White Specks In Stool

The appearance, texture, consistence, and smell of the stool may say a lot about your health. Having white spots or specks in stool is not normal and it needs further examination. When you have the white bits in stool and they disappear, you may ignore them since it may be something temporary such as some food you ate. You should however see a doctor when you begin to notice the white specks regularly.

There are many possible causes of white balls in stool and they include, lack of bile, use of medications, mucoid stools, parasitic infection, or clumps of bacteria.

Causes of white specks in stool

The stool may change color due to many reasons. Things you eat can make the color of stool to change. The overall health of the body may also be a contributing factor to changes in color of stool. Lack of bile may occur when the liver has problems that interfere with the production of bile.

Stool, in its normal color appears brown due to the presence of bile juice that is produced in the liver. Bile juice helps in digestion of fat in diet. Whenever you have change in stool color, it could indicate problems with the liver. A disease like hepatitis or cirrhosis may affect the function of the liver.

Sometimes, you may have the liver okay but the gallbladder is not able to release sufficient bile because of some disease like cholecystitis. This may cause the stool to appear whitish. You may notice change in stool color when you take some medications. Antacids tend to contain aluminum hydroxide which can cause changes in stool color. You may have pale stool if you are taking some antacids.

Capsules of some antibiotics you are taking may cause the white balls you are seeing in your stool. Mucoid stools are another possible cause of white specks in stool. An allergy, inflammation, or infection may cause the inner lining of intestines to produce excess mucus. The excess mucus is released together with stool and it causes the white specks.

Diseases like IBS, crohn’s disease and colitis may cause excess mucus in the intestinal walls. These diseases will irritate the intestinal lining and make it difficult for proper food digestion to occur, and this could lead to disturbances of the bowel movement, weight loss, nutritional deficiencies, muscles weakness, or headaches.

Parasites like worms may take the form of white lumps in stool. You may have white specks in stool due to nutritional deficiency, abdominal pain, or digestive problems. Intestinal infections by parasites due to taking unsafe water could make your stool to have white bits. When there is an infections, it may show other symptoms like bouts of watery diarrhea, bloating, cramps, and nausea.

Clumps of fungi could appear as white specks in stool. You may notice some white balls or spots occurring in stool if you have an infection by fungus. This may happen when you have a compromised immune system. After chemotherapy or radiation therapy, your immune system may not work properly and this could result in infections like fungi which may cause white balls in stool.

People with disease that wreak havoc on the immune system for instance, AIDS may have white specks in stool arising from multiplication of fungi. Dead Candida cells could also be the white spots you see in stool.

In people who are sensitive to gluten, they may have pale oily stools. When the body is unable to digest fat adequately due to steatorrhea condition, it may mean that the fat is passed in stool and this makes it look pale and oily. Sensitivity to gluten may cause irritation of mucus lining, and this could in turn make the absorption of fat difficult.

Seeking treatment for white specks in stool

When you have white specks occurring in stool regularly, you may want to seek for treatment. Proper examination by a doctor is needed to diagnose the problem. When the problem is associated with lack of bile, treatment may be needed to correct the situation. Examination on liver and gallbladder may be needed to determine the exact cause.

In case you are taking medications, you may want to talk to your doctor to find out if they are the cause. Don’t stop taking medicines without talking to your doctor. Some medicines may have side effects on body which cause different symptoms such as change in stool color.

Calcium intake or drinking vinegar may also help in the treatment. So, any coloration you see in your stool is very important and you should not take it lightly. It is always important that you visit a doctor and discuss about the specks in stool to rule out any possibly of having a serious health condition. Stool tests may be conducted including stool culture that can reveal the content such as cyst, ova, fat, or fungus in stool.