Orange Diarrhea – What Causes It

Today you will learn the causes of Orange Diarrhea.  Each person across the world may have experienced diarrhea at one time in his or her life.

However, orange diarrhea is something that is more worrying.

Generally, various bowel movement colors result to reddish, black, and green stool. It’s even possible to have black specks in your stool.

However, orange color is rarely associated with diarrhea or bowel movement.

If your poop is coming out in this color, it could be a sign of a medical problem.

Today we are going to look at all the possibilities that may be causing your stool to turn into orange.

Orange Diarrhea – What Affects Stool Color?

There are certain cases where the orange stool is not because of a disease. It can occur due to consumption of certain foods, supplements, beverages, or a medication.

Although this is not considered normal, it does not occur because of a disease. Avoiding the certain foods, medications, or beverages allows your stool to return to its normal colors within a few days.

Here are some of the substances that can result into orange stool

• Supplements with vitamin A usually have Beta carotene
• Foods that have Beta-carotene. These include carrots, apricots, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, winter squash, turnip greens, cilantro, collard greens, fresh thyme, mango, as well as pumpkin especially if you ingest them in large quantities.
• Antacids that contains elements such as aluminum hydroxide
• Certain combinations of medications
• Artificial colors in beverages, foods, and confectionaries.

Causes of orange diarrhea

Most often, orange diarrhea occurs due to the same reasons as the orange stool but there is an infection or irritation of the gut that leads to diarrhea. Here are some of the causes that may lead to orange discoloration of the bowel movement.

• Increased gut motility such as food poisoning, IBS, and other conditions that may cause of loose bowel movements
• Ingesting large quantity of Butterfish may result to a sticky, fatty, orange and loose stools may last for a week after butter.
• Other foods such as nuts, fish oil, junk food especially when ingested in excess.

Additionally, consuming any foods in excess may cause short-term diarrhea. In most cases, this is caused by eating foods that have a strong orange color or foods that are tainted with an orange dye.

However, if you happen to experience orange diarrhea. That is accompanied by severe symptoms such as projectile vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness and other serious symptoms consult your doctor immediately.

Can certain supplements cause these symptoms?

It is true that some supplements can cause these symptoms. Consuming supplements with high amounts of vitamin A makes your poop to have a bright color.

Ant-acids that have aluminum hydroxide may also cause orange poop. If you have taken these supplements for a long time without ever observing the symptoms, it is very unlikely for them to cause the orange color.

Parasitic infection

There are certain parasites that cause orange stool. Besides the orange diarrhea, once affected by these parasites, you will also experience severe symptoms such as vomiting, chills, and nausea.

These symptoms usually occur when your body is trying to fight off the infection.

The best way to avoid infections caused by parasite is to drink purified water. If you think that a parasite may be the one affecting the color of your stool. Then speak to your doctors who will give you an effective treatment.

Orange Blood in Stool

Human blood is usually in a red color but once it goes through the upper digestive tract, it causes your stool to become tarry and black or even rust colored stool.

However, if the bleeding is occurring in the bowel, this blood mixes with the stool in its natural color, making your poop to appear in red color.

When blood mixes with other strong pigments in food it changes its color to orange. This means you can also have orange stained poop if you have blood in your bowel.

Another very good example of how this can happen is through the color changes of bilirubin. When a red blood cell breakdown within the body, a strong yellow colored bilirubin develops. The bilirubin is than passed out together with bile, which has a green color.

When the bilirubin is broken down in the gut, your poop acquires the brown color. Some recent studies shows that when high levels or bilirubin are broken down by the bacteria in the bowel. It can result into a yellow colored stool with traces of blood, causing your stool to have an orange color.

What can you do about orange stool?

Orange poop that is soft but firm, like what the normal poop feels like should not worry you much. Just avoid the foods or beverages that may be causing the discoloration for a day or two. Check for any of the food listed above, supplements of any orange colored beverage. Your poop will return to its normal color within a few days.

However, do not stop the medications without consulting your doctor.

On the other hand, orange diarrhea is a more serious condition. Most often, acute diarrhea with viral infection will pass within a few days. It is not necessary you take medication and for fast and effective results, drinks a lot of water.

Do not avoid taking food so that you do not have to poop. Unless there is vomiting, eat your food as usual. If the doctor is not clear after a few days, you need to consult your medical care provider for investigation.

When Should You See a Doctor?

One of the commonly asked question is how long you should wait before seeing a doctor. If you start experiencing orange poop and stomach pain or cramps and orange stool. The answer is simple. If you are not ingesting the supplements or foods above, visit your doctor immediately.

Additionally if you are experiencing symptoms such as pain, digestive problems, dizziness, or weakness. Contact your doctor right away. Remember the earlier you see your doctor the easier. It will be to start treatment before it turns to be something serious.

Conclusion

In most cases, changes in stool colors is something that should not cause a lot of worries as it may be caused by something in the diet. However, if you cannot attribute the color to any diet and is accompanied with symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea, consult your doctor immediately.