stringy white stuff in stool.

I am a 20yr. old female in good otherwise good health, or so I think. For the last 4 or so months I have noticed white-ish strings  in my bowel movements. Even when my bowel movements are normal, they are still there. I do suffer from frequent diahrea, although have been too embarrased to see a doctor about it. I am always hungry, and soon after I eat, even if it's a large meal, I still feel hungry, tired, and weak and feel I need to eat again only an hour or less after eating. I am worried that these "white stingy things" could be a worm or parasite of some-kind, and am curious as to what you think. I am a little worried to see my doctor about it. I've never been ot a foreign country or anything, and I'm never exposed to unsanitary conditions. What do you think these are, and should I see my doctor?

Any advice or suggestions would be very helpful!! Thanks!!

[Kevin Pho, MD]

I would suggest seeing a physician for further evaluation.  Testing the stool for parasitic infection - as well as bacteria - can be done.  You can also consider a lower endoscopy - such as a flexible sigmoidoscopy - to evaluate for inflammatory bowel disease.

Another consideration would be malabsorption or celiac disease.  Sending the stool off for fat malabsorption or obtaining blood tests looking for celiac disease can be discussed with your personal physician, or in conjunction with a GI referral.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
http://www.straightfromthedoc.com

[LukeL]

It could be worms and if this is the case there are simple treatments for it. In anycase you should see a doctor soon because you could develop nutrtional defencies as a result of possible worms and diarhea (diarrhea).

[yoshi]

do you have pet??
Have you been in touch with dog or cat??

[kate8285]

yes, I've had various cats for quite some time now...

[yoshi]

cats have ringworms??you can spot them in their feces and it could be passed on to human,if not treated ,it usually make a person look rather pale.
not sure if it is called ring worms,but they are small white worms and when they come out,it looks like broken white vermicelli and there could be many of them.

[yoshi]

you can see your GP and they will take your stool sample and send it to the lab.
It is no big deal,they will give you some pills and it will be gone.

[Kathy-J]

What pills are given for worms?
I've found similar items in my stool. Had it checked. Came back negative, but still have weird things like that in my stool. My docs say I'm being obsessive compulsive about it and have dismissed me as being sort of a mental case.
But I still find stringy things in my stool.

[yoshi]

I dont recall the name of the medicine,but my GP is mexican and we have a large mexican population,so he is not surprised of any parasitic infection.

[yoshi]

fungal infection -you can see a white film which comes out with the bowel movement.

[Kathy-J]

A close in-law who lives in Chattanooga TN was misdiagnosed by docs until she visited a homeopathic doctor out of Atlanta. She was found to have liver parasites (all the other docs totally missed it... or wouldn't be bothered to check for that). Anyway after treatment she's fine now. She hasn't travelled out of the country, but like you pointed out, there's a large Mexican migrant population also in her town. They surmise she might have picked up the parasites from eating at a local restaurant. Really they have no other explanation. What do you do? Stop eating out altogether?

[Kaz1773]

Hi, my 6 year old daughter has had these worms they are called threadworm.  They are not to do with cleanliness, you can pick them up from a towel or door handle.
If you are too embarressed to see a doctor go to the chemist and get pripsen these are a mebendazole tablet which is easy to take and will erradicate the problem if worms.
Hope this helps, good luck.

[yoshi]

if you have pets and suspect it could be from them,you should treat your pets as well.
You can get medication from pet store.

[abussey13]

Hi.  I read one of your posts under the vagus nerve and spasms posts.  I've been having all of the symptoms discussed on that board ever since I had a sinus surgery, in which anesthesia was administered.  

Thanks.

[HiramGA]

Hello. I as well have had this exact problem. I also though have had bouts of orange stool with foul smelling bowel movements as well. I think this all goes together. I have stuff mixed in with my stool that resembles white or whitish gray moldy tissue. It is attached to the stool. Yesterday morning though, when I had a bowel movement, I saw a long white thing mixed in with the stool. It looked like a worm to me, but, I have not seen any more. I went straight to the physican, as this freaked me out, and they sent me home with 4 vials to collect my own stool in, and bring back to send off to test for worms. I was also tested Wednesday for Hepititis (hepatitis) and liver. I had mentioned worms to the doctor, but, she said she didn't think it was that. Strangly, I had something that resembled a worm in my stool just 2 days later. When my test come back in about a week, I'll fill you in on what I found out. I am also seeing my GI doctor Monday afternoon.

Does anyone else suffer from extremely upset stomach? I get sick all the time. I compare it to the way I felt during morning sickness when I was pregnant. I have been to my doctor for this for  years and years, and was given previcid and told It was acid reflux. If I have worms, I am going to be VERY UPSET they didn't catch this sooner. It seems like you have to tell the doctors what you have before they will test you for anything. : (

[HiramGA]

Hello. I as well have had this exact problem. I also though have had bouts of orange stool with foul smelling bowel movements as well. I think this all goes together. I have stuff mixed in with my stool that resembles white or whitish gray moldy tissue. It is attached to the stool. Yesterday morning though, when I had a bowel movement, I saw a long white thing mixed in with the stool. It looked like a worm to me, but, I have not seen any more. I went straight to the physican, as this freaked me out, and they sent me home with 4 vials to collect my own stool in, and bring back to send off to test for worms. I was also tested Wednesday for Hepititis (hepatitis) and liver. I had mentioned worms to the doctor, but, she said she didn't think it was that. Strangly, I had something that resembled a worm in my stool just 2 days later. When my test come back in about a week, I'll fill you in on what I found out. I am also seeing my GI doctor Monday afternoon.

