Orange oily stool color

[puzzled222]

Hi,

I have been experiencing orange greasy colored stools for about 8 months. I have been tested for cancer etc.. went through pretty much of all the exams that I can handle, colonoscopy, scan, MRI, and blood tests also. there is no problem that can be found from these tests. But this orange oily base continues, and presents all sorts of problems. Pass gas it shoots out orange colored stuff with a strong foul odor smell. I have no pain whatsoever, but the irritation that it causes is beyond explanation, soil my shorts, can't gp too far, sleep on the couch with a bed plastic cover so as not to soil anything else.
Years ago I had the head of my pancreas removed, but my tests are all positive about the enzimes, and no liver problem according to my blood tests. I take a lot of pepto bismol to slow down diaherria and also immodium pills that the doctor prescribed. He says that there is no medical problem that can cause the orange stools, but they presist. I have read about many similar stories of this nature, but nobody seems to post any solutions that they may have found. Is there any other thing that I should ask my doctor other than a second opinion? This causes embarrasing situations to say the least, and quite disturbing mentally as well.

[Sechmeth]

There is a company called Metametrix in the US, they do a huge variety of tests with a stool sample. They are not cheap, but they measure pathogenic bacteria, parasites, fungus, probiotics, inflammation markers, fat and cholesterol content, fibre content, enzymes, amino acids and whatnot.
It is called a complete GI profile.
I have had it done due to a different problem, but they were the only ones that have given me a clear diagnosis after 15 months of odyssey (parasites/ fat malabsorbtion, low bifidobacteria)
If this really worries you, get it tested that way and they will surely find out something.

[CalGal]

This sounds like fat malabsorption which is typically caused by gallbladder/pancreatic or possibly celiac disease issues. If you've been checked out for gallbladder and pancreatic problems, consider going gluten-free -take wheat, rye and barley - out of your diet and see if your symptoms abate over the period of several months. You can also get checked for celiac/gluten-sensitivity via blood tests, but the results can come back negative even when an individual is actually positive. There's a good test put out by enterolab.com (IgA-gliadin; single test) that finally picked it up in my husband when all the other tests came back negative.