[17807]

Hey all, new poster here (though I've been reading on/off for several years, actually)!

Not that I'm keen for my introductory posting to be something weird like this, but it's been a puzzlement to me lately and I think it's time I run this one by the 'experts.'

On and off, maybe for the past year or so (or more? my "watching" habits have gotten a bit more keen in that time so maybe it's just coincident), I've noticed that sometimes after a bowel movement (even a 'normal' one--I'm IBS-D, just for the record), there's what I guess I would call "yellow wipe" on the toilet paper.Ugh. Sorry for the rather unsavory image.In any case, the stool itself isn't particularly pale (or yellow, for that matter). Just the 'residue' to be wiped up after, and not generally much at all.I'd broached the topic with someone I know and he suggested that it was "Your gallbladder, man!" and I dunno... that seems a bit of a stretch, but then again, what do I know?

Anyone have any thoughts on that? Anything normal going on that could produce this effect? Or am I now just looking for things to give myself a hard time, mentally?

With the mercurial nature of IBS symptoms to be dealt with all the time, I'd hate to have to start thinking about tossing my gall bladder into the mix!

Also - if this is a common question/or known-thing, please pardon my asking. It's a tough one to do searches on and I don't think I've found anything useful one way or the other.Thanks, folks.

 

[Popp]

 

[Kathleen M.]

There is some bile that is in the stool, it starts off yellowish or greenish and turns brown over times. Which might be why someone said gall bladder. It may be that if your stool comes through a bit faster than the color changes you could still have some yellow in the stool, or the mucus that helps it slide out picked up some of the yellow.I think it is common to get hyper-aware of what is coming out, and sometimes we do over-analyze what we see.K.

 

[15267]

That is a good question, every time that I "go" it is always some tint of yellow. Should I worry that something else is going on?

 

[23392]

There are any number of factors, between what we eat and what our transit time is, that could change the color of the stool. Mine can vary all over the map, sometimes in 1 day.There are much more specific signs for gallbladder, like problems with fatty food, pain in a certain quadrant, or, if you're worried, ask your doc to check for gallstones. Also I believe when it's bad enough some things may show up in simple blood tests.I wouldn't worry about stool color, or especially stool *wipe* color, unless it's tarry and black [higher level blood] or *lots* of red blood [usually--not always, but horses, not zebras--hemorrhoids.]. Or maybe if it stays some weird color/smell [I mean, obviously canary yellow is not normal ] that is uncharacteristic for a long time [like c-diff infection is usually dark, maybe even greenish, with a very particular smell].I am not a doc since I didn't take boards, so really: go to your doc if worried. He/she can ask the right questions and run the appropriate tests if indicated. I bet lots of us have 'yellow wipe'--probalby more a factor of normal stool stuff mixing with mucus than anything else.

 

[17807]

Well, thanks for the feedback, folks.It sounds like it's probably yet another thing to toss on the "making mountains out of molehills" pile.

I'm sure I'll have oodles of questions to come, but for now, as I said, thank you.

 

[17176]

hello and welcome