Why is My Poop Very Dark?

Dark stool is usually caused by changes in diet, gastrointestinal bleeding, digestive system diseases, or taking specific medications. Pay attention to your eating habits, and if you experience dark stool, adjust your diet in time to see if it improves. If you experience dark stool for a long time, it is necessary to be vigilant and seek medical examination and treatment promptly. The causes of dark stool are:

Changes in diet structure. Eating foods containing animal blood products and foods rich in hemoglobin can cause dark stool.

Gastric mucosal erosion or bleeding of gastric capillaries. This is common in patients with previous gastritis who take medications that irritate the gastric mucosa, such as aspirin, or emotional stress that causes stress-induced gastric mucosal injury and bleeding.

Patients with gastric ulcers or gastric cancer may also damage the blood vessels in the stomach, causing a small amount of bleeding. The blood enters the intestine and mixes with the stool, forming dark stool. If the amount of bleeding is large, the stool is generally tarry. In cases of gastric injury causing bleeding, most often accompanied by gastric symptoms such as acid reflux, abdominal pain, and abdominal distension.

Taking some specific medications can also cause the stool to appear black. Common medications include bismuth citrate and some traditional Chinese medicine ingredients.