool, ask yourself if you’ve eaten anything with green food dye in it lately. If you have not, recall that green is a combination of yellow and blue. Bright green poop can be generated by the regular consumption, over a few days, of Blue Gatorade. (Don’t ask me how I know that.) Anyway, consider the possibility that you’ve somehow combined something yellow and something blue to produce green. (I’ve also eaten a fair amount of spinach.)
If you have green stool, wait a few days and keep checking, and consider the food dye explanation. If that does not satisfy you check out the Mayo Clinic web site and consider seeing your doctor. If you don’t have green poop but would like to, for Saint Patrick’s day, try the Gatorade idea (!), but only after consulting your doctor, who I’m sure will be very interested.
I, for one, will be very happy when mine turns the lovely brown again. TMI?
