TMI Warning - White/Gray Stool?

[arivecchi]

DS2 was sick on Saturday. He woke up saying his tummy and head hurt. He had a low fever. No vomiting or other symptoms. He seemed fine Sunday and Monday but was not eating much. Today he went to the bathroom in the afternoon and had whiteish stool. After googling (bad idea), I called the pedi on call. She did not sound that concerned and just told me to keep an eye on him and to bring him in if he had any stomach pain or if he has another white stool. Anyone BTDT?

[Claki]

Yes, btdt and ped said it was a "touch of rotavirus". Lasted for weeks...

[Kindra178]

Red, white and blue (grape jelly) are the concerning colors. So the question I have is was the white "white" or grayish white? The latter probably indicates a stomach bug or gastro distress, but nothing serious.

[boolady]

DD had something similar happen recently. I was going to take her to the dr., but the stool color returned to normal with her next b.m. so I assumed that it was a bug that self-resolved. It's disconcerting to see, for sure. I hope DS2 feels better soon.

[Philly Mom]

Could he be dehydrated? A friend had a hard white BM when she was much more dehydrated than she realized.

[Momit]

Poor guy. I do remember reading that white stool can be a concern but no BTDT. Hope he is on the mend soon.

[sntm]

Can be a sign of obstructing gallstones or something preventing bike from flowing to intestine. More worrisome if jaundice too.

[mcmanutm]

Can be a sign of obstructing gallstones or something preventing bike from flowing to intestine. More worrisome if jaundice too.

:yeahthat:

[dogmom]

Feel free to ignore my pathophys lesson, but I love this stuff. Simplified version.

Red blood cells (RBC) have hemoglobin which makes them red and carries the oxygen. Blood cells don't have a nucleus so they have a short life span and always dying/being broken down. RBC are broken down by the body to Biliverdin, iron & amino acids. You body scavenges the iron to store for later use. The biliverdin gets converted to free bilirubin and gets transported to the liver. The liver makes into into converted bilirubin and it eventually gets excreted from the liver, mostly as bile salts, via the common bile duct (common because the gallbladder and pancreas also feeds into it) to the intestines. Bacteria in the intestines help change the bilirubin to give feces that brown green color. That greenish/yellow tinge to bruises that occur on the skin is also part of the biliverdin from the blood cell breakdown. Jaundice is when there is a build up of bilirubin in the body because, usually, the liver is not processing it fast enough. It can also result from a massive destruction of blood cells overwhelming the liver. (newborn jaundice) Grey stool indicates that there was an interruption of this process somewhere along the line. It can just be that the bacteria of the gut is a little out of whack. If someone does not have jaundice, just has a few grey stools, it will all work out. The first place you really see jaundice is a yellowish tinge to the whites of the eyes. Some bilirubin gets excreted by the kidneys, which is why in mono the urine turns this dark amber color.

[arivecchi]

Feel free to ignore my pathophys lesson, but I love this stuff. Simplified version.

Red blood cells (RBC) have hemoglobin which makes them red and carries the oxygen. Blood cells don't have a nucleus so they have a short life span and always dying/being broken down. RBC are broken down by the body to Biliverdin, iron & amino acids. You body scavenges the iron to store for later use. The biliverdin gets converted to free bilirubin and gets transported to the liver. The liver makes into into converted bilirubin and it eventually gets excreted from the liver, mostly as bile salts, via the common bile duct (common because the gallbladder and pancreas also feeds into it) to the intestines. Bacteria in the intestines help change the bilirubin to give feces that brown green color. That greenish/yellow tinge to bruises that occur on the skin is also part of the biliverdin from the blood cell breakdown. Jaundice is when there is a build up of bilirubin in the body because, usually, the liver is not processing it fast enough. It can also result from a massive destruction of blood cells overwhelming the liver. (newborn jaundice) Grey stool indicates that there was an interruption of this process somewhere along the line. It can just be that the bacteria of the gut is a little out of whack. If someone does not have jaundice, just has a few grey stools, it will all work out. The first place you really see jaundice is a yellowish tinge to the whites of the eyes. Some bilirubin gets excreted by the kidneys, which is why in mono the urine turns this dark amber color. Thanks for the biology lesson! We are keeping him home today to observe his bowel movements. How fun right? He seems totally ok otherwise!

[arivecchi]

Thought I'd update since I have gotten PMs since then. This is common with kids. Usually happens after they have some sort of stomach virus. Our ped asked that we keep an eye on DS and after a day or two his stool was back to normal. No need to panic if this happens to a little one shortly after a virus. HTH.