[HiramGA]

Hello. I as well have had this exact problem. I also though have had bouts of orange stool with foul smelling bowel movements as well. I think this all goes together. I have stuff mixed in with my stool that resembles white or whitish gray moldy tissue. It is attached to the stool. Yesterday morning though, when I had a bowel movement, I saw a long white thing mixed in with the stool. It looked like a worm to me, but, I have not seen any more. I went straight to the physican, as this freaked me out, and they sent me home with 4 vials to collect my own stool in, and bring back to send off to test for worms.

[HiramGA]

I also though have had bouts of orange stool with foul smelling bowel movements as well. I think this all goes together. I have stuff mixed in with my stool that resembles white or whitish gray moldy tissue. It is attached to the stool. Yesterday morning though, when I had a bowel movement, I saw a long white thing mixed in with the stool. It looked like a worm to me, but, I have not seen any more. I went straight to the physican, as this freaked me out, and they sent me home with 4 vials to collect my own stool in, and bring back to send off to test for worms.

[HiramGA]

I also though have had bouts of orange stool with foul smelling bowel movements as well.  I have stuff mixed in with my stool that resembles white or whitish gray moldy tissue. It is attached to the stool. Yesterday morning though, when I had a bowel movement, I saw a long white thing mixed in with the stool. It looked like a worm to me, but, I have not seen any more. I went straight to the physican, as this freaked me out, and they sent me home with 4 vials to collect my own stool in, and bring back to send off to test for worms.

[marthaj]

I have had the same symptoms, white stringy stuff in stool and orange mucus, foul smell.  A few months ago I had several stool tests for ovum and parasites, bacteria, and a blood test.  All came back negative.  I told my doctor i suspected worms but he said unless i actually see something moving he didn't think it was.  I have been going crazy knowing that it looked to me like worms.  Today i looked very closly at my stool with a q-tip and there were very thin (thinner than a hair) stringy things and I saw one moving.  You have to look closely and really watch for it.  I am so upset, I knew it and no one would listen.  I still owe a lot of money for my previous lab tests.  Now I  have to go back and be tested again so i get treated. Now i'm afraid my kids could be infected. I have been sick for months for no reason!  Trust your gut and make the doctor listen to you.

[poop81]

I just wanted to share my experience...

I think I have had the same stringy white stuff most of you described too... My stomach problems began almost some two years ago. I was experiencing gas and almost constant bowel movements (which was audiable to me and everyone else around me when I would sit). So I tried almost all possible tests, jaundice, hepatitis etc. they all came back negative (I did have a slightly elevated bilirubin in one blood test, but it was within normal parameters in another one done a few months later). I should say that, I think, I didn't ever have constipation.
Then I tried seeing a specialist and I was started on a "deductive therapy" (in which I was given med after med to see which would help me most). The specialist (who BTW didn't wanna do any x-ray or ultrasound imaging) deduced that since an antibiotic named orvagyl seemed (at least it seemed to me then) to eleviate the symptoms, that I had some inflamation (inflammation) somewhere in the GI tract. So I was given that same antibiotic to drink in two separate terms (7 days of taking it separated by 10 days of not taking it and then again 7 days of taking it again).
In the first term it seemed to help eleviate the gas syptoms (symptoms), but around that time my stool started to float (it did occasionally before, but now almost every day). In the second term the syptoms (symptoms) were not eleviated so much at all. And that was the time my stool began to change. It was turning yellowish, and sometimes it had that white stuff in it you described, but it seemed more like a piece of white paperlike stringy substance in my stool then it looked like worms. Also beside it, sometimes almost light-yellow/white pebbles were in my stool (this was going on some month or so after I stopped orvagyl taking - which btw seems to have stopped constant bowel movements, gas is still there but I think less)... In the last three months I noticed once also something that looked like mucus (like the stuff you blow out of your nose, but that lasted a day or so), and yellowish/orange stool (seems it might have to do with what I eat, cause it might be beans related).
What's my point, I'm really not sure, but I think that white stuff might be bile (or some other liver product) or something you ate that got treated by a lot (or not enough of) bile...
I'm gonna go back to the specialist soon again and ask him about his thoughts. Last time I saw him was 3-4 months ago when I got to drink that ovagyl, hopefully these problems I have now are gonna be treatable with something else then antibiotis (which I'm taking now for some other, not GI related bacterial infection I was diagnosed), and my waiting so long to go back to the doc won't cause any further problems escalating.

[paulalauren]

hi im a 25 yr old woman and lately i have experienced somewhat like a diarrhea, when i fart and  when i try to do bowel, my stomach is very painful, and when the feces comes out, its yellowish in color and when i wipe it with a tissue, it has somewhat like a white color that has odor... im asking for an advice of what to do and what this might be.thank you.

[deena911]

Ok I have read what all of you has said but you never came back with what the doctor has said.... i just got freaked out in the potty with my bowelmovement I have had diaerrah for the last 2 weeks everyday and today the white fluffy looking stuff like something i would blow out of my nose... what did the doc. say.............. was it worms?  was it nothing???? was it somehting u ate?????

really worried

[shacana]

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[theeyezoffl]

A related discussion, stringy white stuff in stool was started.