Black stool -- is this a medical emergency?? (Please help -- I'm really panicking!)
About a couple hours ago I had diarrhea and the stool was black. I started panicking and after some online research found that this could be due to either 1) black-colored food (which makes sense -- I had relatively little to eat today but I did eat a large black chocolate cupcake) or 2) GI tract bleeding.
I'm really panicking and what I need to know is if this is a medical emergency
, or if it can wait until tomorrow morning when I can see my doctor?
I am very panicky about my health and I frequently worry about having something so I don't want to embarrass myself and call 911 if this can wait until tomorrow.
Also, I forgot to mention, about 10 minutes after the black stool I had to use the bathroom again. There was much, much less stool this time but it was brown, not black.
You may like to look this up on google/yahoo etc to learn more.
Prompt medical advice would be appropriate but unless you are expelling significant quantities of blood (~100 mls+) ex rectum then it is not an emergency