Do you study your stools? Parse your poo? Dissect your defecations? (Possibly NSFW)

Only when they feel out of routine.

Of course. I sample the taste every time.

Interesting that you’d ask this at the same time you asked your political question. Is there a reason your thoughts turn to shit when thinking about the current political situation? Mine do, too. I completely understand.

^^^ LOLL!

Lately yes, as I am having some bowel issues. I go for blood work and an abdominal ultra sound on Monday. I have mild diverticulitis but I am having some other weird symptoms. No real urge to go and pain in my upper left rib cage.

I hope I don’t have colon cancer or something serious, we shall see in a few days. I feel fine except for this nagging dull pain in the region of my spleen/pancreas and the loss of urge to go to the bathroom. It is not constipation, I eat well and lots of fiber and water, I just don’t feel the urge to go, at all. I hope I don’t have some sort of weird blockage. :-(

There…you asked, more than you ever wanted to know I am sure. lol

This is a good place to ask this: My dad’s wife used to be a nurse in the 80’s. She has a friend who is having some health issues, and the discussion turned to bowel movements. Dad’s wife says you’re supposed to have at least one a day, preferably more. I guess I usually have one (1), but never more than that, unless I’m sick.

Do you think more than one bowel movement a day is good?

@Dutchess_III
At least one per day is good. This is the norm for most people. If you’re having more than three then there is a possibility that your “transit time” is too fast for one reason or another and you aren’t getting the full benefit of the food you eat. Checking the stool for consistency and undigested food is recommended. If a variety of undigested food is discovered, then there is probably something wrong going on in your digestive tract and further diagnostics are indicated.

If you are eliminating stool three to four times per day and (1) you find no undigested food in your stool, and (2) the stool is soft yet solid, well-formed and brown in color, and (3) you are experiencing no other signs or symptoms of illness, and (4) this does not represent a recent change, then this very possibly could be your normal transit time. You just have a really fast and efficient alimentary tract. It happens.

Conversely, I’ve had a few patients who eliminate once every three days for all of their lives without every showing signs of GI tract illness. That is normal for them. They will contract diverticulitis at about the same age as the rest of us.

NOTICE TO KEITH: Corn kernels are often found undigested in the stool and are not an indication of poor health.

^^Enough with the political questions.

I have had puppies and kittens and kids, so I got used to paying a certain amount of attention to poo, as it can be a pretty good indicator of general health (or not). I don’t examine, but I am aware.
And hey, poop. We may think it’s icky, but we’re always glad to be making more!

The poo color chart.

www.md-health.com/Stool-Color-Chart.html

Ahem, whisper it gently, but we have staff for th…dear sweet baby jesus no, no we really don’t

@ucme -

“The Groom of the Stool was, in the earliest times, a male servant in the household of an English monarch who was responsible for assisting the King in the performance of the bodily functions of excretion and ablution, whilst maintaining an aura of royal decorum over the proceedings.”

@ibstubro We, wealthy folks have moved on somewhat ;-}

Yeah, corn kernels will always show up.

Yeah. I have severe GI issues. It’s been a few years since I’ve had blood in my stools but I’m still in the habit of checking for it.

Not really. I’ve followed the pattern enough to know how my digestive system reacts to certain foods since I had my gallbladder removed. Most oils and fats leave in the same form they arrived in. Spicy food increases transit time to “damn near immediately”.

Other than that I don’t post much attention to frequency. I go by how I feel.

I’ll admit to taking a quick glance at my smelly creation before it falls victim to the swishy vortex of doom.

I’m glad to know that you all now know this information about me. Dxs, the poop snooper.

@dxs Actually, I was going to nominate @Espiritus_Corvus to be the official tide pool poopers’ snooper!

No. I flush it before I wipe so that I never clog the toilet, therefore, it’s not there to look at.

I’m like @dxs I almost always look in the toilet at what I’ve produced before flushing it—I mean, it can be a good indicator of health, so I don’t consider that a “taboo” thing to do. Maybe to admit to doing it, though. I don’t usually look too long though I mean, if you can’t see anything amiss at first, a magnifying glass probably won’t help much :P

I admit to a quick quantity check. “Healthy” or not?

I take a look at them quickly when I’m done, to see if they look “normal”. I’m not an expert in fecal matter, so I can’t really tell if something’s wrong with it. No point in sticking my head in the toilet and inspecting them thoroughly going, hmmm, no sir, I don’t like it, as I don’t know what to look for unless it’s obvious. But yea, I take a quick gander, to see if there’s no blood, or like an eyeball sticking out of it or something.

Yes, @Berserker, we must check for the odd eyeball in our poo!

@ibstubro However improbable, I’d rather have an eyeball stuck in my poo than the other way around!

Kinda like the old song, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than to have a frontal lobotomy!”

Is that from the letter that Johnnie Walker read?

Welcome back, @Berserker.