Posted 9/10/2011 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't been posting much due to some very serious and painful neuro problems but I wanted to share this since many here have inquired about flat shaped stool.
I have had formed but flat stool for quite sometime. Flat stool can be due to IBS spasms of the colon or also from serious issues like colon cancer. I did quite a bit of research on flat stool and according to one expert read that ideal stool shape should be sausage like yet with a tapered like flat edge down both sides, this is supposed to be due to the normal shape of the empty colon not being perfectly round.
The author went on to say that the colon only becomes rounded when it fills with stool and it is compacted enough to expand it into it's fully round state. Many of us with IBS/IBD have increased transit times and/or urgency issues so our colons do not expand enough to produce round stool even when formed. The author said to try and hold off on having a BM for as long as possible to see what happens, if the stool still comes out flat it could be due to a mass in the colon or ibs spasms, if the normally flat stool comes out round then all is well. I tried this several times and my semi flat stool finally became nice and round/sausage like.
This is a great at home easy way to see if you may have a potentially serious problem like a mass causing flat like stool or hopefully not.