What Does It Mean When Your Bowel Movement Is Pitch

Posted on Fri, 26 Apr 2019

Question: What does it mean when your bowel movement is pitch black?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Parth Goswami (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
It means usually upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Welcome to the 'Ask A Doctor service'.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advise.

The black stool is called melena and it is commonly due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

The cause for minor upper gi bleeding can be gastritis or small peptic ulcer.

It need to be investigated further if black colour stool constantly present for 2-3 days.

Kindly answer following questions to guide you further.
1.Since how long (duration) you have black coloured stool??

2. Is there any associated complaint like abdominal pain or vomitting??

3. Is there any history of iron medication intake??

4.Have you ever been suffering from chronic gastritis or chronic abdominal pain??

Hope I have answered your question.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng