Black stool

[Tariq144]

For the last three days my stool colour has been black, I do not have any pain in the stomack, or any where in the body. Its today that I am having some kind of sensation in the recturm area, though I will not call it pain. I have had this feeling in the past as well, but never had black stool colour. I have had my normal diet, and my normal walk.
Can any one please help with this issue?
Thanks and regards.

[ggreg]

Well, black stool can be from eating something dark, like chocolate, which will also cause a little diarrhea that can make your back end feel uncomfortable, as you report.  Occasionally medicine will cause bleeding, so check the side effects for your meds.

On the other hand, black stool sometimes indicates bleeding in the upper part of the digestive tract or small intestine.  (If it's bright red, it can indicate bleeding more at the bottom end of the digestive tract or large intestine.)  A family doc will want to do a physical exam and push on your abdomen to see where it hurts, and take stool sample to look for blood, they'll draw blood to check for anemia caused by bleeding, and they may also wish to get an ultrasound, which is relatively inexpensive compared to other views of the insides, and it might pick up on what's going on in your small intestine.  

If their tests don't show anything, but you still get black stool, then a gastroenterologist doc will want to give you a scan.  It shows more, and also it would reveal if any other digestive glands, like the liver or gallbaldder, are having some sort of problem, like producing too much bile.