possible steatorrhea (images included)

hi john, you need to contact your doctor today as your bowel habits have changed. do it soon so they can put your mind at rest!

You may have pancreatitis. If your motions float its because they are high in fat. That may mean your pancreas is not releasing the necessary enzymes to digest the fat. Dont think cancer. But well done for seeing your doctor. If you believe you have a high fat diet then try to cut down your intake.

Hello there,

I am also someone who is 31 years old and terrified from PC. I also have weird bowel movements once in a while, and even though million benign things can cause it, my mind jumps to the worst case scenario. This is what I am doing for 2 years now, trying to live while I am also very much terrified from something awful like pancreatic cancer. However, I also learnt a lot of things due to this:

• first of all, floating stools are most of the time are caused by gas. You can test this, just do not flush the toilet if you can wait and wait for 15 minutes after you and done and check. Usually 5-10 minutes is also enough for the gas to get out from the stool and then it will sink. But it is true that fat can also make the stool float.
• I also believed that I have steatorrhea sometimes, because on the internet it is very difficult to find accurate picture representations how it looks like. But they say it should be huge volume, should float, should have a pale color and should be very-very smelly. Apparently the smell of steatorrhea is just horrible. Maybe that is what you are having, but having it once in a while can be very much a consequence of what you are eating, it does not mean that anything is wrong with you, a lot of people suffer from high fat content food, it is just heavy on the stomach etc.
• If you go to a doctor, it is unlikely (in my opinion) that based on just a few weird stools they will do anything. You did not tell us whether you were losing weight etc., but a few loose stools is generally not alarming unless there is blood in it. If you have loose stool for a few days, the first candidate is always some parasite. If you have it for 2-3 weeks then IBS. Although it depends on how loose it is. What you have on the pictures is definitely not normal if it happens often and you need to get it looked, but a lot of people with IBS have similar stools daily, so having it still does not mean that there is anything very wrong with you.
• Also, if you have PC, then these kind of things are usually not once in a while things, but kind of constant.
• The yellow things can be mucus. But still, this amount of mucus is not normal. I also have it once in a while, but much less quantity. However, I do not mean to frighten you, it is still possible that you just ate something that your bowels did not really love.

hey john, hope all is well, what did your doctor have to say??? My stool looks identical to the picture you posted. I Have had it happen multiple time now, so i became a little concerned, turned to google, and found your post from 6 months ago.

possibly Pin worm infection.

ever find out what this was/what did your doctor say? especially in terms of the upper left abdominal pain?

(going on 2 years of multiple daily poopoos that look like this with the pain being more severe as of the last month. 28/heavy drinker)

Hello John, I have same experienced as you do, with watery, sometimes foamy stools, and I go to the CR everyday, once or twice a day. But I did not experienced the pain, what I've experienced was when I poop in the morning there's an urge to go again after my coffee and my breakfast.. anyway, how are you now? What are your diagnosis? I hope you reply soon. Thanks!

Hi John

Did you ever figure out what this issue is? I am having similar symptoms now and I am terrified.

did you know what it was? was it Ibs or something else? we have the same kind of stool. and also worried of Pc. i am so anxious i can not even sleep.

I've been having this. But, didn't know what it was called. I'm so anxious about it. Have posted this morning about IBS.

Did you find out what it was?