Question: Hi,

I noticed today that my stool appeared dark in color. At first I thought it was black which worried me. I looked more carefully then and it seemed more of a darker brown color, which at first made me feel that it was black. Earlier I drank a Mocha Coffee with caramel and had a rigorous workout after. Im not sure if that matters though. It was completely formed and a little bumpy looking, there was no foul smell (there was actually not much of any smell), it did not look like "tar" or sticky. I do believe though it was mostly a darker brown color that looked to be black at first. Also, about a month ago my stool was black this one time. This time it was definitely black. It was formed, mostly smooth, no foul smell, did not appear sticky or like tar. The night before I had one dose of peptol bismol though. I went to get checked and the doctor did this test where he put some sort of medicine on his gloves and put his fingers in my anus, then he took it out and rubbed his fingers on this piece of paper. He said there is no blood because if there was blood then the paper would have turned blue. He said that time the peptol bismol along with maybe diet caused the black stool. It never happened again after that. And today I just got a little worried when I thought my stool looked black. Other then that, there are no other symptoms and I feel good. I posted a question about minor stomach discomfort a few weeks ago as well because I thought it might be indigestion but the doctor said it seems to be more of a sensitive intestine. Also, the symptoms that I described do not really meet much of the indigestion symptoms typically experienced by people.
I am 22 years old.

Does this seem to be of concern? It was only that one time the stool was actually black, this time as I said it looked black at first but appeared more of a darker brown color when I looked more closely