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What Does Mucus In Stool Indicate?
When I passed a bowel movement earlier, I noticed what looked like little pieces of clearish plastic in my stool. They were about an inch long and about a centimeter wide. I picked them out and squeezed them to find out what the texture was like , and it was a hard rubbery texture, like that of hardened glue from a glue gun. What could this possibly be?
Thu, 1 Mar 2018
Hello,
The presence of mucus in stool is common. And normal in some amounts, however, a large amount of visible mucus in your stool isn’t normal and might be a sign of a problem. If you begin seeing mucus in your stool, the levels are probably already elevated. That doesn’t necessarily indicate you have a problem, but it’s something you should monitor especially if there is blood in stool, or pain during defecation.
In such cases, it may be caused by inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or infectious colitis are other causes, but it would be associated with fever and loose stools. You should wait for a few days, have an easy diet, a lot of fluids, and see will it improve. If not you should do colonoscopy as a start of work up.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Ivan R. Rommstein
The presence of mucus in stool is common. And normal in some amounts, however, a large amount of visible mucus in your stool isn’t normal and might be a sign of a problem. If you begin seeing mucus in your stool, the levels are probably already elevated. That doesn’t necessarily indicate you have a problem, but it’s something you should monitor especially if there is blood in stool, or pain during defecation.
In such cases, it may be caused by inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or infectious colitis are other causes, but it would be associated with fever and loose stools. You should wait for a few days, have an easy diet, a lot of fluids, and see will it improve. If not you should do colonoscopy as a start of work up.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Ivan R. Rommstein
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